Think Like a Master Fundraiser for Crowdfunding Success
So, you’ve decided that a crowdfunding campaign is a great way to raise money for your new nonprofit or program. You’ve selected your crowdfunding platform and started to build your campaign.
Great – you’re on your way!
Now it’s time to start thinking like a master fundraiser.
Find Your People
First, one of the essential keys to crowdfunding your nonprofit is knowing that you need to actually go get the crowd.
It’s an active process. Just because it’s online, this doesn’t mean you can passively sit back and wait for the crowds to arrive.
This means that after you’ve built your crowdfunding page, you’ll need to actively manage it and promote it to your network. You’ll also need to promote it through social media.
You’ll start by sharing your campaign with people who already support you and asking them to share it as well. These are your existing volunteers, donors, network, friends, family, etc.
From these, you’ll want to line up early supporters before you launch the crowdfunding campaign so you’re sure to get those all-important first few donations.
You should also look for people who follow causes or interests that overlap with your project. This will require some research.
You’ll need to ask yourself a lot of questions to determine who is mostly likely to give money. This is your target market.
Ask yourself: Who are they? What characteristics do they have in common? Where are they? What do they care about? Why will they support you? Why won’t they support you? What media do they use? Where else can you find them?
Remember, your crowdfunding campaign is meant to build the crowdwho will support your project.
Go Old School
Second, even though crowdfunding is new and cool, it’s still fundraising.
So, don’t ignore traditional fundraising wisdom just because it’s old. Crowdfunding is really just a new way of bringing supporters together to pool their funds and support a cause.
So, look to strategies that nonprofits have historically used in direct mail campaigns and fundraising events.
Lynne Twist, fundraising guru and author of The Soul of Money, says there are three rules of fundraising:
Ask for the money.
Ask people who are committed and want to make a difference.
Ask everyone.[1]
Translated to crowdfunding, what does this mean?
It means that any self-consciousness about asking for money needs to be checked at the door. This is the time to make a direct ask for money that’s tied to a clear and achievable goal.
It means that you should make this ask to people who support your work or support your cause.
And it means you should share your campaign broadly and use social media.
Check out Fundly’s 4 tips for promoting your campaign on Factbook®. Indiegogo also provides some helpful guidance on promoting your crowdfunding campaign through social media.
Making Connections
Third, the goal of any fundraising campaign is always to connect with your supporters.
In the past, people would give to the same organizations for years – their college, local park, etc. This created strong ties with the organizations they supported.
With the rise of social media, people have a lot of weak affiliations to a lot of different organizations. Think of how many things you’ve liked on Facebook®!
With crowdfunding, you’re asking people who may have a weak affiliation to you or your organization, to strengthen their affiliation by donating.
This means you really need to give people an issue they can connect with, and a way of doing so. Your campaign needs to be simple to understand and allow others to engage in a way that makes them feel involved.
As Kay Sprinkel Grace, author of Beyond Fundraising, says, people don’t give to you because you have needs. They give to you because you meet needs.2 Passionate people who want to give need to feel connected to what they’re giving to.
Crowdfunding is great at this. It can give supporters and potential supporters a sense of community. They should feel like they’re joining a team. Like they have some stake or ownership over the success of your project.
The key is to understand that you have something that other people want. They see a problem with the world, and you have the solution. They want to be inspired and you can provide this.
Conducting your first crowdfunding campaign (or really any fundraising campaign) may require a change in your thinking. But once you can view crowdfunding is offering something, not taking something, you’re all set to get started!
[1]Heyman, Darian Rodriguez. Nonprofit Fundraising 101 (pp. xxvii-xxviii). Wiley. Kindle Edition.
2Heyman, Darian Rodriguez. Nonprofit Fundraising 101 (p. 90). Wiley. Kindle Edition.