crowdfunding
context
Crowdfunding is a process in which the public is asked for financial support to start a creative project or company. The process takes place via the Internet, and the goal is to involve a larger number of people with different motivational factors, whose small payments cumulatively lead to a significant amount that can be sufficient for the realization of both small and large projects. We consider it an alternative form of financing because it does not come from the traditional financial system. The process is also transparent because we can see how much money was collected for each project in real time and how many people participated. It is limited in time because the money is not collected for an infinite time, but in an exact time period, usually 30 to 60 days. Platforms such as Indiegogo allow their users to take their campaigns in completely different directions, i.e. users can be as creative as they can and place their idea in any way they prefer.
Implementation at MOČVARA
Our first crowdfunding campaign was for the book about our organization Culture Development Association “CDA” and our club Močvara:
- we had heard about crowdfunding, but we didn’t want to engage in it because we were uncomfortable with the thought of asking for money
- we were working on a book about us and we lacked money to publish it, because it was very expensive. After some thought, we came to the decision to try crowdfunding.
- we didn’t know anything about it, so we asked those who know it to give us some advice. We contacted a marketing company and one of their employees followed the entire campaign and explained everything to us.
- before the final decision to go for it, we made a detailed success assessment (expected results, team, time availability, potential backers – history of the club)
- two months of preparation (texts, video, perks, media, making phone calls to people)
- 30+30 day campaign
- throughout the campaign we continued building on it (ambassadors, media, social networks, calling people again)
- our ambassadors recorded really nice and fun videos to back our project – check this one and this one out
- as a result, the campaign reached its goal and even went over it!
- an important detail: we engaged in marketing, but we avoided fake marketing, to present ourselves as we are not, to exaggerate in praising ourselves etc. We stayed true to ourselves and we believe our audience recognized that and the campaign was a success.
Benefits
The main benefits of crowdfunding are: anyone can do it (there’s a lot of instructions available online, lots of different examples), audience, promotion, access to funding, inspiration for other campaigns, etc.
Our target groups are:
Alternative music lovers, young people, high school students, students, local population
They are interested, in addition to a wide range of music programs, in specific areas such as film, literature, theater and activism.
Civil society organizations, artistic organizations, artists
Over the years, our organization has been a partner of many actors of the civil scene, and Močvara has always been accessible for use by members of various associations and activists. We provide an opportunity for cultural workers and artists from various fields to present their work in an informal environment and to come into contact with the public, thereby promoting their work.
Challenges
When making your first campaign, the challenges are many because of lack of experience. Finding someone to help you out in the first steps might be a challenge, but you can always try to contact someone similar to your organization/club with experience and ask them for advice 🙂 Once you get the hang of it, the only challenge is time you have to put in the campaign, but it pays off in the end.
Resources and other examples
This is our campaign if you want to take a look: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mocvara-i-prica-o-urk-u-the-mocvara-club-story/#/
If you want to learn more about the book, take a look here: http://www.mochvara.hr/knjiga