RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 Benchmarks and Best Practices for Charitable Crowdfunding Campaigns Based on a review of 4,200 crowdfunding campaigns totaling $22.5M through RNL Crowdfunding powered by ScaleFunder.
Table of Contents CROWDFUNDING: 21 ST CENTURY DONOR ENGAGEMENT... 3 PROJECT PERFORMANCE BY TYPE... 4 DOLLARS VS. PARTICIPATION GOALS... 6 AVERAGE CAMPAIGN DURATIONS... 7 AMBASSADOR IMPACT... 8 NAMING YOUR CAMPAIGN... 9 ATTRACT NEW DONORS... 10 CROWDFUNDING BEST PRACTICES... 11 SOURCE OF DATA 4,200 CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS 235,545 TOTAL GIFTS 197,540 ONLINE GIFTS $22,494,868 IN TOTAL GIVING Charitable crowdfunding campaigns were conducted through RNL Crowdfunding powered by ScaleFunder from 2013 2017. Donations were primarily to higher education institutions (90 percent) with additional organizations including Greek organizations, public charities, and university hospitals. 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 2
CROWDFUNDING: 21 ST CENTURY DONOR ENGAGEMENT This index provides the results of 4,200 charitable crowdfunding projects conducted through RNL Crowdfunding powered by ScaleFunder platform since its creation in 2013. The project averages and best practices presented in this index provide a baseline for planning and program improvement as organizations utilize this powerful, donor-centric technology. Crowdfunding is a goal-based, online opportunity for supporters to fund a specific project within a defined timeframe. Pioneered by popular engines like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, crowdfunding has fundamentally changed how new products and ideas are launched in the commercial world by allowing the consumer to decide what moves forward to market. This peer-to-peer online giving opportunity has also built a strong footprint in the charitable sector. In a July 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz survey of higher education giving leaders, 60 percent reported that they conducted some form of crowd fundraising in the past year.* Charitable crowdfunding has some differences from commercial projects including a general practice that donations are taken even if a project does not meet goal. But this powerful new technology remains highly supporter-centric and takes advantage of social networks. The most successful adopters of crowdfunding in higher education have created branded online crowdfunding portals with a selection of diverse projects which are presented to donors through coordinated, multichannel communication plans. These best practices maximize the opportunity to market high-impact giving to donors. The best organizations have also utilized crowdfunding to secure general support, and often utilize challenges for major givers to energize donors. Successful crowdfunding projects include student, faculty, alumni, research, and travel opportunities. An integrated crowdfunding portal allows you to engage your entire organization or campus to support specific programs and ideas. *From forthcoming RNL Advancement Leaders Speak report on digital and millennial engagement to be released at RuffaloNL.com/FundraisingReports. 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 3
PROJECT PERFORMANCE BY TYPE To provide averages of crowdfunding campaigns, campaigns were categorized into 10 major areas of support. PROJECT CATEGORIES AND NUMBER OF CAMPAIGNS* Student Class Gift: All class gift campaigns, including senior gift campaigns (87) Alumni: Chapter or reunion campaigns/challenges (250) Giving Day: Projects supporting Giving Tuesday or institutional giving days through crowdfunding (33) Travel: Projects that support student, team, or faculty travel abroad or for domestic competitions, service projects, trips, or conferences (311) Athletics: All non-travel athletics for NCAA/NAIA sports (350) Arts: All non-travel arts (90) Research: Faculty or laboratory research (123) Scholarship: Endowment, fellowship, or student emergency funds (313) Student: Clubs, organizations, or other student campaigns (1,138) Institutional: Campaigns sponsored by the institution for specific projects, needs, or general annual giving (1,505) RNL Insights: Given the initial excitement for crowdfunding in support of research, faculty research