How You Can Raise Money Via Crowdfunding
Nonprofits have some effective tools in their tool belts like Attendance and Peer-to-Peer by FundEasy. These intuitive software products take the tedious and mundane time-consuming tasks and streamline them into efficient timesavers. Another one of the effective software products is Crowdfunding.
What Is Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is the practice of raising small amounts of money from a large number of people. Typically done online, this type of fundraising taps into the power of many. Crowdfunding for nonprofits allows anyone, anywhere, at any time to donate to your organization.
The Scope Of The Internet
About 63% of the world's population has access to the internet. Two-thirds of the world’s population should be online by the second half of 2023. A staggering 94% of all internet users will use social media every month, and that number is growing by 620,000 new users every day.
People are using their mobile devices to go online at least 55% of the time and mobile use accounts for 60% of the world’s web traffic.
Infographic courtesy of DataReportal
Internet-powered Crowdfunding is set to become a $90 - 96 billion dollar industry by 2025. While the majority of that is a reflection of for-profit ventures, it has caught on as a valuable tool of how to raise money via crowdfunding for nonprofits.
According to Nonprofits Source, $9,237.55 is the average amount that a nonprofit crowdfunding fundraising raises and about 17% of those fundraising donations are made on mobile devices.
Just what do all these percentages and numbers mean to your nonprofit?
With an increase in connectivity, there are now new, and larger markets for nonprofits. The percentages mean that there is strength in numbers and more than one way of fundraising.
How to raise money via crowdfunding has become so much easier for your nonprofit with the increase in internet connectivity.
What Are The Advantages of Crowdfunding?
One of the advantages of crowdfunding is that it can reach a much more diverse audience than your regular donors. This can attract new donors that might not have contributed to your cause otherwise and is another example of how to raise money via crowdfunding.
Another advantage is that your crowdfunded campaign can be easily shared via social media, along with links to giving portals. This gives potential donors the ability to immediately act on their positive response to your campaign from their mobile or at-home devices.
How To Raise Money Via Crowdfunding
You are probably wondering just how to raise money via crowdfunding.
Fortunately, it is most likely that you are already employing some of the same strategies in your current fundraising efforts that you would be in crowdfunding for nonprofits. Below, we have some tips on how to raise money via crowdfunding for nonprofits.
Tell An Effective Story
“When people are emotionally drawn to your story, they are more willing to invest in your charity.”
Story #1: “People all over the world lack a good education.”
Story #2: “More than 773 million adults - two thirds of whom are women - still lack basic reading and writing skills. You have the power to change that.”
Both of these stories are true, but which one is more effective in conveying the mission behind the message? Story #2 is Room to Read's message that gets your attention by effectively stating the problem and giving a solution.
The most important aspect of how to raise money via crowdfunding, is to have a very strong story, like the one Room to Read has, behind your campaign.
There is a way to use storytelling in campaigns that helps your chances of success. When you reach out with an impactful storyline, it can be a compelling motivation for potential donors to contribute and is an important strategy in knowing how to raise money via crowdfunding.
Your storyline needs to be on the donation page and very clearly state why help is needed.
When people are emotionally drawn to your story, they are more willing to invest in your charity. Just as Room to Read’s campaign states a need that we all can identify with, you need to have a story that will resonate with potential supporters.
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto
Promote Your Campaign The Day Of Setup
A seasoned nonprofit knows not to take the chance of like-minded potential donors stumbling across their campaign.
Promoting your crowdfunding campaign is essential.
Start promoting your campaign the same day you set it up. The most successful days of nonprofit crowdfunding are in the first and last three days of the campaign.
Starting with your donor lists and adding friends, family, and community members is a good plan of action on how to raise money via crowdfunding.
Be Specific About What The Money Is Going For
We are all familiar with campaigns that say “Save The (Plant, Animal, Etc.)”
Most educated donors (and the ones that can become repeat donors) are not going to give serious consideration to a campaign that is generic in nature.
Don’t leave potential donors guessing about exactly where their monies will go. Be specific about why monies are needed, how much, how it will be used, and the expected outcome.
Use Pictures And Videos For Added Impact
Photo Courtesy of The Marine Mammal Center
This harks back to effective storytelling. As the saying goes: A picture is worth a thousand words. You could state on your crowdfunding page: “Baby seals need our help” and that would convey a true message.
But, if you use a picture, like the one that The Marine Mammal Center used (above), you tug on heartstrings and get across a more impactful message than words alone can do.
Videos can add a personal touch and increase engagement. Videos can educate your audience and help them to better understand the needs and mission of your nonprofit.
Update Supporters
Keep your supporters updated on your crowdfunding page.
The nonprofits that keep their page current during the campaign see far more donations when supporters are updated promptly.
It is an encouragement to those who donate and confirms their choice when supporters see others donating too. The closer to the goal your nonprofit gets, the more your donors are assured that they made the right choice.
A Perfect Opportunity To Use Crowdfunding: Giving Tuesday
Giving Tuesday is the first Tuesday after Thanksgiving each year. This practice was started in 2012 and had grown exponentially over the years. Starting as an antidote for the excessive spending during the Christmas holidays, Giving Tuesday estimates that 35 million adults in the United States alone gave 2.7 billion dollars to charities in 2021.
Crowdfunding, which is nonprofit fundraising software, will help you to set up and share your campaign, invite donors to contribute and get deposits straight into your bank.
Like all of us, donors live busy lives and are pulled in many directions. Using this type of Crowdfunding format makes it easy for donors to contribute and to see the impact of their donations on Giving Tuesday, or during any or your campaigns.
The Chosen: The #1 Crowdfunded Media Project In History
Photo Credit: 316tees.com
The Chosen is the first ever multi-season series about the life of Christ and a stellar example of the impact of many when using a crowdfunding platform. The series closely follows the life of Jesus from the perspective of the people closest to Him.
In November 2019, season one was released. That season was funded by 16,000 people who donated $11,000,000, making The Chosen the largest crowdfunded media project in history.
Receiving a 9.6 rating on IMDb and a 99% Rotten Tomatoes, this series is worth the watch. If you would like to see the series that is an inspiring example of crowdfunding, you can watch it here: The Chosen.
Final Thoughts
Crowdfunding platforms for nonprofits help to simplify the process. The platform will walk you through how to raise money via crowdfunding, and FundEasy backs that up with a support team if you have questions.
When putting together your Crowdfunding campaign, make sure you showcase the community you are helping.
Gather testimonials from those you have supported directly as their stories will help potential donors see the value in contributing.
If you'd like to learn more about our Peer-to-peer, Attendance, or Crowdfunding products, please reach out! We'd love to chat.
Also, if you haven't joined already, we have an exclusive Facebook Group just for our customers! If you are a current FundEasy Customer and would like to join, go here to learn more and request to be added!
Crystal Hoag
This article was inspired by our customers and written to encourage your fundraising efforts. Although we work with nonprofits and events daily, our team members are not Event Consultants. We encourage you to consult with your event consultant, executive team, and/or affiliate organization before making any major changes to your events.
