How to draw people to my GoFundMe page when I don't know anyone.
October 4, 2014 12:26 AM Subscribe
Trying to fund something on GoFundMe, whose whole principle is asking people you know to fund you. Facebook friends, twitter followers, real-life friends and such. But I don't really have any of those. Not in a sad way, I just don't know many people (that issue sort of comes up in the GoFundMe). So how do I get the word out? Any ideas?
After recovery from a very limiting physical condition, I'm seeking funding for personal goals I have been unable to pursue until now.
GoFundMe keeps telling me that the people who have the most success are the ones who blast it out* to their Facebook friends, twitter followers, etc. I don't tweet, I'm barely on Facebook, and I really don't know anyone in real life who'd be willing to kick a few bucks my way.
So I have *no* idea how to get any funding here whatsoever. It's also weird because I don't want to be too showy or come across as needy. I know, I know- I'm literally asking for money on the internet. But there's still a way to do it gracefully, I'd like to think.
So, I guess, what I'm really looking for are methods I might employ that might be considered civilized, respectable, gentlemanly- i.e. not a craigslist post.
Thank you.
*may not be their exact wording
After recovery from a very limiting physical condition, I'm seeking funding for personal goals I have been unable to pursue until now.
GoFundMe keeps telling me that the people who have the most success are the ones who blast it out* to their Facebook friends, twitter followers, etc. I don't tweet, I'm barely on Facebook, and I really don't know anyone in real life who'd be willing to kick a few bucks my way.
So I have *no* idea how to get any funding here whatsoever. It's also weird because I don't want to be too showy or come across as needy. I know, I know- I'm literally asking for money on the internet. But there's still a way to do it gracefully, I'd like to think.
So, I guess, what I'm really looking for are methods I might employ that might be considered civilized, respectable, gentlemanly- i.e. not a craigslist post.
Thank you.
*may not be their exact wording
I see stuff like this on Tumblr a lot, fundraisers for perfect strangers being reblogged and passed around, usually with phrasing like "signal boost" and "if you can't afford to help personally, please help spread the word."
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:12 AM on October 4, 2014
posted by Juliet Banana at 7:12 AM on October 4, 2014
After recovery from a very limiting physical condition, I'm seeking funding for personal goals I have been unable to pursue until now.
Is there an organization for the physical condition that you could contact to spread the word? Would this make a good human interest story? (jamesdtj overcame [condition]! now he wants to [go skydiving]!) If so, maybe your local news channel would cover it. I see this kind of thing occasionally on local morning news shows.
Or - are there organizations that deal with the personal goal, whatever that is? Skydiving clubs? Make contact with them via social media, see if they'll RT your gofundme page.
posted by desjardins at 8:12 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
Is there an organization for the physical condition that you could contact to spread the word? Would this make a good human interest story? (jamesdtj overcame [condition]! now he wants to [go skydiving]!) If so, maybe your local news channel would cover it. I see this kind of thing occasionally on local morning news shows.
Or - are there organizations that deal with the personal goal, whatever that is? Skydiving clubs? Make contact with them via social media, see if they'll RT your gofundme page.
posted by desjardins at 8:12 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]
In my opinion, this is a major consideration when deciding which crowdfunding platform to use.
Kickstarter is a lot better for soliciting donations from strangers and getting the word out beyond your personal circle, for a few reasons.
Firstly, the "you pay only if the project meets its goals" makes it much more likely that people who don't already know you will contribute, because there's an assurance that, if you give the money, the project is going to happen. With gofundme or indiegogo or other platforms, if your campaign only makes $200, wheeeeee, you get $200 of your contributors' money even though there's no way you could possibly mount a stage musical adaptation of Airplane! for a mere $200.
Secondly, Kickstarter projects tend to be a little more sexy to news outlets, which means that you can write up a press release about your project and submit it to blogs and other places online that cover whatever your project is about, which can really get the word out to people who might be interested in what you do. Nobody really cares about a gofundme campaign, on the other hand.
