cusestarter or how we built our own crowdfunding platform

C U S E F U N D E R

CUSE STARTER

Marcello Prattico Syracuse University

@mprattico

C R O W D F U N D I N G F O R S M A L L P R O J E C T S

W H Y ?

M I C R O D O N AT I O N S

Give small amounts !

Focused on one goal or project

B E N E F I T S

Engage young alumni with a tangible way to give. !

Small amount is affordable. !

Start relationship of giving to a University.

W H E R E T O S TA R T ?

Why not Kickstarter or Indie Gogo?

• Bottom line, no control.

• No consistent messaging or branding

• Projects can be created by anyone.

• Groups starting projects need access to Alumni email lists which we don’t give to anyone.

• We can’t keep track of who gives. (new donors)

PAY M E N T P R O C E S S I N G H A S N E V E R B E E N E A S I E R

W E C O U L D T O TA L LY B U I L D O U R O W N

S I T E !

O H C R A P, N O W W E H A V E T O B U I L D O U R O W N .

A N D W E H A V E O N LY A F E W

W E E K S T O D O I T !

Y O U W O R K AT A U N I V E R S I T Y R E M E M B E R ?

!

I T C A N ’ T B E T H AT E A S Y.

Use current payment processor… Sallie Mae,

now iModules/Chase Payment Tech

B U I L D I N G I T

C U S E F U N D E R S TA C K

• Oracle (BSR) for mailed in gifts, reoccurring gifts and other payment methods.

• SQL Server for online gifts.

• Node.js for connecting to Oracle and SQL Server.

• Cascade for CMS with Angular.js to handle live updates.

• NGINX web server

C A S C A D E A S A B A C K E N D

• Data definitions store Appeal code to connect project to giving payment processor.

• Appeal code gets passed when donating.

• Appeal code used to look up project status info.

N G - I N I T = " I N I T ( ' C F002 ' ,5000 , '07 -11 -2014 ' ) "

A N G U L A R . J S

• Angular.js passes Appeal code, goal amount to generate the active sidebar.

• ng-init is used to pass info to a javascript function.

W H AT T Y P E S O F P R O J E C T S ?

P R O J E C T S

• Small dollar amounts

• Typically $5,000 to $15,000

• Quiet period where initial dollars are raised

P R O J E C T S

• Small suggested amounts.

• Dollars relate to tangible things that can be purchased.

• e.g. Feed a Tree or Adopt a Tree

P R O M O T E I T !

with email blasts!

R E S U LT S

• We have new donors!

• Goaaaaaaaaaaal! All projects have gone above and beyond their initial goals.

• People are excited.

• No recreating the wheel for crowd funding sites.

T H A N K Y O U !

• Marcello Prattico

• @mprattico

• mapratti@syr.edu