Ask HN: How can I close my crowdfunding gap?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6975185

by jchung • 13 years ago

11 7 13 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi everyone. I've been running a crowdfunding campaign for a month for my tech nonprofit, and with 5 days to go, I'm trying to figure out how to reach the goal. We're at $17,600 out of our $25,000 goal, and while everything really started off with a bang ($10k on the first day), it's slowed significantly since then. I already know some things we did well, and some things we didn't, but I'm not looking for a post-mortem. I'm trying to figure out how I close this campaign with the biggest bang possible. If anyone has experience with crowdfunding, or just suggestions or feedback, I'd appreciate any help or tips. Thanks so much. Heres the link to our campaign... http://j.mp/GoGoCV

In one sentence: CareerVillage.org crowdsources career advice for low-income high school students. One more sentence: I built CV over the past 2 yrs in Django after leaving my career as a manager at McKinsey and learning to code through some elbow grease and a lot of generous mentorship provided by this community.

czbond• 13 years ago

CF campaigns often pick up steam on the last day, but here are a few suggestions: 1) Email EVERYONE you know about the current state (don't plead for donations - say "Donations are going great, please share with your friends to push it over the top". 2) Put it on FB, Twitter, LinkedIn and personally ask friends to like, share, tweet. 3) Cold email tech blogs, non profits, and reporters. 4) Use Tim Ferris crowdfunding article and follow every step. http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2012/12/18/hacking-kick...

jchung3• 13 years ago

Will keep pushing. The 4hr workweek article is pretty robust. Some good PR practices, and sharing tools that I'm definitely going to keep in the toolchest for next time. Thanks!

ada19812• 13 years ago

Among othet things, I've stumbled my way into being a high (over) paid crowdfunding expert who also trains / certifies people to be high (over) paid crowdfunding experts. I looked at your site, the following advice will be your highest leverage IMO.

By the way, this is easy, just do it. It's the holidays, people are generous which is also going to help you.

1) Look at your school list and identify the most in need school. (1 min)

2) Identify a top level professional services firm in the geographic market that has an interest in education / philanthropy. (15 min on google or less)

3) Call / email the most senior person you can and ask "are you still intersted in creative ways to help Chicago students? (10min)

No? Is there someone are your firm who is? (Repeat)

Yes?

"I'm builing this new mentorship program to a school in Chicago, and I'm relying on a local firm to underwrite (key word) the cost of the program via sponsorship. So far I've raised $17k and have 5 days left to raise the additional $10k. Based on your commitment to education and mentorship, I thought this would be a great opportunity. In addition to helping, there will also be a press / media opportunity and we'd invite you to one of the schools as a guest speaker if you were interested."

Try to close them for $10k (create a $10k entry on the Indigogo page) but settle for the $2,500.

Of course, take anything they give you, and ask them to share it with their networks..

Repeat this until you have the $10k in funding..

If you get 10 senior people on the phone, you'll close at least one of them. aim to talk to 10 people a day for the next week and you'll be good.

Also, before doing any of this, email all your current donors and ask them to "Double Up" their donation and maybe throw in some additional perk for doing that. They have already given you $$ and are more likely to give again.

It's too late in my option for scrambling for Press (that is a T-30 or 60 days process). But if you have any media connections, sure let them know - but at this point tactical selling of the big ticket items is your best bet.

Good luck! If this was useful at all or you want more detail hit me up at Anthony @ 175g . com

jchung3• 13 years ago

This idea is excellent. We have several schools that would be perfect for that, and a number of execs we'll be contacting. Thank you!

ada19812• 13 years ago

Congrats! I see you hit your goal. How did you do it? Was the advice implemented / helpful?

piratebroadcast• 13 years ago

I'm a friend of Jareds (OP) and wanted ot thank you guys for these tips! Jared is a humble, hardworking guy and its so great to see the advice here.

jchung3• 13 years ago

Update: We hit our goal! http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/careervillage-inspire-the-... Thanks to @ada1981 and @czbond for advice, and to @piratebroadcast and many others for pushing hard to get the news out.