projects seem to be underrepresented to date. There may be room in your program to better engage your faculty partners. *Some projects crossed into multiple areas, so we placed campaigns according to priority order presented in these category descriptions. (For example, a student travel project was placed in the Travel category.) A SELECTION OF TOP CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGNS IN 2017: $262,516 BREAK THROUGH BREAST CANCER - CORNELL UNIVERSITY $172,539 THE HOPE FUND - HOPE COLLEGE $160,756 A STUDENT UNION: THE POWERHOUSE - BELOIT COLLEGE $155,500 GIVING CHILDREN WITH AUTISM RELIEF THROUGH PROBIOTIC TREATMENT - UT HEALTH $293,156 LET S RACE WITH JENNIFER - UC SAN FRANCISCO 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 4
PROJECT TYPE NUMBER OF CAMPAIGNS AVERAGE NUMBER OF TOTAL GIFTS AVERAGE CAMPAIGN TOTAL AVERAGE ONLINE TOTAL AVERAGE ONLINE GIFT Alumni 250 56 $85,243 $4,986 $136 Arts 90 42 $5,445 $4,058 $103 Athletics 350 45 $9,359 $5,875 $148 Giving Day 33 152 $21,631 $14,883 $112 Institutional 1,505 75 $14,445 $7,763 $118 Research 123 58 $8,531 $5,741 $106 Scholarship 313 64 $15,844 $7,348 $136 Student Class Gift 87 140 $5,978 $3,904 $50 Student 1,138 28 $3,193 $2,309 $89 Travel 311 42 $5,286 $3,809 $97 All Campaigns 4,200 56 $14,128 $5,495 $114 RNL Insights: For organizations that integrate a crowdfunding platform with offline sources such as major gift challenges, total campaign dollars raised is boosted significantly. As shown in the data, Alumni crowdfunding campaigns have the highest percentage of offline giving. We hear from online campaign strategists that it is beneficial to work with major gift officers to amplify campaigns with sponsors and early adopters. Student and Research campaigns receive on average one-third of their contributions through challenge or other offline gifts. In total, these represent all gifts made online or entered offline for individual gift credit in the RNL Crowdfunding gift feed. Gifts entered prior to campaign official launch (such as seed gifts by early adopters or previously raised funds) bring the average campaign total for all campaigns to $24,346, with the largest impact of this strategy felt by Alumni, Institutional, and Research campaigns. Contact RNL today to hear key strategies for integrating online and offline giving. A crowdfunding platform is an incredible way to bring together the work of students, faculty, volunteers, and major gift officers. The best crowdfunding campaigns are a team effort. We re seeing significant interest from major donors who want to help projects succeed and use their giving to inspire new donors. Brian Gawor, Vice President for Research, RNL 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 5
DOLLARS VS. PARTICIPATION GOALS Charitable crowdfunding campaigns can set the overarching goal in either total dollars raised or total number of donors participating in any amount. Dollar goal campaigns tend to be more common for funding trips and specific capital projects. Participation goal campaigns often involve challenges by major donors or competitions between teams or campuses. Project Type Dollar Goal Campaigns Participation Goal Campaigns NUMBER OF CAMPAIGNS AVERAGE NUMBER OF TOTAL GIFTS AVERAGE CAMPAIGN TOTAL AVERAGE ONLINE TOTAL NUMBER OF CAMPAIGNS AVERAGE NUMBER OF TOTAL GIFTS AVERAGE CAMPAIGN TOTAL AVERAGE ONLINE TOTAL Alumni 153 45 $89,993 $4,267 97 73 $77,750 $6,035 Arts 83 40 $5,396 $3,890 7 61 $6,024 $6,017 Athletics 292 50 $10,059 $6,739 58 20 $5,835 $1,541 Giving Day 21 72 $12,320 $9,274 12 294 $37,926 $24,698 Institutional 1,286 67 $13,543 $7,232 219 120 $19,741 $10,952 Research 113 60 $8,854 $5,877 10 43 $4,888 $4,219 Scholarship 287 55 $15,415 $6,922 26 158 $20,581 $12,156 Student Class Gift 42 130 $8,981 $6,292 45 150 $3,174 $1,675 Student 1,061 27 $3,127 $2,291 77 43 $4,102 $2,552 Travel 293 43 $5,448 $3,885 18 32 $2,651 $2,573 All Campaigns 3,631 50 $12,544 $5,236 569 94 $24,238 $7,138 RNL Insights: Interestingly, when we separate campaign averages by these two types of goals, we found that in several categories, participation challenges encouraged higher levels of online donations. While it is important to recognize that participation-based campaigns represent just 14 percent of all campaigns, Scholarship, Giving Day, Institutional, Arts, and Alumni campaigns seem to benefit from participation messaging. KEY Total Amount: Complete campaign total, which includes gifts via online platform and offline (gifts applied by fundraising staff manually, including challenge and major givers). Online Amount: Giving directly to the crowdfunding campaign via online gift through RNL Crowdfunding powered by ScaleFunder. 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 6
