1. Five Best Practices for
Nonprofit Crowdfunding
Rob Wu, CEO of CauseVox
www.causevox.com
@causevox
@robjwu

2. I Raised Over $125,000 In 10 days
via social media and crowdfunding for the Red Cross

3. Create your own fundraising site
Nonprofit crowdfunding & peer-to-peer fundraising campaigns

4. Launch a campaign in 4 easy steps
It takes minutes to start fundraising. No coding required.
Design your campaign
Customize your site settings
Enable personal/team pages
(optional)
Take donations!
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Find out more at www.causevox.com

5. What Is Crowdfunding?

10. Three Major Forces in
Crowdfunding
Recovering
Economy
Consumer
Behavior
Ubiquitous
Internet

11. 30% of the $5 billion crowdfunded went to
social causes in 2013.

12. Best Practice 1:
Start With a Well-Defined Goal

13. Use a Baseline
 How much have we raised online in the past year?
 What is the average amount that we have raised
in a campaign or event?
 What is the average donation amount online for
us? (it’s $88 for in crowdfunding)

14. If You Don’t Have a Baseline,
Think About…
 How much do I need to make an impact?
 How much does the product or service that I want
to create cost?
 How much did similar crowdfunding campaigns
raise?

15. Shift Your Perspective
Impact Unit
Metric
Dollar Metric

16. Make Your Goals SMART

17. Best Practice 2:
Rethink Rewards & Donation Tiers

19. What Are Rewards/Premiums?
 Rewards are items, recognition, or a service that
you’ll get for contributing a crowdfunding
campaign.
 They are also known as perks or gifts, and are
used as incentives to motivate people to support a
campaign.

20. Rewards Actually Reduce
Giving!
 You should focus on impact-focused rewards
instead.
 Example:
 Hand-sewn scarves from a family who started a
local business as a result of your donor’s micro-finance
loan
 Personal letter from a child who you sponsored for
her education.

21. Focus On Impact Tiers Instead

22. Best Practice 3:
Create a Compelling Story

23. Let’s look at Hollywood
storylines to help you create a
compelling story.

24. Overcoming The Monster
Similar to James Bond, Batman, or the Avengers, you can
show your organization overcoming a villain or some form of
adversity.

26. Rags To Riches
Like Chris Gardner in Pursuit of Happyness, showcase your
organization or individual(s) transitioning from a low to a
much better place.

28. The Quest
Tales of a dedicated group of people who encounter perils
along the way to reach an ambitious (Lord Of The Rings).

30. Tragedy
In Breaking Bad, Walter White dives into the world of making
meth. He falls into something bad and gets more and more
evil each day. You can focus on the negative as part of your
storyline

32. Best Practice 4:
Build A Tribe Of Champions

33. Rely On The People You Know
First

34. Rely On The People You Know
First
 Promoters - People that will share your campaign and
updates via email, social media, etc. They’ll amplify your
reach. Think of them as your own publicity team.
 Fundraisers - People that will help solicit for donations via
peer-to-peer fundraising. They’ll create a mini-crowdfunding
campaign through personal fundraising
pages. You’ll raise twice as much this way.
 Donors - People that will contribute to your campaign.

35. Best Practice 5:
Leverage Press For Your
Campaign

36. Not All Campaigns Should
Focus On Publicity & Press

37. 3 Steps To Get Press
 Target - Use free tools like Twitter Search to find
journalists that have an interest in your area. Jot down
their contact info (Twitter handle and email address).
 Prepare - Ask yourself, why is this newsworthy? Why
would the journalist want to write about me? Why would
her audience want to read the article? Come up with a
press release and pitch materials based on your
newsworthy story.
 Pitch - Contact the journalists that you’ve identified, tell
them your story, and give them more info about your
campaign.

38. Best Practices Summary
1. Start with a well defined goal
2. Rethink rewards and donation tiers
3. Create a compelling story
4. Build a tribe of champions
5. Leverage press for your campaign

39. Additional Resources
 Introduction to Crowdfunding for Nonprofits
 How to Plan a Nonprofit Crowdfunding Campaign
 Hollywood Storylines for Nonprofit Crowdfunding
 Publicity for Online Fundraising
 Community for Online Fundraising

40. CauseVox
#GivingTuesday Resource
Center
www.causevox.com/givingtuesday

41. Connect With Us!
Interested in a demo or have questions? Contact us directly at
support@causevox.com. We’d be happy to help!
Visit us at causevox.com
twitter.com/causevox
facebook.com/causevox