Answerbag – Why Wouldn’t I Just Do a GFM Crowdfunding Campaign?

Another fairly common question we hear, so let’s go ahead and address the elephant in the room.

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GFM is dubious in the crowdfunding world. They are a household name, and well-known.

But is it the right solution for your performing ensemble?

Your standard GFM campaign involves a self-created donation page that can then be shared on social media. 

The biggest reason your garden-variety GFM campaign will not be as successful as it should be – not enough potential donors see it. 

On average, only 16% of Facebook “friends” see posts that you share

One of the principal advantages to FansRaise’s model is our ability to bring your campaign directly to those most likely to donate, and we do that through the cultivation of email contacts from your membership or your students. PLUS, you can use ample Facebook and social media sharing directly from our platform just like other crowdfunding sites.

Email is a much more reliable way to promote your campaign. Open and click-through rates can be measured and monitored, and when measurement is applied, campaigns can be much better optimized.

 * By the way – all of the major crowdfunding sites that function like GFM have this same limitation. FansRaise is the only platform that leverages the full benefits of EMAIL MARKETING (in addition to social media) – that focuses on the performing arts.

But more important than the advantages that email offers is the QUALITY of potential donor that your student/member will contribute. With just 10-15 minutes of thoughtful work, it’s easy for an ensemble member to build a potential list of donors.

Also, before you ask about the topic of fees – our contention is that you’ll end up raising A LOT MORE with our format than with GFM’s, even after our 15% fee. In most cases, the 15% amounts to a small number of additional donations, and the final outcome and experience is well worth the small investment. We coach your member participants through the campaign process and support your campaign from beginning to end.

FansRaise puts an emphasis on student involvement, and student ownership. By asking students to directly contribute contacts to the campaign, your students essentially “pre-qualify” contacts that will most likely turn into donors. Asking each student to develop 5-10 donors will require somewhere between 10-20 donors on average. If your band has ~100 members participating, and each student develops 5 donors averaging $45 per donations (not unreasonable whatsoever), that campaign would generate $22,500!

Crowdfunding is easy, quick to implement, and certainly worth the bang-for-the-buck when you compare upside potential against the time invested.

 

FansRaise.
 

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