Fundraising: Online Fundraising Campaigns

This article is part of the Festivals For Ukraine Toolkit.

• Creator: Music Saves UA & YOUROPE
• Published in: 2024

Launching a fundraising campaign online can be a great option for raising money for a concrete goal using your audience or network, especially in the period between your festival editions, when there is more time to focus your audience’s attention on it. 

• Here is the outline of the process you should go through when creating such a campaign:
• Start with deciding what you want to achieve and formulating an achievable financial goal for your campaign.
• Consider the scope. Think about whether to ask your audience through your social channels to become donors, approach partner organizations, or even work in a more private circle and address people individually and directly.
• Determine the entity behind the fundraiser: your festival, company or association, a charitable organization or you as a private person. 
• Inform yourself about the legal requirements and obligations concerning crowdfunding, especially regarding taxes and data protection.
• Pick a platform that will best fit your needs (more on this in the next section).
• Create a professional and appealing presentation of your campaign, including meaningful visuals and messages or even a convincing video, if possible.
• Look into launching the campaign during a holiday season (e.g. New Year, Christmas, Easter, etc.) or a day relevant to the cause (e.g. Earth Day, World Refugee Day, Children’s Day, etc.).
• During the campaign, be transparent about your goals, the intended use of the funds and the campaign’s progress.
• Maintain open, regular, and authentic communication about the type, costs, and benefits of the purchase or service for which you are raising funds.

Selecting the crowdfunding or fundraising platform

• Determine the type of campaign you want to run: consider whether you want a reward-based crowdfunding campaign (with rewards for supporters) or a fundraising campaign (donations without rewards).
• Research the fee structure of the platform, including transaction fees and platform fees. Ensure that the fees are reasonable in relation to the platform’s services.
• Assess whether the platform has a suitable audience for your project and whether it offers tools to make your campaign successful if you want to spread it beyond your network and followers.
• Evaluate the platform’s functionalities, such as creating an appealing campaign page, sharing on social media, managing supporter data, and communicating with supporters.
• Confirm the platform’s availability in your country or region you want to collect donations in and ensure that you meet all necessary legal requirements.
• Examine the platform’s track record, especially regarding similar projects or campaigns, and review ratings and experiences of other project starters.
• Check whether the platform offers a variety of payment options for supporters to enhance flexibility and convenience.
• Verify the platform’s customer support to ensure you receive assistance with questions or issues and that the platform is reliable and professional.
• Ensure that the platform has security measures for financial transactions and data protection to safeguard supporters and project starters.
• If you are raising funds for Ukraine, check whether you can transfer funds directly or whether you need to transfer the funds to your organization first before sending them to the final beneficiary in Ukraine.
• You can consult the following materials, which compare different platforms:
• kindful.com/blog/best-online-fundraising-platforms/ crowdsourcingweek.com/blog/top-15-crowdfunding-platforms-in-europe/
• whydonate.com/en/blog/top10-crowdfunding-platforms-europe/  

Over Christmas and New Year’s Eve 2023/2024, YOUROPE ran an online fundraiser collecting donations for Music Saves Ukraine to help the Kyiv Institute of Rehabilitation. Due to a very personal approach to a committed group of people, the association was able to collect the full amount necessary to finance a machine to treat lymphedema, lipedema, and chronic venous insufficiency.