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Tips for Crowdfunding Ambassadors

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Congratulations on being recruited as a crowdfunding ambassador.  You are about to embark on a journey that, on one hand, can be thankless and tedious, but on the other, can be endlessly rewarding. In order to make your time as a Crowdfunding Ambassador the worthwhile experience that it should be, here are a few things to remember:

Embrace it!

First and foremost, a crowdfunding campaign is an opportunity for you to sing your organization’s praises from the rooftops. Are you proud of your organization’s mission, vision and accomplishments? Do you believe in the importance and significance of its work? Well here’s your chance to brag on your connection to the organization. Embrace it in the same way that other social media maestros embrace the chance to share pictures of their children, pets, dinners, and vacations.

Ask not what your campaign can do for you, but what you can do for your campaign.

Social media is a great vehicle for reaching large groups of people quickly. But YOU have to do the work. Simply posting on your page isn’t enough to guarantee that people will see your campaign, read it, or follow the call to action.  That’s where you come in. Use personal emails, private messages, tags, phone calls or even text messages, to make sure that the campaign gets the attention that it needs and deserves.

Let the campaign do the ask.

Your Campaign Coordinator has already crafted powerful messaging for the campaign. The theme and stories are compelling, the content is rock solid, the case for support is air tight, and the call to action is crystal clear. Your job as an Ambassador is not to restate the campaign language, but to “make sure that you read this, in the hopes that you will make a donation and help us spread the word.”

Make a list and check it twice…

When creating your list, start with everyone in your rolodex. Scratch off the people who, for some reason or other, should not receive your campaign (say, for professional, conflict of interest reasons). Next, highlight those contacts who: (1) you think will give; (2) are active on social media, and/or (3) have strong connections to an audience of potential donors.  These are the people to prioritize for direct outreach. Be sure to note the method(s) that you will use to reach them (email, phone call, Facebook, etc.) As for the rest of the names on your list, you can get to them with direct outreach if you have time, but they should still be included in the campaign even if you don’t.

…and find out who’s naughty or nice.

With the help of your Campaign Coordinator, who will keep you apprised of donations, click-throughs, unsubscribes, and other metrics, you will track the responses of your contacts throughout the campaign and follow up according to how “naughty” or “nice” they have been.

Give and get.

As in, give time and get results. Depending on the size of your list, it could take from 30 minutes to several hours to do your outreach, and you’ll need to do it every week for the duration of the campaign. Don’t leave productivity to chance, boredom, or lulls in your busy schedule. Designate a specific time for outreach; preferably one that is coordinated with the campaign schedule. For example, if the e-blasts/posts are going out on Tuesday, your follow up should be completed by the end of the week.

Give thanks.

It is your responsibility to directly and personally thank all of your donors within one week of their contribution to the campaign. The thank you can come in the form of an email, handwritten note, phone call, or text message, but a public “thank you” can help to promote the campaign.  So, if possible and appropriate, acknowledge your donors in a tag/post on social media.

Don’t worry, be happy. 

There’s no losing in a properly executed campaign. You get to reach out to people who you maybe haven’t heard from in a while to send well wishes, check in, or just say hi. If you and the rest of the team is doing your job, awareness of the organization and its cause will certainly be raised. As for the monetary goal, don’t fret – it’s the Campaign Coordinator’s job to worry about that.  Focus on the process, and the results will take care of themselves.

Fundraising and Organizational Brand

To sustain long-term fundraising success, an organization must show potential donors that its work is meaningful, relevant, and impactful. But simply doing good work that addresses a pressing social need is no guarantee that an organization will attract funders—or even get a positive response when approaching funders. Nonprofits need a communications strategy that highlights the importance and relevance of their work, but more broadly, they need to develop their organizational brand.

All nonprofits inevitably have a brand; they should work to shape it. It is the sum of associations that people have about them in terms of values, practices, and visual identity. Rather than hoping people will pick up on their good work, nonprofits can—and must—deliberately influence how people perceive them by cultivating and promoting a distinct brand. Successful companies don’t leave their brand identity to chance, and neither should nonprofits. Even though most nonprofits have tight budgets for non-programatic expenses, there is still a lot they can do to shape how they are perceived—one key area is how they describe their work.

The language an organization uses to define itself should flow from its mission. The mission statement should get to the organization’s essence; people should be able to read it and understand why the organization exists and what it does. A clear mission should be the starting point for all communication and development language, such as a case statement, grant proposals, website content, presentations, newsletters, annual reports, and an informal elevator pitch. But there is more to branding than language.

It is important to pay attention to other visual aspects of the brand. Today’s world is so digital and brand-sensitive that things like website design, social media presence, logo, and multimedia are hugely important. A potential funder will likely have a bad first impression of an organization if they find a disorganized website, no Twitter feed, and a handful of materials in different design styles. These factors are not in themselves grounds for funding, but when they are subpar, potential funders can dismiss an organization—especially since there is so much competition from other worthy organizations for their limited funding.

Luckily, many nonprofits are catching on to some of the marketing approaches that have long been standard in the private sector. They are learning how much it can improve their fundraising outcomes if they have a mission-centered brand that is reinforced by multiple channels of communication—including a well-designed visual identity and a prominent online presence. Then, when it comes time to request funding, there is already a strong brand in place that reinforces and creates synergy with the funding appeal.