Big Data, Crowdfunding and the Fundraising Technology Craze

Technology is the backbone of practically everything in today’s information-rich society, and fundraising is no different. Whether it’s using “Big Data” to enhance fundraising appeals and messaging online, offline, mobile and everything in between, or utilizing new technologies like crowdfunding to host a campaign, the technology craze continues to prevail and evolve.

Here, learn how liberal arts institution Vassar College executed a crowdfunding campaign for its annual fund and how JDRF cleaned up its donor database management to enhance targeting and fundraising.

The Vassar500
Sometimes the best fundraising ideas come from one aha! moment. Other times, it takes the culmination of factors for the proverbial lightbulb to go off.

For Poughkeepsie, N.Y.-based Vassar College, three main factors played into the liberal arts college’s decision to try something completely new for its February fundraising appeal.

It began with the class of 1989, which “began making noise about how they wanted to try something different as they were working toward their fundraising project” for the 2014 25th reunion, which happened this past June, says Willa McCarthy, senior director of alumni affairs and the annual fund at Vassar College. The class of ’89 expressed its unhappiness with Vassar’s online giving form — it was too institution-centric, wasn’t fun, asked for too much data, took too long to fill out and, perhaps most distressing, there wasn’t anything inspiring about it. That got Vassar thinking about becoming a little more creative and innovative in its fundraising.

In addition, in February 2013, Vassar received some unwanted visitors, as the notorious Westboro Baptist Church planned a protest on Vassar’s campus. In response, Vassar alumnus Josh de Leeuw launched a crowdfunding campaign with the goal to raise $100 for every minute that Westboro planned to protest, with the proceeds going to the Trevor Project, which supports LGBTQ youth.