December 17, 2019 |

Your Nonprofit Crowdfunding Campaign Kit (with Templates)

As donors flock to social media to share the issues that matter to them, many organizations are tapping into the growing community-based appeal of nonprofit crowdfunding.

Looking for the templates? Click here to zip to the form below!

What is Nonprofit Crowdfunding?

Nonprofit crowdfunding is an online fundraising strategy in which organizations create a main fundraiser page and invite their donors to create their own individual fundraiser pages branching off from that campaign. Donors then share their fundraising pages via email and on social media with their friends, family, colleagues, and connections to raise money for the organization. 

It’s no surprise that the popularity of nonprofit crowdfunding is quickly catching on, as the data shows incredible return on investment for an effort that’s largely light-handed from the perspective of the nonprofit staff. That’s because, with crowdfunding, you empower supporters to raise money for you. And that they do! According to DonorPerfect’s crowdfunding data:

• The average amount a supporter raises through their own crowdfunding page is $568.
• The average donation to a crowdfunding campaign is $66 USD.
• Over 50% of people who receive an email about a crowdfunding campaign donate.

This comprehensive guide is designed to help your organization learn the ins and outs of crowdfunding, choose the right tools for your needs, and build your communication strategy with the help of free templates. Contents include:

• 6 Events That Call for Crowdfunding Pages
• The Benefits of Nonprofit Crowdfunding
• Best Practices for a Hit Crowdfunding Campaign
• Your Complete Crowdfunding Campaign Template Pack

Get your templates now by filling out the form at the bottom of this page. 

How Does Nonprofit Crowdfunding Work?

Here’s how easy it is to equip your supporters to raise money for your organization with DonorPerfect Crowdfunding for nonprofits.

1. First, create your organization’s crowdfunding page.
2. Add a story, photos, and your fundraising goal.
3. Next, send a link to your organization’s crowdfunding page to your supporters and invite them to create their own fundraisers right from that page. 
4. Your supporters will share their fundraising pages with their network. (Note: With DonorPerfect Crowdfunding, your organization can maintain control over all individual fundraising pages associated with your organization. That way, you can ensure all messaging authored by donors is in line with your unique standards. 
5. All donations and donor information collected by your organization’s page and individual fundraising pages automatically flow right into your DonorPerfect CRM for heartfelt thank you emails and resolicitation down the line. No data entry needed! 

6 Events That Call for Crowdfunding Pages

Not sure if you “need” to try crowdfunding? Here are just some of many use cases in which the power to transform donors into D.I.Y. fundraisers can really come in handy.

Short-Term Fundraisers 

Ever launch a fundraising campaign that suddenly starts to putter when the goal line is almost in sight? Promoting your organization’s crowdfunding page as part of a multichannel campaign can provide your organization with the much-needed boost that will bring you closer to your fundraising goal. 

Social and Political Campaigns
In recent years, the polarized political climate in the United States has given way to social-media fueled fundraising campaigns sparked by stories in the news. If your organization’s mission addresses some of today’s hot-button issues, crowdfunding should be an essential component of your fundraising strategy. By providing donors with the tools they need to help you fund the progress they want to see, you enable them to find a meaningful purpose in moments when they feel powerless. 

Lofty Capital Campaigns

When it comes to funding a big venture, the ability to rally donors beyond your immediate network is crucial to your campaign success. You can set up your organization’s crowdfunding page in a way that’s dedicated to your capital campaign and suggest goal amounts for your donors’ individual fundraiser pages. If each individual fundraiser brings in $1,000 and 100 people participate, there’s $100,000 raised with minimal effort on your part! 

Birthday Fundraisers

Many of your donors would love nothing more than to celebrate their birthday on social by asking friends and family to donate to your organization. Create an organizational crowdfunding page on your website called “Donate Your Birthday” and invite your donors to set up their own fundraising pages to start their new year off by giving back. 

Giving Tuesday 

The social media bent that sets Giving Tuesday apart makes it the perfect day to leverage this community-driven fundraising strategy. Many organizations have seen great success by attaching their Giving Tuesday goal to a campaign that anyone can champion. 

Walks, Runs, and Races

Crowdfunding makes it easy for your supporters to get to the starting line by raising money solo or in teams. Set up an organizational crowdfunding page dedicated to your event so participants can easily raise the amount they need in order to join in by soliciting donations from people in their network. 

The Benefits of Nonprofit Crowdfunding 

Get more of the good stuff – effortlessly. 

Time and staffing resources are the most precious commodities in the nonprofit world, and crowdfunding can help your team gain more of both. 

