Students, alumni, and other supporters of your institution each have unique causes, projects, and initiatives that light a fire in them. Many GiveCampus Partners recognize this, and have used this creative energy to build robust crowdfunding programs. While the prospect of having enthusiastic students take a leading role in raising money for your institution can be inspiring, the logistics of executing this may seem daunting at first. Schools like Fordham and Villanova University facilitate thriving crowdfunding programs through GiveCampus and have crowdfunding for educational institutions down to a science. Here, we’ll share their best practices.
On traditional crowdfunding websites such as GoFundMe and Kickstarter, individuals are able to raise money for any initiative their hearts desire. However, as you know, schools have unique needs, and fundraising for particular student initiatives requires far more regulation and oversight than is provided through other crowdfunding approaches. We also recognize the unique need of educational institutions to build long-term relationships with donors versus a strictly transactional interaction.
Crowdfunding Policies:
Creating a Crowdfunding Policy allows you to articulate your goals for crowdfunding campaigns to your community, formally introduce them to GiveCampus, and provide actionable steps for prospective crowdfunders to take to propose a crowdfunding campaign.
Several schools have formalized their crowdfunding application process by building out pages within their institutions’ websites. While each school crafts its crowdfunding policy differently, here are a few examples we love:
Crowdfunding Expectations and Applications:
Not ready to dedicate a separate site to your Crowdfunding Policy but interested in hearing campaign ideas from your community? No worries, this can be accomplished through your ‘Create a Campaign’ button with the assistance of Campaign Creation Guidelines.
In other words, when supporters arrive on your GiveCampus page and click the Create a Campaign button, they will be prompted with an outline of qualities that your institution is looking for when considering potential campaign ideas. From there, individuals will be able to propose and begin building the framework for campaigns with these guidelines top of mind. As a reminder, no campaign will go live on your GiveCampus page without your explicit approval and you will have final say on each and every campaign hosted on your page.
When reviewing applications, you’ll want to look to see that the project leaders understand what goes into managing a campaign. Keep a close eye out for:
1) Goal size - do they have realistic expectations around how much they can raise?
2) Time commitment - are they ready to take the lead on creating content for the campaign and marketing it once it’s live?
3) Audience - who will they be reaching out to? Is this group large enough to reach their campaign goal? How will they be marketing to them? Some of our Partners require an outreach list prior to campaign approval in order to help set expectations.
4) Stewardship - what is their plan to thank and steward these donors?
If you see any outsized expectations from the applications, it’s a great opportunity to connect with the project leaders and provide education and guidance around what it takes to run a campaign. This is where you can lend your great experience as a fundraiser for your school!
Looking for a resource to help students plan their campaign? Click on the image below and you will find our Student Crowdfunding Campaign Playbook. You can make a copy of this document and edit it for your needs. It can be used as a planning/coaching guide and positioned as a worksheet for your meetings with them or as a checklist of items you require before campaign launch. As always, share feedback!
Through targeted crowdfunding initiatives, schools are able to connect with donors on a level that resonates deeply with their core values and shared experiences. We’ve heard regularly that crowdfunding has helped schools engage donors who have never given before and through this first gift gain a better sense of what kinds of asks will keep these donors engaged for years to come.