Elevate your EOFY Crowdfunding to the Next Level with these Techniques

Crowdfunding is a growing phenomenon and has become a catchphrase term used in both the personal and not-for-profit sectors. Australian charities are continuously exploring new and alternative ways to diversify their income streams.

mycause crowdfunding will become imperative to your charity's donation appeals and future fundraising strategy. To find out why, read more here.

Below are some quick techniques which will help elevate your End of Financial Year campaign to the next level.

Define your project scope

A successful crowdfunding campaign will address a specific issue and should set out exactly what your organisation wishes to achieve.

Australians like to know what their donations are contributing towards and are drawn to tangible campaigns with stories, which directly impact and resonate with them.

mycause crowdfunding should not be used to simply help raise your annual charity fundraising target for your annual appeal, rather, it should focus on turning a specific project, which will assist your cause, a reality.

For example, you might have a goal to build a school, which will cost $1 million.

Don’t ask for $1 million! It sounds like a big ask for donors - and many might assume you are fundraising to reach your annual target or fundraising to collect admin cost. ADDRESS A SPECIFIC ISSUE THROUGH YOUR CAMPAIGN.

Can you break down the project into smaller portions, like buildings or resources?

For instance, the sports centre will cost $100,000 to build.  You can form your campaign around this more bite-sized goal, then donors will be able to more easily visualise what their money will contribute to.

If you want more help in setting your targets, get access to our formula here.

Tailor your message

There are a few levels of ‘crowds’ that you can promote your cause to. It starts with your previous donors, includes ongoing affiliates and partners, and can span all the way to the wider public or even the media if your story is compelling and unique enough. Some people will donate, others will fundraise for your charity, and others will share your campaign to help promote your cause.

Therefore it is imperative, as with any marketing campaign, that you tailor your messages to each of these different segments.

Put time and effort into the message that accompanies it.

Create a balance between an a compelling story and a clear call-to-action to either donate, share or create their own fundraising page.

For example:

“Thanks so much for helping us raise $10,000 so far. This will help us provide much needed help and support for young people in Cambodia who are facing daily struggles with disease and malnutrition because they can’t access clean water." (This is the emotive story)

OR

"We are halfway to our target of $20,000. This will help us provide a water fountain and clean toilet for the town of XXX in Cambodia. Please share this campaign to help us get to that goal and complete our mission!” (This is the call-to-action)

 

Create a launch plan

Whatever you do, do NOT go to market with your campaign until you have developed a marketing launch plan. The first few days are critical so if you are not ready and well planned, it could cost you thousands in lost donations.

Not all your activities should be rolled out at once. Put together a schedule that’s easy for all those involved in the project to understand and follow. Consider timing, messages & posts for pre-launch, launch, mid way to target, almost to target and completion, as well as a thank you message.

Check out our tips for creating a launch plan here.

Segment your emails

Don’t cut corners with a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to your email communications. As discussed above, segment your messages according to your audience. If you use a third party email program such as Mailchimp or Campaign Monitor, you can segment your email database and send them different messages to save money.

Consider demographics such as their location, age, if they are previous donors and whether they have opened or clicked on your previous emails. Send a different message to your “high-value” or corporate donors than for your one time donors or fundraisers.

For example:

You sent a mass email last EOFY to your full supporter database. You could then send your next email only to the segment of users who OPENED the email last time, or who CLICKED the donate link.

If you segment effectively, not only will you save money, but your key metric results (open and click rates) will improve and people will be more engaged with your content.  

New to social media or need some extra tips on how to harness social media for fundraising success? Check out our guide to social media.

Experiment with Facebook advertising

Facebook has incredibly detailed advertising tools that thousands of organisations and charities are using to target potential supporters and donors.

Due to their highly segmented audience targeting, timing, budgeting and analytics, there is little risk to investing. Create an account and experiment with Facebook ads for your cause.

Explore how to set up your first Facebook advertising campaign here.

Discover the power of Twitter

Twitter isn’t just for celebrities, politicians and spokespeople - it is a powerful tool to generate exposure for major events and causes, particularly if it is a timely or topical issue.

To utilise Twitter for your cause, use hashtags, and handle tags.

Hashtags (#) allow people to find posts related to their interests by searching across multiple social media channels. Create a unique and powerful hashtag for your campaign and post it across all your promotional materials.

Use Handle tags (@) to search Twitter for related affiliates, events, fundraisers, and others who would support your cause. Tweet a post and tag their name starting with the @.

For example:

RT @mndaustralia: State MND Associations do the most amazing work supporting people who are living with #MND #MNDWeek

Engaging in dialogue with followers and supporters is the best way of getting your campaign out there on social media. By tagging others, they will be more engaged with your charity and will become a more regular follower.

Talk to your donors

Don’t sit back and expect the donations to roll in before June 30! You must keep your supporters engaged.

• Remind them of the time limit to donate before June 30 to receive tax deductions.
• Monitor and respond quickly to enquiries, especially from media.
• Post regular updates about the progress of your campaign towards to project goal.
• Remind supporters when you are close to your goal, they might even donate again.
• Don’t forget to thank everyone who donated.

Evaluate: Learn from your achievements and mistakes

After your campaign has closed, a post-campaign analysis is just as important as the launch.

You need to see the wins and flaws in your campaign so you can take learnings for your next campaign.

Consider the following points:

• Did you stick to your launch plan? If no, why not?
• What elements took the most time and resources, were they worth the effort?
• What was the general feedback from the public? How can you leverage this into your future messaging?
• Were there any negative comments from the public that you could have avoided?
• What were the most successful promotional platforms? How much did they cost you per donation dollar?

Asking these questions also enables you to see the cost effectiveness of crowdfunding in comparison with traditional methods, which you can then use to justify the spend to the board or director.

Follow our guide to launching your crowdfunding campaign and prepare your campaign carefully and you will make a real impact for your annual appeal this End of Financial Year.