Crowdfunding presentation to Utah Nonprofits Association Members in Ogden, Utah

1. Crowdfunding For Your Cause
Devin D. Thorpe
December 3, 2013
Ogden, Utah

2. Thank You UNA
• This training is made
possible by
• The Utah Nonprofits
Association
• American Express
• Utah Division of Arts
and Museums
• Ogden’s George S.
Eccles Dinosaur Park
Chris
Bray
Kim
Delaney

3. Teton Dam

4. What is crowdfunding?
• Raising money from the crowd through thirdparty online platforms
– Donations
– Rewards or “Pretailing”
– Investments

5. SMAC! Monkeys

6. LiveMoreAwesome

7. Vivienne – Make a Stand

8. Crowdfunding Timeline
(Weeks)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Campaign Live
On Site 1 Day to
60 Days
Reconnaissance
Preparation
Ground Assault
Air Attack

9. Reconnaissance
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•
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Assess your crowdfunding potential
Survey your team
Count your friends
Review platforms and choose one
Identify Media

10. Assessment
• Your cause
• Your team
• Your network

11. Assessing Your Cause
Score your cause on a 5-point scale for:
• The “Face” of your campaign: is it appealing?
• The urgency: is there a native reason people must
act now?
• The politics: Is your cause potentially divisive?
• Geography: Is your cause local?
• Community: Is your cause tied to a larger
community, religion or club?
• Project or event: Is there a specific project or
event to be funded?

12. Assessing Your Team
• How many partners?
• How many champions?
• How many boosters?
• Partners are worth an
average of $2,000 each.
• Champions are worth
about $1,000 each.
• Boosters are worth
about $500 each.

13. Assessing Your Network
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•
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Friends you can call
Friends you can email
Friends you have on Facebook
Friends you have on Twitter
Friends on LinkedIn, Google+ and other social
networks

14. Estimating Your Potential
• Most common donation: $20
• Average donation is $75 (skewed by a few
large donations)
• Don’t expect more than 10% of your friends to
support you. The more “friends” you have, the
lower the percentage likely to support your
campaign.
• 1000 friends * $75 * 10% = $7,500

15. Amplification
• If your cause scores below 10 points, be creative to find
ways to improve your score before crowdfunding.
• If you scored 11 to 20 points, expect little or no out-ofnetwork support.
• If you scored 21-25 points, expect up to 25% of your
money to come from outside your network. (If your
network is good for $7,500 you could raise $10,000.)
• If you scored 26 to 30 points, expect up to 75% of your
money to come from outside your network. (If your
network is good for $7,500 you could raise $30,000.)

16. Platforms
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Razoo: LoveUTGiveUT
Fundly: Biggest for nonprofits
StartSomeGood: Cause oriented
Indiegogo: Includes causes
Kickstarter: Excludes causes
Hundreds of others

17. Identify Media
• Bloggers you know
• Traditional media:
relationships are key
• People who cover your
“space”

18. Preparation
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•
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Build and organize teams
Train your team
Organize lists
Design your rewards/recognition
Draft email messages, tweets and posts
Write a press release
Produce a video

19. Organize Your Team
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•
•
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Identify your partners
Identify and sign up your champions
Recruit Boosters
Create contests and incentives for Champions
and Boosters

20. Four Tiers of Rewards
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Nonprofits that offer no tangible reward
Modest rewards for nonprofits
Perks for social ventures
Rewards for social ventures with consumer
products/services

21. Acknowledgements
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•
•
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Some platforms don’t allow rewards
Tax receipt
What you can do with the money
Recogition:
– Twitter posts
– “Mike Smith Day” (Traveling Stories: http://bit.ly/YTG94l)
– Naming rights to a project (Traveling Stories:
http://bit.ly/YTG94l)
– Name on website, annual report
– Inclusion in press announcements (we’ll quote you) (Free
the Information: http://bit.ly/YTECv3)

22. A Powerful Press Release
• Target the media
carefully
– 30 is better than 300
• Find an online template
• Distribute by personal
email
• Put the entire release in
the email (not an
attachment)

23. Importance of the Video
• Most important element on the campaign
page; make an effort.
• Not the most important part of the campaign;
don’t break the bank.

