Looking to the Crowd – Crowdfunding Options for Your Nonprofit

Crowdfunding is the latest fundraising trend for nonprofits and socially responsible entrepreneurs. If you’re not familiar with this term, it refers to leveraging the general public to raise money for your cause. Crowdfunding may prove a great resource for your nonprofit. Here are some resources to get you started.

33needs. 33needs is a company that strives to bring the best social entrepreneurs and connect them with the general public to help raise money for their cause. Their mission is to “…find those most able to create change and get them what they need to do it…”

• The Good:  33needs offers a unique rewards system for donors. By donating, investors get “points” they can then redeem in a variety of ways. This allows companies to incentivize donations and turn donors into investors by giving back rewards to those who support them.
• The Bad:  If you don’t meet your fundraising goal, all of the money is returned to investors. This means that if your goal was too lofty, even if you raised a lot of money, you don’t get to keep any of it. That could be discouraging as you reassess your goals and try again. Also, your company has to be approved before being listed, giving 33needs the power to decide if your cause is worthy enough.

Advert Activist. Currently only in the UK, Advert Activist provide a platform for the public to help fund advertising campaigns for your organization. You list your ad and people can choose to help you pay for it.

• The Good:  It’s a great concept as advertising has always been a financial burden on organizations. They also have agreements in place with media outlets for discounted advertising rates.
• The Bad:  Their current size might hamper your organization’s ability to generate funds. As of this writing, currently only two companies have ad campaigns displayed. This could be directly related to the size of their target market.  I would love to see something like this tried on a larger scale.

Buzzbnk. As another crowdfunding resource, Buzzbnk sets itself apart by allowing participants to offer money or time to their favorite causes. People can contribute by donating money,  signing up for a newsletter, or sharing you with their social networks.

• The Good:  The variety of ways a person can contribute allows anyone to help in any way they can. Buzzbnk also works with organizations to brainstorm adequate incentives for donors, like free t-shirts or what they call “money-can’t-buy” experiences. You can also buy Buzzbnk gift cards.
• The Bad:  They also set a time limit to raise funds, and all funds raised are returned to donors if the initial fundraising goal was not met. This means you can only go forward if enough of the public decides your objective is worth pursuing. They also take a five percent administrative fee from all money raised.

Give.fm. The focus on Give.fm is microfunding with recurring donations. Their platform allows donors to select a cause and pledge a small amount of money on a monthly basis. They strive to create a more sustainable fundraising campaign for your organization.

• The Good:  Reliable funding is a hurdle many nonprofits face. Give.fm strives to provide a fantastic solution by allowing many people to pledge small amounts (like $0.50 per day) to the programs they want to support, giving you a regular stream of incoming donations.
• The Bad:  There is a $5 per month fee for organizations to maintain their listing. Organizations also pay a 3.75 percent plus $0.30 transaction fee that goes to credit card companies. These can add up quickly, especially when donations are already small. Your donations also have to total $100 or more per month before they’re paid out.

IndieGoGo. These guys provide a fundraising platform for anyone looking to raise money. They give you the tools to create campaigns and share them with others. Donors can browse listings and pick the causes they want to fund.

• The Good:  They provide some great tools to help you integrate your campaign with your current website and social media profiles. Your cause also has the chance to be featured on their home page, increasing your exposure. They also let you keep all the money you raise (after fees).
• The Bad:  If you don’t have a large audience already, there’s not much they can do (besides the chance to be featured on their home page) to increase exposure. Also, as they accept anyone looking for money, your cause could be right next to someone raising money for their garage band. They’re not exactly specializing in social good. And while they let you keep any money you raise, there is a four percent admin fee if you meet your goal and nine percent fee if you don’t (on top of standard credit card processing fees as well).

Sparked. Sparked developed a concept known as “microvolunteering.” They provide a platform for professionals to lend their services to your organization in tiny increments when they find free time during the day. I agree with their mantra that sometimes the best way to raise funds is to cut back on expenses.

• The Good:  Sparked doesn’t cost a dime. You can create tiny jobs for volunteers across the globe to complete for you. Anything from design to social media challenges and copywriting to IT, you can leverage the knowledge of professionals without having to hire a new employee.
• The Bad:  If your organization’s principle needs revolve around money, this site won’t be much help. Also, donors fill out a “skills profile” so they can see results most relevant to what they’re interested in doing. This is great, but if you have a more general request, you might not get exposed to Sparked’s entire user base.

Start Some Good. Start Some Good is another crowdfunding site that strives to set themselves apart from the rest. They combine a tiered reward structure similar to Buzzbnk with some different fundraising requirements.

• The Good:  Start Some Good tries to combine the “all or nothing” approach with a more liberal fundraising policy. They let you set two goals, one as the bare minimum you need to start working and then a final goal. Up to the first amount, donations are “all or nothing.”  After that, you can keep any money raised up to your final goal.
• The Bad:  They still want their share of the fundraising pie. Start Some Good uses PayPal to process transactions, so your donations will be subject to PayPal’s fee structure. After that, they take five percent of what you earn.

As you can see, there are a variety of ways to earn money for your nonprofit via crowdfunding. The public is becoming increasingly aware of opportunities to assist the causes they care about the  most. Make sure your nonprofit isn’t missing an opportunity.

Related Posts

• Spark Change Through Micro-Volunteering
• Seeking Funding: Innovative Funding Sources for Nonprofits