“Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.”
-Helen Keller
That statement by Helen Keller encapsulates what is so miraculous about crowdfunding. A successful crowdfunding campaign is teamwork at its best.
Also known as peer-to-peer fundraising, crowdfunding is largely the “shiny new toy” of the philanthropic community.
Crowdsourcing and the broader ideas of crowdfunding have been around for years. With the rise of internet platforms to supplement these fundraising efforts, the method’s popularity has all but exploded. Nonprofits and organizations have taken note and smartly realized the potential these platforms have for charitable fundraising.
Consider this guide your detailed introduction to and overview of peer-to-peer fundraising. Crowdfunding is a valuable tool that nonprofits need to be using. Take the advice below and start a campaign at your organization soon!
What is Crowdfunding?
When you crowdfund, you are rallying the masses behind your fundraising efforts.
You’ll see some deviation across peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns, but, generally, it can be defined as:
The act of gaining funds for a set project through the collection of a high number of small donations from a diverse array of supporters. And this is all typically achieved via an internet platform.
Crowdfunding is social. It gets your supporters out there on a grassroots level.
Traditionally, you can bracket crowdfunding campaigns into three categories:
Achievements/Events
Activities
Campaigns
Peer-to-peer fundraising is not exclusively charitable. For example, plenty of small businesses use the opportunity to raise the needed capital for certain ventures.
Last year, according to Forbes, crowdfunding raised an estimated $5.1 billion worldwide. That number takes all of the peer-to-peer fundraising efforts into account, meaning it could encompass anything from a student funding a post graduate year to a furniture maker buying new equipment to a family member raising money to pay for a relative’s hospital bills.
The beauty of crowdfunding is that everyone is invited to the table. The drawback to that, of course, is that the market is incredibly competitive. Even though crowdfunding may appear to be a hands-off way of fundraising, the only way to see results is to treat your campaign like you would any other, with attention and care.
The great news for nonprofits is that they already have an advantage over other peer-to-peer fundraisers in the field because they are fundraising experts.
What is the relationship between nonprofits and crowdfunding?
As I mentioned before, crowdfunding is not exclusively a charitable method. However, that does not mean that it is not highly useful for nonprofits seeking funds.
With the overall growth in internet usage, nonprofits have tried to take advantage by pushing fundraising online.
Efforts have not been as universally successful as one might hope. In other words, it has been more of stroll towards online donation growth, than a sprint. According to a survey by NonProfitEasy, 40.5% of nonprofits reported that less than 10% of their fundraising will be through online donations.
Effective crowdfunding can increase the pace.
If you mention online fundraising to the average person, he or she is going to think of peer-to-peer fundraising, even if the person in question doesn’t know the name for it. Crowdfunding has saturated the market.
Since crowdfunding is the online channel prospects are most aware of and drawn to, it makes perfect sense for nonprofits to focus attention in that direction as well.
Organizations can use peer-to-peer platforms just like any other user. In fact, some platforms offer setups that are designed specifically for nonprofit crowdfunding campaigns, with the ability to create an umbrella page for the organization and subpages for individual supporters.
What are the benefits of peer-to-peer fundraising for nonprofits?
We just mentioned one of the biggest benefits of nonprofit crowdfunding. It is a online platform donors are drawn to. Moving beyond that, there are plenty of other benefits.
Think of peer-to-peer fundraising as its own evolving entity.
In short, nonprofit crowdfunding:
requires less day-to-day maintenance on your staff’s part than other campaigns
can grow on its own
will promote your organization to new prospects
can generate media attention, if the campaign takes off
lets you use existing relationships to make new ones
gives a public record of your success and support base to entice potential corporate sponsors
On the macro level, nonprofit peer-to-peer fundraising is an untapped way for organizations to engage their constituents, most specifically, their donors.
How does a crowdfunding platform work for organizations?
In many ways, a crowdfunding platform will work similarly for both an individual and an organization. So, to begin, I’ll outline the general crowdfunding process, and then highlight the ways in which organizations can take further steps.
The steps in establishing a crowdfunding campaign usually go as follows:
Fundraiser creates a profile
The profile includes:
an explainer video
an introduction and overview of the project
a list of reward tiers for donations
a selection of relevant photos
Promote, promote, promote
Once the fundraising page is established it is all about promoting and keeping the donations coming in.
Advice that you’ll see everywhere, and with good reason, is to create a compelling message that people will gravitate towards. You need your campaign to convince prospects to donate. Make your message irresistible.
Nonprofits are perfectly suited to handle these campaigns and make huge dents in their annual fundraising goals.
For organizations, crowdfunding is going to have few more moving parts.
A nonprofit has a main crowdfunding page where all of the above information is housed. Then supporters who want to fundraise on the organization’s behalf can create their own individual page to gather donations that will loop back to the nonprofit’s donation pool.
So, instead of relying on one channel, your organization has numerous subpages out there promoting your cause and campaign.
Essentially, a nonprofit using crowdfunding is running multiple campaigns for the price of one. If you’re looking for an awesome return on investment, take a gander.
How can you improve your crowdfunding campaign?
For the purposes of this guide, we’re going to discuss crowdfunding campaign improvement in two phases:
execution
optimization
Phase #1: Execution
For execution, this guide refers to anything you’ll be doing at the start of and early on in the campaign.
