This section is to help you navigate your campaign once it goes live. Your work is not complete once you launch your campaign. You need to become active promoters of it. Recruit volunteers, donors, and others in your network to endorse and publicize your efforts within their own networks.
For examples of ways to promote your campaign digitally through facebook posts, tweets, and emails, click here. Word of mouth is also a great way to spread the news of your campaign. This is an organic way for new people to learn about your organization and mission. Work on your sales pitch of both your organization and of your crowdfunding effort to make sure you do the best job selling your campaign.
Launch Day
This is the day you’ve been waiting for. Get ready to send out your already written tweets, facebook posts, and launch email. Consider updating your organization's home page to include that you are currently crowdfunding, so any traffic that comes to your homepage will also be alerted to the news that you have a crowdfunding campaign underway.
An optional step in doing a crowdfunding campaign is having a launch party. This can be tied to an event that's already being planned. Inviting people and encouraging them to donate, post pictures, and engage with the campaign as a whole can help start buzz about your campaign. You can also have computers set up and have a suggested donation associated with attending.
Now is the time to follow your content calendar. This starts with launching your email, tweets, and Facebook plan. Be aware of how you are reporting statistics about your campaign. Never round up numbers to say “We’ve raised about 50% of our goal,” “About 30 people have supported our campaign,” or “There has been about $1000 raised.” Seeing specific numbers makes individual donors see how their donation will have made an actual difference: “We are 53% funded by 29 donors,” or “We've raised $1023 in 13 days” is a more compelling way to present your statistics.
Stretch Goal
If you reach your goal with days left in your campaign period, you can add a stretch goal. These should be highly specific to warrant asking for more money than originally desired. You should add a description of your goal directly into the body of your campaign.
An example of this would be: your original financial goal is $15,000 to offset the cost of bringing on a service year corps member. You find yourself overwhelmed with support, and you reach your goal in 20 days. Utilizing the buzz and support you’ve gained in the past weeks, you can set a stretch goal, and ask to raise an additional $3000 to be able to purchase supplies such as books, pencils, and backpacks to help the students your corps member will be working with.