21+1 Proven Practices for a Successful Crowdfunding Event

21+1 Tips For A Successful
Crowdfunding Event
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#KimbiaWebinars

Confidential document: Kimbia Inc. 2016
Hi!

Miriam Kagan
Senior Fundraising
Principal

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#KimbiaWebinars @KimbiaInc

3

Why Crowdfunding?
•  It’s here to stay
•  Drives signiﬁcant new
revenue
•  Recruits new high value
donors – up to 60%
•  Engages major donors
•  Sustainability

Yes!!!
ü Compelling
Demographics
ü Omni-Channel
Engagement
ü Long-Tail Effect
"

5

Do Crowdfunding Events
Lead to More Giving?

6

Higher Education Events
7

- Purdue Day of Giving:
$13.7M raised in 2015
(87% more than previous
year)
- Columbia University:
$12.79M in donations
- Cornell University:
$6.97M in donations

Community Foundation
Events
8

- North Texas Giving
Day: $33.1M raised in
its 7th year (26% of
donations from ﬁrst
time donors)
- Give to the Max Day:
$18 million
- Give Miami Day: $7.16
million raised in its 3rd
year

1. Create a Project Plan
•  Document all tasks
•  Assign each task to
someone
•  Set completion
dates for each task
•  Assign a project
manager

Chapter/Affiliate
Project/Mission
Tap into local pride, enthusiasm and
creativity
Include local, national and
international projects with multi-
currency, multi-language and multi-
funds flow
Enable both local, national and
international matches
Provide a variety of projects so there
is something to appeal to everyone
Choose either local or national data
and funds flow
Leverage the multiplying effect of the
internet via peer-to-peer fundraising
2. Choose a Crowdfunding
Model

3. Pick a Date
•  Major milestone like an
anniversary or world
awareness day
•  Quiet time in the year
•  Launch a capital
campaign
•  #GivingTuesday
•  What works for your
organization?

4. Deﬁne Your Audience
•  Major Donors
•  First Time
Donors
•  Influencers

5. Compelling Value
Proposition
•  How you solve a
problem
•  Why you
•  Show impact
•  Use the language
of your supporters
•  Highly visible
•  Use images

Compelling Value
Propositions Pay Oﬀ
•  Sci-Port received 156 gifts totaling over $107,000
during Give Local America
•  They were third overall in dollars raised
Sci-Port Value Proposition
“Louisiana’s Science Center provides a fun, educational
environment for people of all ages to explore and
actively engage in the world of mathematics, science
and technology. Sci-Port serves to spark curiosity about
the world around us, provides hands-on tools for using
scientific discovery in everyday life, and encourages a
passion for life-long learning.”

6. Strategic Promotion
Your plan should include:
•  Target audience
•  Best channels to reach
audience
•  Messages that resonate
•  Target number of
impressions
•  Monitor and measure
•  Two-way communications

Get Creative with your
Communications
•  Ask volunteers and board
members to email key
people
•  Advertise at events
•  Enable partners to embed
forms
•  Reach out to radio, TV
•  Recruit corporate sponsors

7. Set Explicit,
Measurable Goals
Set SMART Goals: specific, measurable,
attainable, relevant and time-bound
•  What is your overall fundraising goal?
•  Are those goals realistic and
attainable?
•  Are they relevant to your Crowdfunding
event?
•  Can you set goals for specific times of
the day?

8. Recruit Online
Ambassadors
•  Consider board members,
staff, volunteers, partners
•  Schedule “workshop-style”
training
•  Review:
-  Brainstorm
-  Goals and timeline
-  Draft letters to potential donors
-  Strategize on donor outreach

9. Incentive Structure
•  Create prize & match
opportunities
•  Incentivize healthy competition
•  Prizes include:
-  First project/program to reach
goal
-  Most donors in given period
-  Most referrals from given partner
-  Fund with most international
donors

10. Customize Messaging
Create specific talking points for
specific audiences based on:
•  Giving levels
•  Giving frequency
•  Giving focus
•  Giving recency
•  Channel preferences
•  Demographics

11. Criteria for Choosing a
Crowdfunding Platform
•  Protects your brand
•  Provides you with donor data
•  Features real-time leader boards
•  Makes forms easy to share
•  Gives you peer-to-peer functionality
•  Offers mobile-responsiveness
•  Reduces form abandonment
•  Assures scalability
•  Includes multi-currency, multi-language and multi-
country settlement

12. Key Elements for Success
•  Optimize forms for conversion and
reducing friction
•  Provide clear, prominent calls-to-
action
•  Make forms easy-to-use
•  Keep forms short
•  Prominently feature your
crowdfunding event
•  Give contextual reasons to give
•  Provide suggested donation amounts
•  Mobile-optimize your site
The
University
of
Maryland
featured

personal
video
stories
of
scholarship

recipients
alongside
dona>on
forms

13. Communications & Social
Media Training is Critical

14. Event Day HQ
•  Sufficient staff to field
questions
•  Community outreach
•  Real-time
communications

15. Social Media
Leverage social media
to amplify crowdfunding
buzz and outreach:
•  Use tracking codes to
measure
effectiveness
•  Build a “spread the
word” page
•  Leverage Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram,
Vine, and others

16. Real-Time Updates
•  Feature real-time
results on home
page
•  Leverage social
media, youtube,
email to amplify
results

17. In-Person Events
•  Farmers markets
•  Potlucks
•  Concerts
•  A flash mob
•  Evening of wine, hors
d’oeuvres and jazz
•  River parade
•  Stream a live conference

18. Leverage Peer-to-Peer
Communications

19. Say “Thanks”

20. Enable Post-Event Giving

22. Plan Your Next Event

Kimbia provides an all-in-one solution for…
Online Fundraising
Event Registration
Peer-to-Peer, Team
& DIY Fundraising
Giving Days
Custom Forms

The Kimbia Solution
Embedded
in
an
organiza>ons

exis>ng
website

•  Enables
branding
control

•  Increases
donor

conversion
by
30%
on
avg

Best
of
Breed,
cloud-‐based

plaKorm

Mobile-‐ready
responsive

•  No
need
for
web
APIs
to

build
/
style

Social
sharing
integra>on

Works
with
client
systems
of

choice:

•  Integra>on
ease
using
data
APIs

•  App
on
Salesforce
AppXchange

Secure,
PCI
Level
1
compliant,

forms

£€
¥
$ Mul>-‐Currency

Mul>-‐Language

20+

Gateways

Q&A

Next Steps:
Get the full list of expert
crowdfunding tips
download our eBook in
our follow up email.
At Kimbia We Set New Standards of Crowdfunding Success Every Day!

www.kimbia.com"
@kimbiainc"
"
Miriam@kimbia.com"
@miriamkagan"

41

Thank you!
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21+1 Proven Practices for a Successful Crowdfunding Event

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