By choosing crowdfunding, you’re essentially adding person power to fuel your fundraising campaign’s success without having to spend a dime. Not to mention, having those hands on deck for your fundraising campaign means that your team can stay focused on the other crucial tasks that never seem to stop piling up. 

Raise more money through maximum exposure.
A nonprofit organization can never have too many supporters, which is why crowdfunding is growing increasingly popular as a fundraising strategy. 

Crowdfunding not only engages your current donor base, it also enables your organization to be introduced to new audiences as donors create their own fundraisers for your cause and share it on their social media networks. Suddenly, the participation of a single donor can connect your organization with hundreds of their friends, family members, colleagues, and followers.

Enable donors to feel (even more) connected to your cause.

When you empower donors to create their own fundraisers through your organization’s crowdfunding page, they take their fundraiser personally because it’s just that – theirs. By sharing and promoting their fundraiser page, your donor takes pride in their ability to rally people they know around a cause that means a lot to them. 

Inspire the next generation of fundraisers. 

From Baby Boomers who love sharing grandbaby photos on Facebook to Gen Z youths who broadcast the highlights of their day via Instagram stories, your donors live on social media. And as the amount of money raised by nonprofits using Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter steadily rises year over year, it’s in your organization’s best interest to ensure they’re able to give to you on social media.

Best Practices for a Hit Crowdfunding Campaign

Show and tell a story that resonates.

When you set up your organization’s crowdfunding page, differentiate your ask by telling a compelling story that will pull at your donors’ heartstrings so they’ll want to create a fundraiser for you. Beyond that, you’ll want to ensure that they have enough details along with an image or two to effectively share your story (or their take on) with their networks. 

Set clear goals and deadlines.
When your supporters know what you’re shooting for, they’ll be more engaged in the campaign. By adding a progress bar to your organization’s fundraiser page, individual fundraisers will not only be able to keep tabs on their own progress, but they’ll also know how the campaign is faring overall.

In the same way displaying your goal sets expectations, adding a deadline to your overall campaign is a good idea because it creates a sense of urgency. For example, if you invite your supporters to participate in your crowdfunding campaign by saying, “Our goal is to raise $5,000 in 10 days and the countdown starts tomorrow!”, you’ll likely garner more engagement.

Actively invite your community to participate.
It doesn’t matter how inspiring your story is or how beautifully you build out your organization’s crowdfunding page. If no one knows you’re launching a crowdfunding campaign, these valuable assets may as well not even exist. The success of your campaign almost solely relies on your ability to effectively invite your supporters to join in and create their own crowdfunding pages. 

To help you carve out segments and communications, we’re offering you a crowdfunding communications template pack free. Just fill out the form below, and we’ll send you Mad-Libs® style templates that you can personalize with your organizational and campaign details. 

Give supporters a hand in creating their campaigns.
The more you help your supporters in promoting their fundraisers, the more successful they’ll be. After all, your team knows the best ways to tug at the heartstrings of your community, so you should be the ones giving them a hand. 

In addition to providing them with a link to your organization’s crowdfunding page, you’ll want to include:

• Templates for social media posts promoting their fundraising page
• Templates for an email that invites friends and family members to give
• Images they can use to accompany their email and social media posts

Good news! We’ve handled these templates for you. As mentioned before, fill out the form below and we’ll send them your way. 

Send them a reminder when the fundraiser begins.
Your supporters have busy lives, so it’s quite possible they could forget to share their fundraising page at the time when you need their help most. Be sure to nudge them via email two days before your fundraiser and the day it starts, so they’ll remember to fill in their quick-and-easy communication templates and share in minutes.

Thank your fundraisers in a special way.
When acknowledging those who took time out of their week to ensure the success of your fundraiser, who shared about your organization with their hundreds of followers, and who believes in what you do so much that they want to personally help you grow your reach, a generic “thank you” just won’t do. Don’t just thank them for their gift or their “support”. Acknowledge the impact of their active participation in serving as a member of your team. To help you hit the right note, we’ve included a thank-you letter in with the templates. 

Welcome new donors to your community.
With each individual crowdfunding campaign your donors launch, you’re gaining brand new donors who are giving to your organization for the first time. To ensure they give again, thank them for their gift, invite them to be a part of your community, and keep them posted on how their donation is making a difference. 

Your Complete Crowdfunding Campaign Template Pack

Save time and hassle setting up your crowdfunding campaign with these communication templates that include:

• Crowdfunding invitations
• For donors
• For board members
• For local schools
• Crowdfunding templates for donors to use
• Email to family and friends
• Social media posts
• Thank you email to donors who made pages

Get Your Crowdfunding Campaign Template Pack Today!