Aside from how critically important it is to thoroughly plan a crowdfunding campaign; two issues stand out as the most challenging – and they should be considered as integral to early planning – publicising the initiative and maintaining interest.

Planning is critical

Key to sound marketing is to have as large a ‘crowd’ as possible ahead of launching a campaign (extensive mailing list, substantial social media followers, and many people who have agreed to both donate and, vitally, share the link with their friends and contacts – in the hope that it is shared with their friends’ friends). The media rarely feature articles on ‘yet another campaign’. BackaBuddy has around 2,500 new campaigns go live on their platform each month! Planning to spread the word is critical to success and remains the responsibility of campaign creators.

Maintaining the momentum of a campaign should also be meticulously planned. Successful (well planned) donations-based campaigns generally have over 80% of money raised within 72 hours of going live. In rewards-based campaigns and those with specific timelines or deadline dates, about 30% of funds are raised in the first 48 hours and around 35% in the final week.

A consideration of human nature makes these patterns understandable. When something is new and fresh, it’s easy to give it one’s attention: announcements about a campaign going live and the sharing of links, motivates supporters to action. Following the tension of preparation, transition to a campaign going live often sees campaign creators have a burst of energy. Then, as time passes, the excitement can wane.

In planning to publicise a campaign (sharing of information and the link), it is invaluable to have a supportive influencer and/or well-known patron share the campaign with their networks. Such sharing should happen once initial donations from ‘inner circle’ backers have been made. It’s been proven repeatedly that people not directly connected to an NPO rarely support a campaign that has little or no income.

Maintaining Interest

Setting up momentum triggers can be an art. One approach is to create a campaign calendar. After planning the dates on which the campaign will be live, from launch to closure, it is a good idea to consider ways to boost interest and include these. Triggers should either be planned or spontaneously adopted as opportunities arise. A campaign manager should try to maintain momentum triggers throughout, for example, by scheduling one or two activities a week (publicity; a social media challenge) to maintain freshness and visibility.

Happiness and positivity, coupled with impact, create the largest tide of a giving wave. If penguins are endangered, the hope created by sharing information on a successful new penguin generation, can pull heart strings twice as hard.

Matched funding makes an excellent pre-planned boost.

Local and national news should be monitored, as should social media and trending hashtags. As trends develop, momentum can be gained by identifying these and finding creative but appropriate ways to use them to enhance a campaign’s message and publicity. When conversations trend, they move fast. Having prepared copy on certain angles and a range of good photographs ready to enable rapid crafting of related content, can mean additional thousands donated to a campaign.

Rewards-based campaigns can use rewards to maintain momentum. A special, limited-offer release of a desirable reward, mid-campaign, can create a buzz. Building reward tiers that have limited numbers available at different pricing, also adds motivation to early bird supporters.

It’s a good idea to plan to update social media posts a few times a week during the campaign. The message should vary and not just ask for money. Celebrating milestones and incremental targets works well:

• Reaching the first 50 (and subsequent 100, 150, etc) social media likes
• The first 100 and subsequent milestone shares
• The first 20; 50; 75 donors
• The quarter, midway and three-quarter points of reaching the target
• The 90% point is powerful – ‘Almost there!’ often prompts existing donors to give again and/or to share and request that their networks assist in the home stretch.

Extract from Crowdfunding for Non-profits by Jill Ritchie and Erica Schofield. 

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