Pick Your Platform Carefully
Make a Killer Video
Plan Out Great Rewards
Keep it Personal
Design Your Story
Build Your Team
Phase #2: Optimization
Optimization covers ongoing tasks. These strategies help ensure that your wonderfully executed crowdfunding efforts receive the most donations possible.
Set Measurable Goals
Establish a Timeline
Zero in on Your Target Audience
Be Creative with Your Acknowledgments
Market Frequently Across Various Platforms
Assess Your Success
It is easy to devote less time to crowdfunding campaigns because they technically need less maintenance. The squeakiest wheel gets the oil, and peer-to-peer fundraising is not squeaky.
However, by giving a lower-maintenance method a practical amount of attention, you’ll be very happy with how much your funding increases. A little goes a long way.
How can you market your organization’s peer-to-peer fundraising campaign?
For nonprofit crowdfunding marketing, you need to address organization level promotion, as well as promotion for individual fundraisers.
Before you begin, put together a package of materials to give to those who want to fundraise on your behalf. That way, you can ensure that your various fundraising proxies are:
readily able to get their pages up and running
staying on message with their campaigning
This is a bit outside the scope of marketing, but it would be good to include instructions for anyone fundraising on your behalf. Supporters are being incredibly generous by campaigning for you, don’t make them do any more work than they already are. And the good thing is, once you have training materials, you’ll always have training materials.
As far as promotion in general goes, you have a bevy of marketing possibilities.
Include the usual marketing methods, from mentions in newsletters and direct mail to pushing the campaign on various pages on your website.
For crowdfunding in particular, there are two marketing must-haves. A campaign video and a highly active social media presence.
#1: Creating the Perfect Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Video
Just like it would be strange to have a Facebook photo without a profile picture, it is strange to have a crowdfunding campaign without a video.
The crowdfunding donor experience is largely online. Internet platforms are excellent in terms of ease and connectivity, but online it is difficult to keep that personal touch that is so pivotal in donor acquisition and retention.
A video lets you put a face or faces behind your campaign and forces the viewer to see you and your cause in reality versus the abstract. Grounding your online campaign makes it more compelling and increases the likelihood of donations and future support from those donors.
Across the board, projects with videos have seen much greater success than projects without.
Use the following tips to produce your nonprofit’s peer-to-peer fundraising video:
make it personal
don’t dilly dally, get straight to your point
be professional (in production and presentation)
write out and use a script
speak to your mission, service, and accomplishments
outline your goals
entertain with a good story
remember it is a video, visuals are vital
Internet users are notoriously fickle. Attention spans are short. There’s always something else out there, tempting your audience to click on it. Your video needs to be engaging and informative, all within roughly two minutes.
Once you have your introductory video, consider creating more for different benchmarks and/or milestones within the campaigns. It is a great way to interact with your supporters.
#2: The Importance of Social Media for Nonprofit Crowdfunding
Social media is your campaign’s microphone. It amplifies your efforts across the internet at large.
Let’s discuss the three major players for social media marketing for peer-to-peer fundraising.
a) Twitter
Your Twitter should be a mix of scheduled posts and carry-overs. You are going to have to post a lot. People won’t seek out your twitter feed, it will really just be serendipitous for who sees your tweets and who doesn’t. Up your chances by upping your numbers.
b) Facebook
You should be posting links, photos, videos, stories, etc. on your nonprofit’s Facebook page. This should occur with a high frequency, on a variety of days and times.
c) Youtube
Although it isn’t explicitly social media, Youtube is a social, promotional tool for nonprofits to use during their crowdfunding campaigns. Set up a channel and post whatever you think your prospects and supporters may want to see, from updates to success stories.
With an active presence across all three of these platforms, you’ll be able to link between them and draw interested parties to your campaign. You’re covering all your bases.
What are some ideas for crowdfunding campaigns?
Whether you’re an individual or an organization, crowdfunding ideas range far and wide.
Peer-to-peer fundraising can encompass a large variety of financing needs, including:
Animals: adoptions, shelters, rescues, endangered species
Creative Projects: albums, books, dance recitals
Medical and Health: medical treatments, clinical trials, hospital bills
Memorials and Funerals: covering the costs of funerals and memorials
Schools: school trips, new textbooks, new technology
Sports: new uniforms, field maintenance, new equipment
Churches, Synagogues, and Religious Organizations: mission trips, natural disaster assistance, volunteer work
Fraternities and Sororities: philanthropy, house renovations, due paying
Politics and Public Offices: political campaigns at various levels
Runs/Walks/Rides: 5ks, marathons, bikathons
People often want to reference “viral” crowdfunding campaigns. That’s always a welcome by product, but it should not be the goal. Set out to accomplish what you need to accomplish and define your success accordingly.
You can’t design a campaign around being viral, but you can time and create crowdfunding geared towards capturing outside momentum.
Depending on the mission of your nonprofit, you could time holiday specific crowdfunding campaigns, like crowdfunding on:
#GivingTuesday following Thanksgiving4th of July for funds benefiting veteransValentine’s Day for funds to put towards helping those with heart disease
This idea follows the principle that you should be asking for donations when your mission is most likely to connect with a donor.
As crowdfunding grows in popularity, it is going to become more and more crucial that nonprofit professionals are educated and knowledgeable about the topic. Running a crowdfunding campaign takes expertise, experience, and commitment. An A+ peer-to-peer fundraising event won’t happen overnight, so learn and prepare as much as you can.
Use this guide as a resource to either jump start your first campaign or improve a future one. Crowdfunding is growing steadily in importance, so join in. Sooner is better than later.