{"id":4643,"date":"2015-06-04T07:26:37","date_gmt":"2015-06-04T11:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=4643"},"modified":"2015-06-04T07:47:05","modified_gmt":"2015-06-04T11:47:05","slug":"8-steps-to-raise-money-for-your-passion-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=4643","title":{"rendered":"8 Steps to Raise Money for Your Passion Project"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo of Documentary Producers LeeAnn Dance and Cliff Hackel by Jeb Sanford<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LeeAnn Dance, 53, plans to spend the summer prepping for her first donor-crowdfunding<\/a> campaign. Her goal: To raise roughly $50,000 from the public to help make her first independent documentary. After speaking with this Washington, D.C.-based producer about the experience, I have some tips if you<\/em> want to crowdfund a passion project.<\/p>\n<\/header>\n

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As you may know, virtual fundraising campaigns on sites like\u00a0Kickstarter,<\/a> IndieGogo<\/a> and\u00a0Gofundme<\/a> have been gaining in popularity with people raising money for a pet project or new business. But if you\u2019re trying to crowdfund money this way, you\u2019ll need savvy marketing and elbow grease to create a winner.<\/div>\n
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In Dance\u2019s case, crowdfunding is the next step in her quest to produce Feiga\u2019s Choice<\/a><\/em>,\u00a0 the first documentary about the pre-Holocaust Jewish massacres (known as the pogroms) in Eastern Europe. The story is told through the first-hand account of survivor Feiga Shamis, a Jewish mother of 12, driven by events to put two of her children in an orphanage and the daring rescue mission that saved those kids. (Full disclosure: my husband, Cliff Hackel<\/a>, is her co-producer, co-director and editor on the film.)<\/div>\n
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Dance, an award-winning TV producer now running a boutique production company, has already invested some of her savings to finance the costs of shooting the film in Poland, Ukraine and South Africa. Now she\u2019s facing the harsh financial realities of how much money it takes to create a project of this scope without a big corporation\u2019s pockets supporting it.<\/div>\n
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The most successfully-funded projects on Kickstarter (the largest crowdfunding site) raise under $10,000.<\/p>\n

I asked Dance why she\u2019ll soon crowdfund to raise capital. \u201cI think that crowdfunding is a great way to build an audience and following for whatever you are doing,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

A few months ago, Dance began researching successful crowdfunding campaigns, consulting with fundraisers and attending a class on the topic. Her takeaway? \u201cIt\u2019s exciting, but really depressing, too.\u201d She\u2019s learned that crowdfunding takes a tremendous amount of time and energy and even then, there\u2019s no guarantee of success.<\/p>\n

Here are eight ways to increase your chances of creating a knockout crowdfunding campaign without turning into a puddle:<\/p>\n

1. Set an achievable goal.<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe amount is the most difficult question,\u201d said Morrie Warshawski<\/a>, a fundraising consultant and author of Shaking the Money Tree: The Art of Getting Grants and Donations for Film and Video Projects<\/a> <\/em>and The Fundraising Houseparty: How to Party with a Purpose and Raise Money for Your Cause<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThere is not a science to it, but ask for what you really need so you can make something happen in the project,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd ask for something that you think you realistically can get.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guesstimate the size of the prospective number of people you\u2019ll ask for money and the percentage of that crowd who\u2019ll donate if you really hustle (definitely less than 25 percent). Then multiply that figure by $40 to $70; the average gift is around $70 and the most popular gift is $25, Warshawski said.<\/p>\n

Read story on PBS NextAvenue.org<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n

Dance has put her target at $50,000 to cover the costs of the film- and photo archival research and editing of the rough cut. It\u2019s far from the entire budget for her film. \u201cThe total figure might scare potential donors off,\u201d she said with a laugh. \u201cExperts say 50K is high, but I have seen people do this. We need it, so I am going to try for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The most successfully-funded projects on Kickstarter<\/a> (the largest crowdfunding site) raise under $10,000.<\/p>\n

2. Choose the site whose fees and policies make the most sense for you.<\/h3>\n

Each of the big crowdfunding sites handles the funding process differently.<\/p>\n

On Kickstarter, when people donate, their credit cards are charged. Once you reach your goal, Kickstarter takes 5 percent of the amount raised and you pay 3 to 5 percent for credit card processing. If you don\u2019t bring in all the money you set as your goal by the deadline, the pledges are canceled, contributors aren\u2019t charged and Kickstarter takes nothing. Sadly, there\u2019s a good chance this will happen. Kickstarter now has just a 38 percent success rate for all projects.<\/p>\n

Indiegogo charges a 9 percent fee on the funds you raise, but if you reach your goal, you get 5 percent back \u2014 for an overall fee of 4 percent. Like Kickstarter, you pay 3 to 5 percent for credit card or PayPal processing. Unlike Kickstarter, pledges aren\u2019t canceled if you don\u2019t reach your goal.<\/p>\n

