Hands-On Philanthropy: The Gamification Of Nonprofit Crowdfunding
This is a guest post from Steve Bernat, the founder of the nonprofit fundraising sites RallyUp.com and Challengely.
Ten years ago, crowdfunding was all the rage. And rightly so: it made it easier than ever for individuals and nonprofits to raise funds to support their cause. For huge causes, it’s made incredible amounts of money, with campaigns on GoFundMe raising almost $12 million for the Las Vegas victims’ fund and over $2 million for the Rohingya population in Myanmar.
Crowdfunding has become saturated, though. We’re now mostly immune to the appeals we see on our social media daily. In fact, less than a third of crowdfunding campaigns reach their goal. Crowdfunding today is yesterday’s equivalent of writing a check to a large nonprofit.
However, a growing trend is breathing new life into crowdfunding. Donors are being encouraged to take a challenge, enter a drawing, or join a team to support a charity. Adding elements of game playing to fundraising is known as “gamification,” and it’s providing fresh new interest in crowdfunding participation.
This can be seen in action in a recent charity drawing by the popular singer Ed Sheeran, who partnered with the charity Drop4Drop to raise funds for clean drinking water efforts. Fans donated to Drop4Drop for the chance to win a trip to New York to get a guitar lessons from Ed and exclusive VIP access to his concert. By engaging personally with his fans via his social media channels, Ed encouraged people not just to give, but to promote the effort on their own social media pages.
The campaign raised immense awareness, with over 800,000 people from around the world visiting the campaign page to participate. Fans felt a personal connection with the cause, and were of course excited about the possibility of meeting Ed.
Challenging to give more
Another example of crowdfunding gamification can be seen in the rise of “challenge” fundraising. Supporters are able to go to a challenge fundraising site and create a challenge that they (or someone they invite) will perform on video if enough people donate to help them reach a fundraising goal.
Challenges usually involve something embarrassing, daring, or otherwise uncomfortable for the person to do. They can range from 5 second clips that have the power to go viral, like the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, to month-long commitments, like Cancer Research UK’s Dryathlon, where fundraisers commit to going a whole month with no alcohol.
For better or worse, studies show that people enjoy seeing their friends suffer a little for a good cause. In fact, peer-to-peer fundraising that’s based on completing sponsored challenges raised $1.45 billion in the U.S. alone in 2017.
Those looking to raise money also have the option to do an “a-thon” style fundraiser, where donors pledge to give a certain amount based on how many miles are run for example, or days completed. Make-a-Wish Florida has had huge success using this approach with their annual #HourPushUpChallenge, where participants collect monetary pledges and complete as many push-ups as they can in 60 minutes.
The initiative, which was held in collaboration with fundraising platform RallyUp.com, managed to raise more than $100,000 last year. These types of challenges have the capacity to involve a large number of people who participate on an individual basis and create media hype around a specific event.
Peer-to-peer challenge fundraising not only allows for people to feel personally invested in a philanthropic effort, but it’s also a great way to increase engagement on social media channels through user-generated content.
Challenges, charity drawings, and “a-thons” are just three examples of hands-on, “gamified” philanthropy that is becoming increasingly popular. They are not only unique and engaging ways for groups of people to be directly involved in the efforts to support a cause, but they’re also very effective for raising funds. These campaigns get people excited about an effort and cause, while providing a level of hands-on involvement that is missing from much of today’s fundraising.
About Steve Bernat
Steve Bernat is a serial technology entrepreneur who’s been working with social responsibility software for over 20 years. He’s the founder of the nonprofit fundraising sites RallyUp.com and Challengely.
Be a hero! Join the elite group of supporters who ensure that stories like this can continue to be shared! Visit heroes4good.org to become a hero now.
The post Hands-On Philanthropy: The Gamification Of Nonprofit Crowdfunding appeared first on GoodCrowd.info.