More than Money
Sabi Lamp: Improving the Lives of Night Fishers, Tanzania.
Initiated by students from the Delft University of Technology, this project was set up to improve the lives of night fishers in Tanzania. These fishers had to use kerosene lamps to attract fish, thereby threatening their own health and safety, and that of the environment. To pose an alternative to this method, LUMEN — a multidisciplinary design team — developed an alternative: a clean, safe, affordable, solar-powered lamp.
So, the LUMEN team saw a problem and developed a solution. The next step: implementing this solution. However, in order to do this, they needed money. They searched for a crowdfunding platform and chose 1%Club because of the friendly vibe, positive message and easy-to-use donation system. Initially, the idea was to go online as soon as possible, until they discovered the amount of time and energy that goes into a successful campaign. They delayed their kick-off and started preparing: and it paid off!
“A campaign period is hard work, but also a lot of fun. We experienced a great kick-off, but keeping the ball rolling for longer than just the first week is the difficult part. Fortunately, we managed to have donations coming in steadily for the most part of the campaign.” Johan, LUMEN.
In preparation of their campaign, the LUMEN team developed a strategy and planned numerous activities to collect donations. During the campaign, they approached investors, attended different events and gave regular, creative updates via their social media channels.
Besides preparing well, campaigners should maintain a high level of energy and enthusiasm throughout the entire campaign period. The fact that your mind is occupied with the campaign 24/7, does not mean this is the same for your audience: they need to be reminded and motivated regularly. Finding ways to activate your network, has some positive side-effects. In spreading the word about their campaign, the LUMEN team got in touch with many people. This made that at the end of the campaigning period, not only did they collect more than the targeted amount, they built their own support system and gained lots of feedback and motivation.
Besides money, what did you get out of the campaign? “Loads of positive reactions! These really motivated us to continue down this road. Also, by discussing the project with many different people, you get a lot of feedback, questions and general remarks that really help you think critically about the project and the impact you want to have.”
A key part of reaching their supporters, was telling their story whenever they could, and conveying their enthusiasm. A catchy pitch of your project can be very powerful.
What worked well? “The central part of our campaign is our story. Whenever we told people about the project and the campaign, we really tried to make sure people were able to empathize with the night fishers by telling the story from their perspective. Telling it in a way that’s as personal as possible really works.”
By telling a story and making a personal appeal to possible supporters, the LUMEN team managed to spark people’s interest. They responded to different reasons why people might make a donation: (1) they made a personal appeal, (2) they evoked empathy for the night fishers, thereby addressing supporters interested in the content of the project, and (3) they added rewards for all supporters. One of these rewards is the LUMEN keychain: a real crowd pleaser.
The key lesson we can take away from the experiences of the LUMEN team are that crowdfunding requires more than simply putting your campaign online, but also leaves you with much more than just the funds you aim to collect. When you run your campaign with lots of energy and enthusiasm; this is also what you will receive in return.
