Crowd funding is a simple practice, started in 1997, to raise the funds via internet for the particular project or venture through the collective efforts of the large group of people. Crowdfunding is an innovative and growing platform to get financial help. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “The practice of getting a large number of people to each give small amounts of money in order to provide the finance for a business project, typically using the internet:”
Here are some quick and basic steps for Crowdfunding:
The crucial part of the online fundraising is to do research. Do research on the different sites. The Soho Loft News estimated about 2,000 Global Crowdfunding Sites is raising funds. There are various popular sites e.g. Indiegogo: Project and Marketplace, Gofundme: Education Programs, Volunteers Program etc, Travelstarter: Bussiness and Travel related projects, Youcaring: True Humanity Projects, Crowdrise: Arts and Sports project and Fundly: Community/Personal projects etc.
Choose the site regards on:
Each site has specific features so you must be very careful and clear towards your project idea. It troubles the campaigners at the end of the campaign with the hidden cost. Some sites charge 5% as Platform fees and 3% for transactional cost so the price varies with the sites.
GlobalGiving is the biggest platform which connects the large group of non-profits, donors, and companies. It is a nonprofit that makes it easy and safe to give to projects anywhere in the world while providing local organizations the tools, training, and support to make the world little fair to live in. It provides the manual guide to raise the fund easily. So far it has helped to raise $3324M for 19,374 projects from different parts of the country. This site is specific to NGOs’ where it is reliable to raise the funds and trustworthy.
Summarizing the project idea in a page is mostly intimidating and overwhelming one so it’s important to outline some basic information. Most donors want to know who the fundraiser, who are the beneficiaries and where they are located, what will be the impacts from the fund raised, how it will be used. You can also mention how urgent the money is. Write the story which comes from your heart and creates the empathy. Try to make the donors feel their small contribution will result in a big positive impact. Use the image with high resolution and some videos of previous events (If you have). It helps to gain the donors’ trust and shows your project is reliable and it is real.
E.g. Put some nice picture of kid finishing her assignment if you are raising funds to sponsor her for education.
All online fundraising requires a third-party credit card processor such as PayPal, WePay or Stripe. So be sure that you access with any of these accounts.
Always try to create the project on the social media friendly sites. Your target audiences are more connected to the social sites like Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Instagram, Mail chimps etc. So make sure that the campaigns are easy to share via social media sites. Start out by letting your inner network know about the campaign gain instant traction. Ask your friends, relatives or Facebook friends to comment, share and like about the post on the Facebook page. The more engagement drives more attractions. It is embarrassing to ask money every time with the same circle of friends so boost your Facebook post to reach out new donors. Send emails to individuals about the project and update them what you are up to.
Don’t forget to send thank you notes to each and every donor. It is also very important to update the program activities on the crowdfunding sites. Upload the recent pictures and videos daily if your project is running. Send the monthly reports and progress. Luckily, if it happens to have only one donor to fund the whole project then it is important to send the financial reports or who has donated a huge amount. They are more concern about how wisely the money has been used. It motivates them to donate again for the upcoming project.
Sajana Bhadel is a President of Girls Empowered by Travel-Nepal since 2015. As a professional social worker, she has long been involved in interventions at different phases of program planning, administration, and logistics, monitoring, and evaluation of program sustainability processes and community ownership. She holds the Master Degree in Economics.