AVERAGE CAMPAIGN DURATIONS Part of the power of crowdfunding is a defined deadline, which encourages donors who are on the fence to give now. Project owners can specify the campaign deadline. Common choices are 30, 60, or 90 days, with some single-day campaigns and some longer campaigns such as student class gift campaigns. The following table shares average campaign duration by type of campaign (average number of days by type of campaign from first donation to final donation). CAMPAIGN TYPE NUMBER OF CAMPAIGNS CAMPAIGN DURATION AVERAGE Alumni 250 51 Arts 90 42 Athletics 350 38 Giving Day 33 6 Institutional 1,505 44 Research 123 55 Scholarship 313 65 Student Class Gift 87 67 Student 1,138 30 Travel 311 37 All Campaigns 4,200 41 RNL Insights: Student-initiated campaigns tend to be the shortest in duration. Alumni and research campaigns tend to be the longest. Posting Giving Day campaigns prior to the specific date and crediting some gifts is common. I would say this is a microphone. It s a microphone as well as a listening device for all the wonderful things on your campus. Sometimes that s what crowdfunding feels like. Jarrett Oakley, Director of UCLA Spark - spark.ucla.edu 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 7
AMBASSADOR IMPACT In 2016, RNL Crowdfunding powered by ScaleFunder implemented an integrated ambassador tracking program. Crowdfunding ambassadors are volunteers who agree to ask peers to contribute via email and social media promotion and, in some cases, direct solicitation. We tracked campaigns from 2016 and 2017 by the number of registered giving ambassadors. Average Campaign Total Campaigns without ambassadors $6,502 Campaigns with at least 1 ambassador $7,885 Campaigns with at least 4 ambassadors $9,502 Campaigns with at least 6 ambassadors $9,594 Representing 3,432 campaigns in 2016 and 2017 RNL Insights: Whenever possible, recruiting at least four online ambassadors per campaign is a best practice. I now host a monthly lunch-and-learn where student organizations come. We talk about Pony Up. We talk about fundraising in general, but most of all we always talk about philanthropy and why it matters. It s been a transition to really great organic philanthropy training across the campus. Cara Walker, Director of Boise State Pony Up - ponyup.boisestate.edu 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 8
NAMING YOUR CAMPAIGN We took all 4,200 campaigns featured in this study and looked for the words in campaign titles that appeared 20 or more times. This word cloud displays the most common campaign title words, and the word size indicates the relative popularity of the word. RNL Insights: Successful campaigns were more likely to: Name the organization or group being supported in their project title. Use active language such as support, help, or send. Mention a challenge in their project title. It is clear that donors are more inspired to give to specific projects. They want to understand why their gifts matter and will be more likely to respond when they feel a personal connection to the cause. 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 9
ATTRACT NEW DONORS New donor acquisition is a key goal for fundraisers hoping to increase overall participation and build a future pipeline of big givers. We asked a group of fundraisers about which of the emerging digital tactics they think will help capture new donors. Crowdfunding scored high on the list. RNL Insights: Based on an RNL 2017 survey, crowdfunding is the second-highest ranked digital vehicle for new donor acquisition by fundraisers. The only option that scored higher was Giving Day, the other time-sensitive channel. Which of these tactics do you feel is most likely to help attract new, first-time donors? Giving Day 31% Crowdfunding your own portal with multiple campaigns Crowdfunding