how to plan for and execute a successful crowdfunding campaign

CROWDFUNDING 101NEWBURYPORT CHAMBERFEBRUARY 20, 2014Julia Claire Campbell - @JuliaCSocial

J Campbell Social Marketing

www.jcsocialmarketing.com

Crowdfunding

“Crowdfunding is the pooling of funds from passionate people to help make something special happen.”

~GoGetFunding.com

Great infographic: http://visual.ly/crowdfunding-success-

statistics

Crowdfunding

Websites that allow nonprofits, businesses and individuals to set up an online fundraising campaign based around a fundraising page, and accept money directly from that page using the website’s own credit card processor. Kickstarter Fundraise.com Fundly indiegogo

Crowdfunding

Smaller Goals Are More Attainable Average successful crowdfunding campaign

is around $7,000. Average campaign lasts around 9 weeks. Campaigns that can gain 30% of their

goal within the first week are more likely to succeed.

http://www.fundable.com/crowdfunding101/crowdfunding-statistics

Crowdfunding

Marketing Drives Campaigns There is a direct correlation between the number

of outside links to a crowdfunding campaign and the success of the campaign.

Social Media is a critical factor in crowdfunding success: for every order of magnitude increase in Facebook friends (10, 100, 1000), the probability of success increases drastically (from 9%-, 20%, to 40%).

http://www.fundable.com/crowdfunding101/crowdfunding-statistics

Crowdfunding

Demographics of the Crowd Age. Individuals ages 24-35 are much more likely to

participate in crowdfunding campaigns. Those over 45 are significantly less likely to back campaigns.

Gender. Men are much more likely to take a risk on an unknown startup.

Income. Those earning over $100,000 per year are the most likely to invest in startups through crowdfunding.

http://www.fundable.com/crowdfunding101/crowdfunding-statistics

Benefits of Crowdfunding

Less overhead in staff time, processing. Potential reach. Social media, email,

peer-to-peer. 24/7 access via online donation

platforms; Required in our always-on, tech-reliant world.

Benefits of Crowdfunding

Opportunity to share a compelling story of impact through multimedia, videos, photos.

Very accurate data about donors. Tracking.

It’s safe when using a verified, reliable vendor.

Challenges of Crowdfunding

Planning is more important than implementation.

Tools can be confusing.

If you build it, they will come… not true.

Challenges of Crowdfunding

It only works with an investment of time and concerted effort.

It is not a fundraising panacea. It will not work if you do not have a

compelling story to share.

So how to do it?

Three main steps:1) Planning2) Marketing3) Follow up

Planning Is Key!

Teamwork Is Key!

Planning

1) Get legal. Just as with other types of fundraising, online

solicitations must be registered with the appropriate officials.

Check with your state attorney’s office or secretary of state office to find out the requirements in your state.

Also, if you do online fundraising in states other than your own, you may need to register there as well.

Resource: http://nonprofit.about.com/od/onlinefundraising/tp/onlinefundraisinghub.htm

Planning

2) Pick a project. Specific projects work best. Crowdfunding does not work for general

asks. Why this project? Why now? Why are you asking? What will happen if this is NOT funded?

Planning

3) Choose a goal. Specific goal – We want to raise $5,000 to

build a playground in 3 months. We need to raise $60,000 or the theater

will close. Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing platform. Make sure to budget for the fees that all

the platforms collect – whether or not you reach your goal.

Kickstarter campaigns are 1 – 60 days.

Planning

Screening Room Digital Fund Transition to digital projectionFuture: Ensuring the continued

maintenance of the theater’s equipment

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/andrewmungo/screening-room-digital-fund

Planning

4) Select rewards. What will motivate people to back your

project? For nonprofits, it’s impact – change to

society, people helped, animals saved. For businesses, it’s something tangible –

t-shirts, tickets, exclusive access, signed books.

Must be “products and experiences” not cash.

Planning

RewardsSeth Godin – self-published his book https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/297519465/the-icarus-deception-why-make-art-new-from-seth-go

Projecto – Instagram projector https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1209578799/projecteo-the-tiny-instagram-projector

Planning

5) Instill urgency.

Planning

Urgencyhttp://www.indiegogo.com/projects/aid-afghanistan-for-education-and-peace

“We must keep all 13 schools open

and make up for the lack of funding as a result of cut-backs in USAID into Afghanistan.  This requires much more than the initial $10,000 mentioned in this starting goal.”  

Planning

6) Be brief.

Planning

In 300-500 words, be able to describe:

The PROBLEM The WHY NOWThe HOW (how the money will be spent)The WIIFM (what’s in it for me) What will this do if funded? How will the

world change? How will lives change?

Planning

Planning

7) Use video.

Planning

Videohttps://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1960547513/save-cinemasalem

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1776324009/brck-your-backup-generator-for-the-internet

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/cesarkuriyama/1-second-everyday-app

Planning

8) Be responsive. Who will respond to inquiries and questions? How will you acknowledge donations? How will you record the donations? How will you cultivate these donors? Do you have a database? Will there be a special group for these

donors? Create a detailed plan of action with

responsibilities, tasks and timelines.

Planning

9) Find the right tool. Kickstarter Fundable Crowdfunder Indiegogo RocketHub Crowdrise

Read the guidelines! Look at the fees involved. Explore.

Marketing

10) Press publish! Video Brief description Links Email Social media share buttons

Marketing

Low hangingfruit first!

Marketing

11) Tell everyone! Don’t just put the “Donate Now” button

on your site and expect donations to roll in!

Have to change the culture in some cases.

Put info everywhere you touch investors or donors.

Alleviate their fears and eliminate obstacles.

Marketing

Sharing is caring!

Marketing

Start with email. Use your network. Personal emails work best. Offer different ways to help – small

donations, spreading the word, sharing it, retweeting

Marketing

Use social media. Use your networks. LinkedIn messages. Facebook! Twitter The key is getting others to share it for

you. Write sample tweets and Facebook posts. Create great, shareable graphics!

Follow Up

Build relationships.

Follow Up

Keep people updated on progress.

Follow Up

Updates Can be daily or weekly Be enthusiastic and positive “This much has already been done,

because of you!” “BUT we could also do so much more…” “We are THIS close to achieving our

goal!”

Follow Up

Share successes!

Follow Up

Have a virtual party on Google Hangout or Skype.

Have an in-person celebration party.Create as much buzz as possible in the local,

regional and national press – find niche publications.

Share your success (or learnings) as a case study on your website.

Offer to talk with other nonprofits or businesses about what you learned.

If these guys could do it…

Griz Coat: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hansr/griz-coat

Bug-A-Salt: http://bugasalt.com/ Cat Café:

http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/open-a-cat-cafe-in-london

Pizza Museum: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2023690459/pizza-brain-the-worlds-first-pizza-museum-and-rest

Key Takeaways

Have a plan. Create online policies – for email

marketing, online solicitation and social media.

Make sure everything is in compliance. Take some time to find the right tool.Invest resources (staff, time, money) in

fundraising, whether it be online or off. Professional development is your friend.

Resources

Harness The Crowd – www.harnessthecrowd.com – free e-book and other resources

The Crowd Café – www.thecrowdcafe.com Crowdmapped.comSmallknot.com – for local businesses (not

in Boston area, but coming soon)

Thank you!

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