Tribe Leaders and Social Network Fundraising Thoughts

If you list it, will they come? 

Crowdfunding refers to using the collective funds of a group of people to raise money for a venture, organizaiton, or cause. In the last several years, a number of crowdfunding platforms have arisen that enable individuals to collectively pool money for a cause. Using these fuundraising platforms, a nonprofit organization can list its causes, programs, organization...and wait for donors to fund them. Some of these platforms include  Root Funding, Betterplace, Firstgiving,  and niche audience platforms such as Donorschoose (US classrooms), Jgooders (Jewish causes), Israel Gives (Israeli causes) or Kickstarter (arts, ventures). There are also a number of personal fundraising platforms that rely primarily on your urging individuals to raise funds for a specific campaign, but also have a crowdfunding approach with goals and group fundriasing: givezooks, Causes, JustGiving, and Give2gether. A rising popular favorite for personal fundriasing is Crowdrise because of the "best promos ever" and celebrity energy (read: Edward Norton) behind it.

I received this email last week from a client:

"Hey - check this out - what do you think?" She included a link to Root Funding. She wants to list the organization on Root Funding as a recipient.

I think it's a great service, but it is not the Field of Dreams. If you list your project on any of these platforms, the donations (most likely) will not come.

The problem with expecting that listing your organization will bring funds is that you are basically sending out a message through the "fundraising classifieds." It is an open fundraising call for people who have very little desire to part with their hard-earned cash on behalf of your organization. They aren't connected in any real way to your group prior to the ask. Listing your project on Causes, where it is one of hundreds of thousands of Causes, will not attract the qualified attention or donations that you want. Crowdfunding has to be an intentional part of your fundraising strategy, lead by Tribe leaders, and aimed at people who care about your project and organization.

Seth Godin famously talks about Tribes. Godin defines a Tribe as a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea that inspires their passion. When you are raising funds for through crowdfunding, think about some Tribe basics:

• Do we have organizational leaders that are passionate about our cause?
• Can they lead a tribe of impassioned followers?
• Does our cause inspire passion in others?
• Do we already have a broad-based social media following that is comprised of people who are a loose "tribe" of passionate followers?

Crowdfunding includes a social pressure -  everyone viewing the project and see the total money raised against the financial goal. The peer pressure aspect is easily communicated through social networks via Tribe leaders: people will have a tendency to donate because a leader is asking them to, or there are only a few hundred dollars away from the stated goal, or their best friend has asked them to donate. Crowdfunding leverages the idea that if we are all in this together, we can create a terrific benefit. It also leverages the idea of peer pressure: I know who's asked me and I'm less likely to say no to someone I respect.

If you have a broad social media base that includes tribes of followers with leaders....your crowdfunding efforts are going to be much stronger than if you're doing it without Tribe leaders. Don't underestimate the power of social network influence.

Take the time to prepare for crowdfunding. You want to develop leaders, include them in the choices, thoughtfully insert crowdfunding into your enitre fundraising strategy, and then choose the best crowdfunding platform and crowdfunding strategy. Then, if you build the Tribe, and the funding project, you're on your way to smart crowdfunding.

 If you've got a Tribe, and committed Tribe leaders, you can crowdfund. I'd love to hear more about it from you.