How the Crowd Can Help Your Charity Deliver

With Crowdfunding on pace to raise more money this year than Venture Capital, there is an appetite among donors for looking to support projects across the globe. For small charities, or even the large ones, pressure is on development teams to tap into this growing revenue pool.

Crowdfunding can help good causes. But as I previously pointed out, the Crowd won’t always fund projects you want to support. Charities who want to try their hand at crowdfunding should promote projects that have urgency and measurable outcomes.

What’s In Your Project Wallet?

Large organizations are forging partnerships with crowdfunding platforms to develop a community of projects. Each project has a similar mission or geographic focus that appeals to a community.

For example, an NGO might build a group of themed projects based on Sphere Project‘s Minimum Standards on Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene. By focusing those projects in one community, the Crowd could bring significant financial resources an address a long-term need in a short time period.

This is a technique that can work for small charities who have limited service areas.

• A service organization can crowdfund a tree-panting project with the local park district
• A women’s shelter can crowdfund the installation of Emergency Call Boxes in high crime areas
• A religious group could crowdfund humanitarian assistance for a nearby community

The possibilities are limited only to imagination. Clearly, the more timely a pitch (for example, call boxes after a series of assaults), the more motivated the Crowd will be to help fund the project. In the end, you must curate a community of projects close to your cause or that fits your organization’s brand and fundraising need.