Creating a Successful Pledge-Based Crowdfunding Campaign for Your Project

When raising funds through mycause are you trying to decide if a donation crowdfunding or pledge/reward crowdfunding is better for your club, charity, school or group?

Pledge based campaigns help to gather community support while achieving a crowdfunding goal.

Pledge-based crowdfunding is the more traditional form of crowdfunding, whereby people pledge their support (and donation) to a campaign. The donation will only be processed at the end of the campaign if the fundraising  target is reached. This creates a sense of urgency around the campaign, encouraging donors to support the campaign if they truly wish for it to succeed.

Unite the Community Around Your Cause

These campaigns are also a great way for the community to pull together and support an individual or club within the area. By raising awareness for your cause within the community, potential donors will be alerted to the campaign and will, in turn, pledge their support.

Show Support By Sharing

Friends, colleagues and  family members should all be given the opportunity to not only assist your campaign financially, but also through sharing your campaign amongst their own contacts. One fantastic way to do this is on their social media accounts. By sharing your pledge-based campaign online, more people will be able to learn about your story, see how they can help and be given the direct link to your campaign - all in one short post. Not everyone will be able to pledge to the campaign immediately - kindly ask people to simply share the post on their own accounts in lieu of pledging a donation.

Show and Tell

The key to ensuring any successful pledge-based campaign is strong imagery and a concise story. By clearly explaining what the issue is, why you have created the pledge-based campaign and how the funds will be used, you provide potential pledge donors with additional security, ensuring that their hard-earned money will be well spent.

Have a Concise Project Scope

It is also vital that your pledge-based campaign has excellent project scope. The project scope essentially explains what you are raising funds for and why the project cannot be executed without this funding. Your project scope should be a couple of clear, simple, easy to understand sentences. Again, this also reinforces the sense of urgency that you are creating within your campaign, reminding potential donors that for your campaign, time really is running out. One such example of a successful campaign is the St Kilda Cycling Club's pledge campaign for a wheelchair accessible portaloo and Bicycles for Humanity crowdfunding campaign for a second hand vehicle.

Case Study: St Kilda Cycling Club

The SKCC is a very popular cycling club in Melbourne, but they were unable to secure a grant that would enable them to get an accessible portaloo for parents or disabled riders at their weekly "Crit" competitions. After creating a mycause pledge-based crowdfunding campaign with bright photographs, a clear project scope and a detailed explanation of how the funds would be used, the campaign quickly reached its target. The campaign has over 40 shares to date and 48 donations, with the campaign exceeding its target within a matter of weeks.

Continue to receive donations post campaign

If you reach your mycause pledge campaign target, then the ‘pledge now’ button will automatically convert to a ‘donate now’ button. This gives donors who wish to continue their support an opportunity to do so, while giving new donors a chance to join in and support your efforts.

Pledge-based crowdfunding is a great way to give your community a chance to support a cause or project at your charity, club, group, school or personal cause.

Get started on creating your own pledge-reward crowdfunding campaign through mycause and acheive your crowdfunding goals. Launch your pledge-based campaign here.