Crowdfunding has become one of the most popular fundraising tools in recent years. The rising influence of social media and rapid technological advancements have led to the increasing use of crowdfunding. In particular, donation-based crowdfunding has seen accelerated growth ever since the COVID pandemic.
From lifesaving heart surgeries and college education to environmental preservation, research, social innovation, and business growth, donation-based crowdfunding sites have empowered individuals and organizations to tide over crisis situations and raise necessary funds and resources.
In this blog, we delve into who all benefit from donation-based crowdfunding.
Donation-Based Crowdfunding: An Overview
Donation-based crowdfunding is a modern-day fundraising technique wherein a large number of donors donate money, resources, time, and/or expertise toward a donation request raised by an individual or organization.
This form of fundraising harnesses the power of kindness, collective action, and collective giving. Instead of relying on a limited number of wealthy donors and sponsors, it connects those willing to give with those in need. These websites enable individual and corporate donors to give smaller amounts to causes they align with. This way, the financial liability is spread out across a large group of donors.
Donation-based crowdfunding is not only a perfectly legal way but also one of the quickest and most effective ways to raise funds and resources when needed. It doesn’t require fundraisers to go through lengthy application, approval, and selection processes, unlike traditional fundraising methods. Those in need must simply choose a good platform, create a request, share approved requests with their networks, and raise the necessary funds.
The best fundraising platforms are simple, secure, and easy to use. The best platforms also offer a range of tools to maximize the efforts of the individual/ organization.
Who Benefits from Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding sites enable not just large non-profit organizations but smaller non-profits, local communities, and even individuals to raise funds and access necessary help.
Non-Profit Organizations
Non-profit fundraising is absolutely critical for effectively running, sustaining, and fulfilling the mission of non-profit and charitable organizations. But it is also one of the most challenging activities that non-profit organizations must engage in.
Traditionally, non-profits rely on grants, aids, funding organizations, donors, and sponsors for their funding requirements. The application process is quite lengthy, filling out applications, writing proposals, and waiting for the time-consuming review & selection. These grants and aids are given out to a limited number of non-profits/ projects from the hundreds that apply. There is also a heavy reliance on a few grants, aids, and wealthy donors. While there is merit to traditional non-profit fundraising and it still is an important source of funds, it is not accessible to a large number of charities. The barriers to entry are high and the time cost, monetary cost, and hassle cost of fundraising are prohibitively high.
With online non-profit fundraising enabled by crowdfunding platforms, non-profits and charities can steer away from most, if not all, of the challenges. Crowdfunding is highly beneficial to non-profit organizations of all sizes, kinds, and domains of operation.
The best platforms charge negligible to zero platform usage fees. The request creation and approval processes are simple, straightforward, and quick. Non-profits don’t have to deploy fundraising experts or marketing teams to run campaigns.
These platforms democratize access to funds by enabling non-profit organizations to reach out to and mobilize global donors. They can create a global community and network around their causes. They can securely collect and manage funds using these online fundraising platforms.
In fact, the best online crowdfunding sites such as TALGiving enable non-profits to create multiple categories of requests including cash, kind, and blood donations, volunteering, Board Members, mentoring, and much more.
Powered by best-in-class technology, automation, admin & marketing support, and a wide range of resources, non-profits can maximize their campaign outcomes using platforms like TALGiving. Further, they have tools to centrally view, manage, and track their campaigns & funds, and keep finetuning their strategies to boost engagement, maintain complete transparency, and ensure the best outcomes.
Individuals
Individuals benefit immensely from online crowdfunding sites. Typically, when someone is in desperate need of funds/ resources to tide over a personal crisis or emergency, they turn towards friends and family or local moneylenders or banks to fund their needs. Family, friends & personal networks may not always be able to help, and the risk of donor fatigue is high. Local moneylenders tend to charge hefty interest rates and the individual may end up in a debt trap.
Getting loans from banks is a challenging and time-consuming process with high barriers to entry. Banks also do not provide loans for all causes. For instance, personal emergencies/ expenses, experimental, high-cost treatments, high-risk projects, etc. They also require individuals to provide collateral in most cases. In effect, bank loans are inaccessible to many, especially for personal emergencies and personal projects.
With online fundraising platforms, individuals can create fundraisers for themselves or someone in need. They can ask for help not just to tide over financial crises or fund medical emergencies but also for causes they feel strongly about, projects, research purposes, education, higher education, business, and much more.
Since the best crowdfunding sites verify individuals and have a review process for requests, individuals gain donor trust and credibility. So, they appeal to a global donor community, improving their reach and getting the help they need.
The best online crowdfunding platforms like TALGiving democratize access to funds and important resources. In fact, TALGiving is the only platform that enables individuals to create campaigns not only for cash donations but also for in-kind donations, blood and plasma donations, internships, mentoring, scholarships, career help, and much more. The platform is not only simple and easy to use but also completely free.
This crowdfunding site also offers a range of tools & resources, marketing & admin help, social media & email campaign support, etc. to maximize crowdfunding efforts. It enables individuals to receive and withdraw funds securely while effectively managing and tracking donations and donors.
Others
Even local communities, small businesses, social enterprises, and so on can leverage online crowdfunding platforms to gain access to global donor communities and resources.
Do Only the Fundraisers Benefit from Crowdfunding?
Definitely not! Crowdfunding is beneficial to donors and society at large. How? Let us take a look.
Donors
Several studies suggest that giving to charity has a positive impact on the giver’s mental health and well-being. With online crowdfunding platforms, any individual from across the globe can find and donate to trustworthy causes that strike a chord with them. They are not mandated to donate stipulated large sums but can donate up to their capacity.
Corporate donors can find high impact, verified causes or non-profits that align with their CSR goals. They can also leverage the help of the best fundraising platforms to develop tailored frameworks and access support in ESG compliance and CSR.
In effect, donors will not only drive lasting social change through their donations in cash, kind, and expertise but also save on their tax bills.
Society at Large
By democratizing access to funds and resources, online crowdfunding platforms enable individuals, non-profits, local communities, and others to take ownership of pressing social and environmental issues that affect them. These platforms empower grassroots level change, drive societal progress, and help amplify kindness in the world.
In conclusion, crowdfunding is beneficial to individual donees, non-profit organizations, local communities, individual & corporate donors, and society at large. Want to start giving or start a fundraising campaign?