Gofundme.com will deduct a 5 percent fee and a 3 percent processing fee from each donation. All the money you collect goes directly to you.<\/p>\n

Dance is going with Indiegogo because she likes its fee structure and the site\u2019s policy that whatever you\u2019re pledged, you keep. \u201cI would rather set the bar a little higher and get what we worked for rather than get nothing at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

3. Choose the best time to launch the campaign and the duration.<\/h3>\n

It\u2019s critical to pick the right time of year. \u201cWe\u2019re going to do September to avoid the summer, when everyone is away,\u201d said Dance. \u201cI\u2019m also going to schedule ours to start at the end of September after the Jewish holidays.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another consideration is how long you want your campaign to last. Projects on Kickstarter can last one to 60 days. On Gofundme, your crowfunding effort will remain live until you choose to stop taking donations or remove the campaign; you can set a deadline with the \u2018All-or-Nothing\u2019 option. On Indiegogo, you\u2019re advised to set a campaign length of no more than 40 days, with the option of going for up to 60.<\/p>\n

That said, 30 days is often recommended as an ideal timeframe. \u201cYou can keep the momentum going for that length of time,\u201d Dance said she was advised. \u201cAnything longer is boring.\u201d<\/p>\n

4. Gather a campaign team.<\/h3>\n

A successful crowdfunding campaign is not a one-woman or one-man game. Your team can consist of a handful of folks, perhaps even an intern from a local college. The idea is to have extra hands on deck to divvy up the duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou and your team will be working every day,\u201d said Warshawski. \u201cYou\u2019re responding to every person who gives you any money. You are thanking them via an email or personal handwritten note. You\u2019re encouraging them to invite all their social media friends, especially Facebook friends, to donate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meantime, you\u2019re giving your supporters a URL link (to make it easy to share with friends), along with the language they can copy and past to use on Twitter, Google + and other social media with the tagline that says something like: \u201cI just gave to this tremendous project, and you should too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plus, a successful campaign needs frequent updates on the crowdfunding page, your website and your social media sites to keep people interested.<\/p>\n

5. Plan your donor perks with care.<\/h3>\n

There are obvious giveaways, like small thank-you gifts. But you might step it up and offer something special that\u2019s related to your mission. If you have, say a movie project, you could offer to give anyone donating $3,000 or more a private screening at their house.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t list all the perks at the beginning of the campaign, said Warshawski. List and seed as you go. When you\u2019re halfway through the campaign, add a new perk; you might find donors giving a second time to get it.<\/p>\n

6. Develop a list of potential donors.<\/h3>\n

\u201cThe most important thing to know about crowdfunding is you have to have a crowd,\u201d said Warshawski. \u201cThat is where a lot of campaigns fail. You need at least 1,000 Facebook friends.\u201d Why Facebook? Mostly because the social network has a strong multiplier effect when people repost and share with their friends.<\/p>\n

Dance has her work cut out for her. \u201cWe currently have an email database of about 500,\u201d she said. \u201cCarole Dean, president of From The Heart Productions<\/a>, the consultant who taught Dance\u2019s fundraising class, said: \u2018Oh you can\u2019t do anything with that. If you have 1,000 people in your email database, you can reasonably expect to raise $4,000.\u2019\u201d Dance has since started ramping up herFeiga\u2019s Choice<\/em><\/a> Facebook page followers, which was recently up to 893 Likes.<\/p>\n

7. Promote your project ahead of time.<\/h3>\n

To drum up interest in your project, it\u2019s essential to do ancillary things outside the campaign months before starting a crowdfunding campaign. Do podcasts. Create blogs or be interviewed on blogs. Generate future online and print articles about yourself and your project. Deliver lectures and in-person presentations. Do other fundraising activities linked to your campaign, like house parties.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou go old school while you are doing new school at the same time,\u201d Warshawski said. \u201cThey feed off of one another. It\u2019s good symbiosis.\u201d<\/p>\n

8. Raise crowdfunding money privately before you start asking publicly.<\/h3>\n

There\u2019s got to be money in your crowdfunding cup ahead of time. Like any good busker knows, to get people to commit, you must show that others have ponied up already and believe in you.<\/p>\n

Dean told Dance to have 30 percent of her goal already pledged by donors before launching her campaign. That means, if you want to raise $30,000 you need $10,000 committed in advance. The idea is that you have your funders ready to donate their online contributions to your crowdfund campaign as soon as it launches.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first three days are critical to a campaign\u2019s success, and people want to see that there is this groundswell and then they will jump on the bandwagon,\u201d said Dance.<\/p>\n

Fully aware that reaching her lofty $50,000 goal might be a stretch, Dance is eager to get going. \u201cI want to dismiss the depressing fundraising statistics because I don\u2019t like them \u2014 there are always exceptions,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy not try it?\u201d<\/p>\n

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MORE:\u00a0<\/span>8 Great Sources of Financing for Women Starting a Business<\/span><\/a><\/div>\n
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