If you’re a fundraiser, there’s one trend you simply can’t afford to ignore: crowdfunding. A form of online fundraising that involves accruing small donations from a large number of people, crowdfunding has become a popular way for individuals and organizations to fund their ideas and projects by tapping into peer-to-peer networks. Sites like Fundly, GoFundMe, and Kickstarter have made it easier than ever to start campaigns.
With many crowdfunding platforms, you can be up and running in a few short minutes. You’ll start by adding in the marquee features of a crowdfunding campaign like naming it, adding a description, and setting your goal. From there, you’ll should add in photos, video, updates, social sharing links, incentives, benchmarks and more.
Cost will vary, but with many sites, you’ll actually get to keep everything you raise, even if you don’t meet your goal.
It’s no surprise, then, that crowdfunding has trickled into the realm of higher-ed advancement over the past few years. Many schools have launched crowdfunding programs as a way to support the initiatives of students, faculty, and staff, while also increasing alumni engagement and giving participation rates among constituents. In the words of Mary Ann McCollough, Director of Constituent Insights and Business Operations at Carnegie Mellon University, crowdfunding is a “win-win situation for all of us.”
Here at EverTrue, we’re big fans of innovation in advancement—which is why we’re excited to recognize the colleges and universities across the country who have been exploring crowdfunding with great success. In the below SlideShare, see our round-up of the 20 best higher-ed crowdfunding programs, plus hear directly from fundraisers at schools like Pepperdine University and the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley:
Our picks for the 20 best higher-ed crowdfunding campaigns are:
- Arizona State University — PitchFunder
- Carnegie Mellon University — CMU Crowdfunding
- Cornell University — Cornell Crowdfunding
- Lehigh University — Ignite LU
- Middlebury College — MiddSTART
- Pennsylvania State University — Schreyer Honors College Crowdfunding
- Pepperdine University — Waves of Impact
- Temple University — OwlCrowd
- University of California, Berkeley — Haas School of Business Crowdfunding
- University of California, Los Angeles — UCLA Spark
- University of California, San Francisco — UCSF Crowdfunding
- University of Connecticut — Ignite
- University of Maryland — LAUNCH UMD
- University of Mississippi — Ignite Ole Miss
- University of Southern California — Ignite USC
- University of Tennessee, Knoxville — VOLstarter
- University of Texas at San Antonio — Launch UTSA
- University of Virginia — USEED at U.Va.
- University of Washington — USEED@UW
- Worcester Polytechnic Institute — The Robert A. Foisie ‘56 Innovation Studio
