Kickstarter has been used for years as a product crowdfunding platform to introduce new products to new customers. Charity platforms have been used for years to enable non-profits to increase donations by organizing and communicating with existing donors. We have a unique approach that combines these two proven methods to create charity crowdfunding campaigns.

The purpose of a charity crowdfunding campaign is to raise money for a family learning project run by a specific non-profit organization. We start with the crowdfunding notion of a campaign, that is, a fundraising plan that lasts for only a month, thus increasing donors sense of urgency. To the notion of a campaign, we add another crowdfunding technique: pre-campaign email-gathering. The most successful crowdfunding campaigns raise a significant amount of money (usually exceeding their goal) the day the campaign launches. They do this by using facebook ads to find interested donors previously unknown to the organization running the campaign.

The most successful pre-campaign email-gathering efforts have two characteristics.

• First, they utilize peer-to-peer techniques, that is, they encourage potential/interested donors to share their interest with their networks, social and email.
• Second, they utilize a contest approach, both providing points for encouraging their friends to provide their emails and highlighting the most successful efforts on a leaderboard and providing a prize to the most successful.
  Our charity fundraising campaigns will utilize both of these crowdfunding techniques.

In addition, successful crowdfunding campaigns put a great deal of effort towards getting a substantial number of donations on the campaign’s first day. They send a series of emails to everybody who shared their email address in the pre-campaign phase. They send emails to all their friends and colleagues the morning of the campaign, urging them to donate on the first day. They provided incentives for donating on the first day. Our charity fundraising campaigns will utilize these proven techniques too.

Finally, successful crowdfunding campaigns grow through extensive social media advertising and PR efforts the day after the campaign launches, promoting its early success. The rule-of-thumb is that the advertising budget for a successful crowdfunding campaign is 15%-20% of the expected money to be raised. For example, $20,000 spend on social media advertising to raise $100,000. We are seeking grants to provide leverage to the crowdfunding campaigns in this way.

All of these crowdfunding techniques will be coupled with the most powerful fundraising technique: peer-to-peer fundraising.

• People have become used to using social media to raise money on facebook and GoFundMe.
• When people come to our charity platform, they will have the ability to become a donor or a fundraiser.
• If they decide to become a fundraiser, they get their own “page” on the platform, with a photograph, a brief explanation as to why they are donating, their fundraising goal, and the amount raised to date. In addition, they get easy ways to communicate with their network on social media or with emails.