Crowdfunding

Step 7: Follow up! Follow up!

If you successfully get backed, the work has only just begun. For example: of all successful Kickstarter campaigns, 9% never actually deliver on their promises. Don’t be one of them. Instead, keep emailing your backers while you develop your project and keep them updated on your progress. This is crucial for your future fundraising efforts. If you fail to deliver, not only are you going to be starting your next funding campaign from scratch, but those initial backers won’t trust you. It will damage the brand of your NGO, your future fundraising and the trust that others have in you.

However, if you communicate well and stick to your promises, those same backers will be eager to fund your next project, and it will be much easier to reach your goal because of their support. If you are lucky enough to have email or contact details from your backers, you might be able to keep these people interested and encourage them to become regular donors. Here are a few things you can do:

• Send them a regular newsletter and ask for an additional donation at the end of the year
• Ask them to become an ambassador for your project or your organisation and raise funds on your behalf 
• Organise an event to show the impact of their donations

Realistically, it takes weeks, even months of planning and work to launch a crowdfunding campaign. Go through each step that is included in this guide, and make sure you understand how they all fit together. If you’re not ready to start planning your crowdfunding campaign right away, you can still start building an email list at any time that will be invaluable when you launch.