Personal Fundraising Pages

The keys to running a successful crowdfunding platform sound simple: Inspire people with great stories, make donating simple and then show what the gift has accomplished. But turning those ideas into practice requires a lot of testing and reworking.

That was one of the takeaways from a session at the South by Southwest Interactive festival with representatives from four nonprofits who have been working on their crowdfunding sites for years.

Charity Dynamics released the findings of its Independent Fundraising Event (IFE) Study demonstrating the emergence of IFEs as a core strategy for allowing donors to drive their engagement and support avenues. IFEs, also known as DIY fundraising, are donor-led peer-to-peer initiatives and often include virtual events, tribute campaigns or other grassroots activities.

More than half (57 percent) of organizations with existing IFE programs cite factors related to donor happiness or engagement as the driving forces behind their programs.

When Charles Best, founder and CEO of DonorsChoose.org, and Tim Ferriss met on the wrestling mat in high school, they never imagined they'd be crowdfunding titans. Joined by Alexis Ohanian, Reddit co-founder and fellow crowdfunding champion, they shared insights on the world of fundraising during last week's live chat. Here are four commandments from these experts of crowdfunding: 1. Don't sweat the small stuff. 2. Do build a community. 3. Don't reinvent the wheel. 4. Do be bold.

Crowdfunding raises questions. If young people give to these single-issue causes, is there less likelihood they will donate to the legacy charities such as the Red Cross, United Way and Save the Children? Does the individual and direct nature of crowdfunding act as a spur or a drain to such longtime nonprofits?

At Artez Interactive, we wanted to know more about the impact of mobile devices on peer-to-peer, or “crowd-sourced,” fundraising campaigns. When individuals are motivated to ask their friends and social networks to donate to a cause, are those supporters using smartphones and tablets to help them fundraise? Similarly, are donors in peer-driven events giving through mobile-Web-enabled devices?

Here are six potential trends that I think will emerge over the next year or two in crowdfunding: 1. Success stories will spur the growth and acceptance of the entire space. 2. The rise of the niche platform. 3. Platforms will become more social. 4. Certain verticals will stand out. 5. The crowdfunding space will contract. 6. Peer-to-peer lending will go mainstream.

The Valencia College Foundation took its six-week fundraising campaign, First One, online using peer-to-peer fundraising to supplement its offline campaign activities. At the end of the day the foundation raised $203,817, which included a matching grant, recruited 152 fundraisers on 36 teams, and attracted 170 first-time donors.

Donna Marino, Valencia College Foundation’s donor stewardship manager, shared some points of the foundation's success as well as some important lessons to take into planning for the next campaign.

Here are the top don'ts of peer-to-peer fundraising, along with the corresponding do's for a successful campaign: Don't measure the campaign's impact and long-term value in a silo. Do think ahead — far ahead. Don't expect a commitment to fulfill without a well-conceived touch strategy to keep volunteers on track and motivated. Do keep in contact with your volunteers throughout the process. Don't repurpose other campaign creative and messaging and expect it to resonate with prospective donors. Do give each peer-to-peer campaign a unique look and message.

Independent fundraising events (IFEs) are proving successful and lucrative for organizations of all shapes, sizes and missions. While it’s true that there are many benefits of starting one of these profitable programs, diving in carelessly ensures that you don’t maximize your revenue potential.

Twitter is a micro-blogging social network that consists of individuals sending 140-character messages to either their entire networks or to individual followers. Its integration into other online services has slowly made Twitter a standard in online conversation and information democratization. As a fundraiser, this is a tool that should not be overlooked. Here are five don’ts when sharing your fundraising page on Twitter.