single campaign or a few campaigns 16% 15% 31% Volunteer ambassadors who contact peers to promote giving Email solicitation 10% 12% Social media giving campaign 7% Customized online giving page(s) for specific appeals Texting campaign Targeted digital advertising 2% 3% 4% Source: RNL survey of 250 fundraisers, July 2017. Full results available in our forthcoming Advancement Leaders Speak report on digital and millennial engagement to be released at RuffaloNL.com/FundraisingReports. We find that about 50 percent of our donors that come to crowdfunding are brand new. It is also a great way to highlight things that are going on at campus. Our students are doing really amazing work, so it s a great way to showcase and build up that alumni pride. Ryan Lawrence, Director of UC Berkeley Crowdfunding - crowdfund.berkeley.edu 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 10
CROWDFUNDING BEST PRACTICES FROM THE DATA This first-ever comprehensive analysis of 4,200 charitable campaigns presents data that show the crowdfunding channel is a growing and successful donor engagement option. Creating, promoting, and maintaining a crowdfunding program involves an investment in the top technology as well as your staff resources. From our review of this data and conversations with RNL partners who use RNL Crowdfunding, here are some best practices we ve identified. Launch your platform with three to five campaigns from diverse areas of your organization or campus. The average institution had 11 projects total per year, but it varied widely by institution size, with a low of one and a high of 58. Engage campus partners to suggest, sponsor, and own campaigns. This includes gift officers, faculty, and student and alumni organizations. Remember, campaigns with four or more ambassadors raise on average 30 percent more. Invite donors to the crowdfunding platform via email, and back this up with a social media post. 84 percent of crowdfunding gifts were activated by email. Utilize challenges and matching gifts from major donors to amplify excitement about campaigns. This allows your major giving team to utilize the excitement of crowdfunding to engage their top prospects. Adopt a platform that easily integrates offline giving. This allows your major donors to participate in the social network engagement. The highest-yielding crowdfunding projects had significant challenge and offline giving. Get help from your technology partner. RNL has a storehouse of campaign examples and templates, and can help you learn from what others have done successfully. 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017 11
Amplify your fundraising with a modern digital strategy. Connect with more donors with RNL Crowdfunding used for more than 5,000 crowdfunding projects. Discover how to transform your digital giving. Call: 800.876.1117 or Email: ContactUs@RuffaloNL.com for a demonstration Create compelling giving opportunities that match your brand with a fully customizable crowdfunding platform designed for higher education and nonprofit organizations. Launch robust crowdfunding campaigns featuring multiple projects with an easy-to-use, subscription-based service. Empower supporters to easily follow, share, and donate to the projects that resonate with them and to see the impact of their gifts. With RNL Crowdfunding, you can more powerfully connect with donors and amplify your fundraising results. Visit: www.ruffalonl.com/requestdemo ABOUT RUFFALO NOEL LEVITZ Ruffalo Noel Levitz is the leading provider of enrollment management, student success, and fundraising solutions. Each year, more than 1,900 colleges, universities, and nonprofit organizations rely on RNL best-in-class analytics, engagement technology, and industry-leading insights to achieve their mission. How to cite this report Ruffalo Noel Levitz (2017). RNL Crowdfunding Index 2017: Benchmarks and best practices for charitable crowdfunding campaigns. Retrieved from RuffaloNL.com/CrowdfundingSuccess. All material in this document is copyright by Ruffalo Noel Levitz. Permission is required to redistribute information from Ruffalo Noel Levitz either in print or electronically. Please contact us at ContactUs@RuffaloNL.com about reusing material from this document. 2017 Ruffalo Noel Levitz Crowdfunding Index 2017 12