Online crowdfunding is one of the most efficient ways of funding any campaign for medical reasons or for social work. Crowdfunding can even be used to fund business ventures, educational programmes and much more. The basic idea is to reach out to people who can afford to pay money to a person who cannot fund their own venture. This person might be stranded in a situation where they need money but does not have it. In such a situation, publicly asking the crowd for money can help them fulfil their financial needs.
So how does one ask for money publicly? Remember that you can start a fundraiser on a crowdfunding platform like Impact Guru. Once you have started that, you can share the fundraiser with your friends and family on social media. But what happens when you do not have social media accounts? How does one access this otherwise brilliant idea of crowdfunding then?
Here is where I burst the bubble. Crowdfunding is not as dependent on your social media presence as you think it is. Surely, being active on social media helps but if there is one feature that defines a good crowdfunding campaign, it is planning ahead. If you intend to crowdfund for a reason which is not an emergency you should plan your crowdfunding campaign ahead.
Months ahead
When you meet your friends and family, you can tell them about your upcoming campaign for so and so cause. You can give them reminders on phone messages, calls, emails etc. Emails can serve as a good alternative and official way of communication. Once you have told enough people (and by this time some of them might even be enquiring about your fundraiser), you need to share it online. This can be done on your timeline (if you have a social media account and rarely use it) or on the page of the crowdfunding platform you are using. More importantly, you should be able to send the fundraiser to as many people as possible in your circle over email and personal conversations. The best alternative to mass social media presence is planning ahead.
The other thing you should remember is this – you may not have a large social media presence, but others do. Get one of these people to actively campaign for you. Make sure this person is trustworthy. If required, personally call up people and ask them to share your fundraiser.
This is all for people who are not facing emergencies. What do you do when you are? This is where the efficiency of the crowdfunding platform comes in. How much money can be raised within a short span of time with the pressure of death breathing down your neck is the test of a crowdfunding platform’s mettle. This is why the best crowdfunding platforms are the ones which have worked extensively in medical crowdfunding. NGO crowdfunding usually does not involve emergencies. Medical crowdfunding does. However, there are certain things you ought to do even when you are in an emergency situation. One is to get friends to share it on social media if you cannot. Another is to gather support from your family and their extended family. Remember to post pictures and videos of the person who is ill. Share these photos and videos over email if you can. For every contribution made, remember to thank the contributor. For every little change made, you should send an update to all your contributors. This update should also be made on the website.
There are a hundred different ways to boost your crowdfunding campaign. And we are just getting started. Great things are coming in the future of crowdfunding.