Crowdfunding

Funding for non-profits and institutions of learning is becoming harder to obtain than ever. Fundraisers need to be increasingly innovative. Crowdfunding is working well for many organisations. Interestingly, it did not originate as a means of funding NPOs. It started (and is currently thriving) as a way of seeking a number – usually a large number – of ‘angel investors’ for new books, movies, computer games and many more for-profit concepts. Jill Ritchie has monitored the development of crowdfunding and its adaptation as a means of resourcing non-profits and shares cases studies of organisations that successfully harnessed the power of global fundraising as well as examples of flopped campaigns. Topics covered include:

• Crowdfunding vs crowdsourcing
• The ‘what’s in it for me?’ factor
• Planning a crowd funding campaign
• Marketing a crowd funding campaign
• How much to ask for
• The pitfalls