As you probably know, many causes nowadays use crowdfunding to achieve their fundraising goals and put certain ideas into practice. However, it turns out that crowdfunding is gradually gaining popularity for different uses these days, namely – regular fundraising campaigns organised by one or more established charities. According to Gail Perry, one of America’s major gifts specialists, crowdfunding can be used to bring in 5-figure sums to your campaigns and is now a great fundraising option for a charity of any size. Let’s see how and why.

According to Perry, many charities in the USA are now using crowdfunding for their fundraising campaigns. In some cases, a charity organises a Giving Day, the idea behind which is trying to fundraise a large amount of money on a single day by mobilising all supporters of the cause, including major and minor donors, and also to find new prospective givers. Occasionally a few or all local charities have their Giving Day on the same date, thus raising more awareness, getting extra publicity and making a greater impact.

According to Gail Perry, however, the most important thing about crowdfunding fundraising is to get your major donors to match every donation on the day or throughout the period of the campaign. Thus, if you get $5,000 on the day, your major donors will have to contribute another $5,000, and you are now dealing with a 5-figure sum of money. The bigger the donations, the more excited your major donors will be, and this is good for your campaign, because they will speak to their major donor peers, and might possibly get them to contribute to your cause as well. Once you get your major donors to match all the donations you get, you will have a greater motivation to try and get more and more donations for your campaign, as every donation will bring you twice its value.

Another important point, according to Perry, is to make sure you offer the givers different options, also known as tiered asks. You can have different types of donations targeting practically everyone who might come across your crowdfunding page – from major donors and big corporations to individuals who are willing to donate but unable to match the big sums organisations and companies give. Thus you can have ‘impact level’ donations covering 3- and 4-figure sums, as well as various donation amounts from $5 to $100. These will offer everyone visiting your campaign the opportunity to contribute whatever they can or find appropriate.

An important point to be made, however, is that you should try and connect with those who donated to your campaign. Therefore, make sure to send a warm ‘Thank you’ e-mail and to ask them to become a regular helper – chances are, if they have decided to help once, they might be willing to do it regularly. Having this in mind, a crowdfunding campaign can make a big difference – not only could you have an powerful fundraising day that will help you near your annual goals, but you might also recruit new helpers and regular donors – and why not volunteers?