24. Face
• Find an appealing or
compelling “face” for
your video and your
campaign
• Include yourself—or
your leader—in the
video.

25. Authenticity

26. Brevity
• 2 – 3 minutes
• 2:59 is better than 3:01
• Capture attention
quickly
• Cover the key points in
the first 30 seconds

27. Powerful Images
• Take full advantage of
the medium
• Not just talking heads
• Use stills to supplement
video
Photo credit: Sprengben [why not get a friend] / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-SA

28. Tell a Story
• Create context
• Create a hope, a
goal, an aspiration
• Explain the challenge in
the goal
• Explain the solution
Photo credit: aye_shamus / Foter.com / CC BY-NC-ND

29. Make an “Ask”
• Ask for a donation
• Ask for people to share
the video/campaign
with their friends

30. Don’t Forget Basics
•
•
•
•
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Who
What
Where
When
Why

31. Quality
• For campaigns hoping to generate more than
$100,000, plan to spend some money on a
professional
• Less optimistic folks should find a friend who
can help or do it yourself
– Good lighting is most important for what you see
– A good microphone is most important for what
you hear

32. Let’s Make a Video
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Interview style
What is the cause?
Who is the organization?
How does this money help?
Where does the money go?
When can people give?

33. Ground War
Before the campaign starts:
• Call out the big guns: meet face to face with
people who can give big money
• Sharp shooting: get on the phone with people
who will give good donations
• Machine Guns: Send personal, individual emails
to the people you know will support you simply
because you ask.
• Start before you start! Get commitments for 50%
of your goal before you launch!

34. Start Before You Start
Each Partner, Champion and Booster Should:
• Identify the five biggest donors closest to you;
schedule meetings to make the ask - $500 to
$5,000
• Identify 15 to 30 people who may not make big
donations but are certain to donate if you ask;
call them by phone.
• Identify 30 to 100 people who may also donate
and send personalized emails to each one
• Continue the personal outreach throughout your
campaign

35. Launch Party
Host a big party or multiple, simultaneous
parties
• Connect using Google+ Hangout and
broadcast live
• Coordinate interaction during the party
• Announce rewards and contests
• Encourage social media
• Above all, be creative and have fun!

36. Air Attack
Before the campaign begins:
• Traditional Media
– Contact every blogger you know
– Send a press release to your local paper, TV and Radio
After the campaign begins:
• Social Media
– Daily posts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+
– Post everywhere you have an audience

37. Social Media
Each partner and champion should engage her own
social media audience
• During the campaign make daily tweets and daily
Facebook posts on the campaign
• Use the crowdfund campaign to launch a
Facebook page if you don’t have one
• Use Google+ even if you don’t yet have an
audience there
• Be sure to tweet and post about the things you
normally do

38. Social Media (Cont.)
• Emphasize the cause over the campaign.
– NOT: We reached $5,000 today! Woot!
– YES: You’ve donated $5,000 so far to end hunger
in Africa/Educate Girls in Afghanistan/Provide
Equal Opportunity for underprivileged kids in our
community, now help spread the word!

39. Traditional Media
Every partner and champion should:
• Identify bloggers you know personally
• Identify bloggers who write about relevant topics—relevant
to your cause
• Reach out to all of these bloggers asking them to write
about your cause (first) and your campaign (second).
• Prepare a traditional press release
• Consider PR Web for $80
• Personally send the email to traditional media types who
may be interested—the media LOVES to talk up charities.
• Make yourself available for radio and television and offer
yourself up.

40. Crowdfunding for Social Good
Download for free at
YourMarkOnTheWorld.com
when you subscribe.

41. Q&A

42. Mid-life Crisis

43. Remember the Cavalry