Writing Tips for Crowdfunding Campaigns to Boost Contributions

As your nonprofit looks to grow and increase its impact, you may be considering using a crowdfunding campaign as a vital tool in boosting fundraising and awareness.

Quality content is an essential piece of any successful crowdfunding campaign. Before a potential donor makes a contribution, they need to be convinced their dollars will be worth it. Not sure how to make this happen? Don’t worry, I’ve got 5 essential tips for writing crowdfunding campaigns that will help you get off and running.

Here are 5 essential writing tips for crowdfunding campaigns:

1. Don’t start by asking for money. This is why we identified the “why” of your campaign while preparing your strategy. We need to humanize your goal and help people understand its importance before we suggest that they donate to the cause.
2. When it comes to word choice, think positive. This may sound obvious, but it’s something that is easily overlooked. Instead of phrases such as, “Don’t miss this chance to help out,” say something like, ”Join our efforts, this is your chance to make a difference.”
3. Be engaging. This is especially important with online campaigns, because you want people to feel involved in your story before they even decide to make a donation. To start, always include your reader as part of your writing by talking directly to them: use “you,” and “us,” to create that sense of connectivity. Be creative with your writing, use strong words that give a sense of action and also tap into readers’ emotions. (Need help with this? Here’s a great article on creating engaging content.)
4. Use story-telling. While a story-telling strategy is a part of creating engaging content, it’s important to consider this element on its own because it’s so vital to your campaign’s success. You don’t just want to shout about the areas you need help or the plans you have for your organization, you want to tell stories about how your organization has already made an impact. Identifying people who are in need of your organization’s programs and services, and sharing their stories of struggle is another great way to highlight the need for people to contribute to your campaign.
5. Close your story with a strong punch line. Even if you put all this energy into creating strong, emotional content, it’s just natural that many people are going to skim across sections of what you’ve written. Saving an extremely memorable line for the end of the story will help readers who don’t go through the entire story still latch on to your cause. Closing with a strong emotional quote, a startling statistic or some other impactful piece of information means your reader will feel engaged even at the very end.