Thirdly, in my mind as someone who knows a bit about crowdfunding, when I hear "gofundme" I think it's probably helping someone with medical bills or a teenager who wants to save up for a car or something. Why would anyone who doesn't already know you give you money for whatever personal thing you have going on in your life? I've seen a few gofundme things get spread around beyond the person's immediate social network just because of especially tragic circumstances (for instance I remember one where a single mom's house burned down the week before Christmas), but otherwise, for situations that merit a gofundme campaign and fall outside the kickstarter guidelines, you have to ask yourself why people outside your immediate circle would want to contribute in the first place.
Also, somewhat tangentially to everything I wrote above, if you're going to mount a crowdfunding campaign -- especially a crowdfunding campaign where you will materially benefit and there's no larger project or value for the contributors -- you should leave your "don't want to seem like I'm begging" pride at the door. Mercilessly shilling your project to everyone you know is the name of the game, here.
posted by Sara C. at 10:34 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Kickstarter is a lot better for soliciting donations from strangers and getting the word out beyond your personal circle, for a few reasons.
Firstly, the "you pay only if the project meets its goals" makes it much more likely that people who don't already know you will contribute, because there's an assurance that, if you give the money, the project is going to happen. With gofundme or indiegogo or other platforms, if your campaign only makes $200, wheeeeee, you get $200 of your contributors' money even though there's no way you could possibly mount a stage musical adaptation of Airplane! for a mere $200.
Secondly, Kickstarter projects tend to be a little more sexy to news outlets, which means that you can write up a press release about your project and submit it to blogs and other places online that cover whatever your project is about, which can really get the word out to people who might be interested in what you do. Nobody really cares about a gofundme campaign, on the other hand.
Thirdly, in my mind as someone who knows a bit about crowdfunding, when I hear "gofundme" I think it's probably helping someone with medical bills or a teenager who wants to save up for a car or something. Why would anyone who doesn't already know you give you money for whatever personal thing you have going on in your life? I've seen a few gofundme things get spread around beyond the person's immediate social network just because of especially tragic circumstances (for instance I remember one where a single mom's house burned down the week before Christmas), but otherwise, for situations that merit a gofundme campaign and fall outside the kickstarter guidelines, you have to ask yourself why people outside your immediate circle would want to contribute in the first place.
Also, somewhat tangentially to everything I wrote above, if you're going to mount a crowdfunding campaign -- especially a crowdfunding campaign where you will materially benefit and there's no larger project or value for the contributors -- you should leave your "don't want to seem like I'm begging" pride at the door. Mercilessly shilling your project to everyone you know is the name of the game, here.
posted by Sara C. at 10:34 AM on October 4, 2014 [2 favorites]
Hi there. This is the second question this week where I'm outing myself professionally: I work for GlobalGiving which is a crowdfunding platform for nonprofit organizations.
Literally this morning, we released a resource called The CrowdFundamentals - 11 steps to online fundraising success, a guide for people interested in crowdfunding but who don't know where to to start.
I know you're fundraising for yourself, rather than on behalf of an organization, and not on our platform. However the information in this guide is general and I believe would apply to your situation as well. Specifically, you'll want to look at section 4 titled "Rely on your Tribe" which links to some network mapping exercises. Perhaps you'll discover that you know more people than you think!
I hope this helps and would love to hear any feedback you have regarding this tool in a PM!
posted by kitkatcathy at 9:18 AM on October 6, 2014
Literally this morning, we released a resource called The CrowdFundamentals - 11 steps to online fundraising success, a guide for people interested in crowdfunding but who don't know where to to start.
I know you're fundraising for yourself, rather than on behalf of an organization, and not on our platform. However the information in this guide is general and I believe would apply to your situation as well. Specifically, you'll want to look at section 4 titled "Rely on your Tribe" which links to some network mapping exercises. Perhaps you'll discover that you know more people than you think!
I hope this helps and would love to hear any feedback you have regarding this tool in a PM!
posted by kitkatcathy at 9:18 AM on October 6, 2014
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Good luck!
posted by potsmokinghippieoverlord at 3:19 AM on October 4, 2014 [1 favorite]