Any seasoned fundraiser knows that having a great idea and just putting it out in the world isn’t necessarily enough to rake in the revenue.
Once you have planned and launched your online fundraising campaign, what happens now?
What if people aren’t responding, engaging, and making donations?
How do you revamp and rework your dying campaign to make it more successful?
Here are five common reasons that an online fundraising campaign may not be raising money like it should.
Want a detailed, step-by-step guide to planning and launching an emergency nonprofit crowdfunding campaign? Join me live!
1) You don’t have a video.
Indiegogo found that fundraising campaigns with video raised four times as much as campaigns without.
Kickstarter’s five top tips for successful crowdfunding videos:
Length: Keep it short. 1-2 minutes is standard.
Find a Hook: What will get people’s attention in first few seconds?
Story: Make sure you have a good narrative.
Appeal: Make an appeal with a clear Call to Action.
Recency Effect: Repeat your message and make sure it’s the first and last thing folks hear
DIY video tools
- Nutshell – Snap 3 pictures, add captions, choose graphics
- Magisto – Transform photos and videos into edited movies, add music and effects
- Videoshop – Little more technical, can be inspiring or intimidating
- Animoto – FAVORITE! They limit number of customization options and make most of the editing decisions for you
- Lumen5 – They create videos for you based on blog posts. See an example of how it works https://lumen5.com/v/qj72
- Typito “Canva for video”: https://typito.com/create
- Thankr Mobile App: https://www.thankrapp.com
Example: Braden is a typical elementary school kid, and he uses hearing aids to help with his hearing loss.
When his dog accidentally chewed up a pair of his hearing aids, Braden learned that not all kids are as lucky as he was to get another pair quickly.
That’s when he started a GoFundMe campaign to help other children with hearing loss or impairment.
His fundraiser included a short video that explained exactly why he was raising money and how much the cause meant to him—and he ended up receiving more than $80,000 in donations.
2) You don’t have a specific ask.
Crowdfunding campaigns raise money for a specific project.
What are your most immediate needs?
What is a project that requires attention?
Have a number attached so that donors can easily see progress towards the goal.
When asking for people to contribute, consider suggesting an amount. For example, $10 will help us buy three books for kids in need.
3) You don’t have a compelling story.
Effective fundraising appeals play on our emotions.
To launch and carry out a wildly successful crowdfunding campaign, you must tell a story of the lives that will be changed by this project or initiative.
In order to be successful, the campaign story must do five things:
- Catch my attention – have a hook.
- Clearly explain the purpose of the campaign – where is the money going?
- Clearly explain the urgency of the campaign – why now?
- Elicit an emotion – make me feel something.
- Inspire sharing with others.
Exercise: List some story ideas that you could collect and craft to use in the campaign.
Remember that a story of a life or lives changed is the most compelling type of story for a fundraising ask.
How will this story catch my attention? What’s the hook?
How will it explain the purpose of the campaign?
How will it elicit an emotion?
How will it inspire sharing with others?
How will we transfer this story to video?
4) You have done little to no promotion.
Have you sent out an email and thrown together a couple of social media posts?
You need a comprehensive promotions strategy for your campaign.
And that starts with Campaign Ambassadors/Social Media Champions!
Start with your Board, volunteers, staff, and active social media fans/followers.
Make a list of 25 people that you could approach to be Social Media Champions for the campaign. The number you need depends on your campaign goal.
Compose an email asking them to participate.
Detail what you are asking them to do:
- Share information about the campaign on social media
- Ask their networks to donate
- Create buzz around the campaign
5) There is no frictionless, easy way to donate.
Is your donation form on your website cumbersome?
Does it take forever to load, does it have dozen of form fields that may dissuade someone from making the donation?
If you don’t have the ability to raise money online, you can easily set up a campaign at charity.gofundme.com for free.
You will then have the ability to add a video, add your story, and share easily to your social networks and promote the campaign.
Want a detailed, step-by-step guide to planning and launching an emergency nonprofit crowdfunding campaign? Join me live!