June 4, 2020 |

5 Tips to Get Started With Nonprofit Crowdfunding

Is your nonprofit struggling with limited time and resources? What if there was a way to make your fundraising efforts go even further? Nonprofit crowdfunding multiplies the impact of your fundraising by leveraging an army of supporters who work on your behalf to spread the message about your cause and get donations.

Through a nonprofit crowdfunding campaign, your organization will:

• Increase your reach
• Find new donors
• Build deeper connections with existing donors
• Rally the advocacy community around your cause
• Diversify your revenue stream
• Raise money to support your mission

How Does Nonprofit Crowdfunding Work?

A crowdfunding campaign engages your supporters to raise funds from their contacts on your nonprofit’s behalf. Your organization sets up a campaign form to accept donations towards a specific cause or goal. Supporters join your cause by donating directly to your organization’s page. They can also create a their own form to share with family and friends.

Every nonprofit crowdfunding campaign includes these five essential components:

• Clear, attainable campaign goals
• Powerful storytelling elements
• A secure, easy way to participate in the campaign
• A comprehensive communications plan to spread the word about your cause
• Frequent campaign updates to keep the momentum going

Follow our tips and best practices below for each campaign component to maximize the results of your nonprofit crowdfunding campaign.

Tip #1: Create Compelling Crowdfunding Campaign Goals

The success of your nonprofit crowdfunding campaign depends on how many participants you have. How can you drive supporters to donate and motivate them to participate in your cause?

Your campaign should run for a fixed time and have compelling financial, engagement, and impact goals.

DonorPerfect Online Forms provides a place to enter campaign goals on your form to motivate your participants and keep them engaged. Consider adding your goals when building out the reason supporters should participate in your nonprofit crowdfunding campaign.

IMPACT GOALS

• Why are you launching this campaign?
• What else are you looking to increase, and how will you measure it? (e.g., awareness, social media, website traffic, etc.)

FINANCIAL GOALS

• How much are you trying to raise?
• By when? How long will your campaign run?

ENGAGEMENT GOALS

• How many supporters do you want to participate?
• Is there a volunteer component to your campaign? How many new volunteers are you hoping to recruit?
• How many additional members do you want to gain?

The clearer and more compelling your crowdfund goals are, the more successful your campaign will be.

Tip #2: Make the Donor the Hero of Your Story

Storytelling is a huge part of creating meaningful connections with supporters. It will power your nonprofit crowdfunding campaign to success. Focus on how donors can make a difference to achieve your campaign goals.

When you make your supporters the hero of your story, it helps them to connect emotionally to your crowdfunding appeal.

The more storytelling elements you have, the more effective your appeal will be. DonorPerfect Online Forms provides a place to build your organization’s story in your form and offers tips as you create it.

Gather these resources as a starting point for your storytelling elements:

• Powerful images and videos
• Stories or quotes from program recipients
• Volunteer testimonials
• Staff/Board Member bios and why they love your mission
• Details of challenges you’re facing to fulfill your mission
• Any recent accomplishments or successes

Did you know that adding video to your campaign will help you to raise 105% more? Check out these tips to make your own successful DIY fundraising video that looks professional and engages supporters.

Tip #3: Provide a Central Hub for Campaign Goals and Updates.

Once you’ve set your crowdfunding campaign goals and gathered storytelling elements, it’s time to create your organization’s main crowdfunding form. When supporters visit your organization’s form, they can choose to donate, or they can create their own fundraising page.

Your organization form acts as the central hub where you tell your story, update campaign progress and provide content that supporters can draw from to build momentum on their personal fundraising pages.

In DonorPerfect’s Online Forms, creating your page takes only a few minutes, especially if you’ve done the work of defining your campaign goals and gathering up available storytelling elements like videos, images, and quotes. Simply open DP Online Forms and click the Add a Form button on the Form List screen. Select the Crowdfunding template and follow the prompts on the screen to complete the setup.

Crowdfunding forms are edited like all other forms you create, except that they include crowdfunding-specific options on the menu that help you to personalize your organization’s story, add images, and set your campaign goals.

With DonorPerfect Online Forms, you can also manage the individual fundraiser pages that supporters create. Whenever someone creates their form from your organization’s page, you will be able to view and manage them from Crowdfunding > Fundraiser List. You can rename their page, resend their personalized page links, inactivate the fundraiser’s page, and more.

We’re Here For You

DonorPerfect’s Online Forms Success Hub takes you through every aspect of creating a form from start to finish. You can also find proven advice on how to increase form conversions and maximize donations in the Hub.

GET STARTED

Tip # 4: Make It Easy for Supporters to Participate in Your Campaign

Did you know that over 50% of the people who receive an email about your crowdfunding campaign will donate? Your supporters, board members, volunteers, and others love your nonprofit and want to participate in your cause. Start by sharing your organization’s page with them and asking them to create their own pages to fundraise on your behalf.

Make it easy for supporters to share their fundraising page with others. Provide them with sample emails and social media posts to use.

Save time and strengthen your message by reusing some of your storytelling elements in the campaign emails and social media posts that solicit supporters to participate in your cause.

For inspiration and free templates, visit Your Nonprofit Crowdfunding Kit, a free resource packed with social media, email, and other helpful examples.

GET THE TEMPLATES

TIP #5: Keep Momentum Going With Frequent Page Updates

Posting frequent updates to your crowdfunding page is a critical part of running your campaign. Nonprofit organizations that post regular updates can raise up to three times more than those who don’t post updates.

Updates show your supporters that you care about your cause and demonstrate progress. By keeping them in the loop, they’ll know that their contributions are being put to good use and want to fundraise more.

DP Online Forms lets you update your main organizational crowdfunding form with photos and videos that show your fundraising progress. Offline donations (i.e., cash and checks) can also be applied to update the progress towards your campaign’s fundraising goal.

Once updated, email supporters and post your updates on social media for donors to share your progress with friends and family. Also, be sure to send thank you notes to your individual fundraisers during the campaign to let them know how their contributions make a difference.

Share Your Crowdfunding Tips

Do you have a tip or advice to share about starting a crowdfunding campaign? What have you done to successfully fundraise using crowdfunding? Share your tips in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.