Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project by soliciting relatively small contributions of money from a large number of people, typically via the internet.
A giving page is a static campaign hosted on a webpage that is available for an extended period of time. A giving page will generally feature a personal story or message to encourage those who visit the page to contribute. A giving page will be available regardless of the status of any campaigns that may be related to the cause featured. These are often connected with the landing pages for schools, colleges and other organizations.
A crowdfunding campaign is a temporary effort and thus has a unique sense of urgency. The appeal to the audience is often emotional and rapid. Multiple communications with the audience are crafted and sent over the 30 to 45-day campaign period.
Crowdfunding generally involves a team of advocates who follow a communications plan to promote the cause to personal networks. The team of fundraising volunteers is generally overseen by a single project manager or a group of project managers who apply to run a crowdfunding campaign, create the marketing plan, manage the timeline and help team members create content.
The project manager or project managing team must review training materials and best practices for crowdfunding, and understand the time commitment and effort required to run a crowdfunding campaign. They are responsible for developing the campaign with the assistance of the crowdfunding manager in the Office of Advancement.
A crowdfunding campaign generally lasts 30 to 45 days, depending on the goals set by the project manager(s). However, the actual period of time dedicated to a crowdfunding campaign can generally be expected to be around 2 to 3 months. Crowdfunding entails a large preparation period, as well as a stewardship component following the completion of the active campaign.
A crowdfunding campaign must target a specific audience. An audience should be large enough that the campaign’s goals can be met but also focused enough that the potential donors will have at least some interest in the project. A good rule of thumb – only about 20% of the page views your campaign can expect will come from individuals outside of your original audience. The size and relevance of the original audience is vastly important to the success of any campaign.
For application/project creators
CU Anschutz students, faculty and staff can apply to create and launch a campaign on the CU Anschutz Crowdfunding platform. The application can be found here.
Fill out the application available on the CU Anschutz Crowdfunding page. After completion, your application will be sent to the crowdfunding manager for review.
Once we receive your application, a committee will review your idea and contact you with questions. The committee meets every 4 to 6 weeks, so please plan ahead if your project is time-sensitive.
One of the key components of a successful crowdfunding campaign is a solid marketing strategy. Our planning and marketing guides can help you develop a strategy to raise the funds you need. We will ask you to complete these documents before your campaign launches.
Funds will be transferred from the CU Foundation to the university as the contributions are processed. The project teams will be able to access these funds through a separate university spending account set up specifically for their project once the funding period has ended.
For crowdfunding contributors/funders
Find the project page for the project that you would like to contribute to and click “support this project.” You will be asked for a contribution amount and credit card information. You can also contribute by telling your friends and family about a project that you are interested in, or by spreading the word across your social networks.
At this time CU Anschutz Crowdfunding is only accepting credit card payments (Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover).
Yes, there is a $5 minimum contribution amount required. There is no maximum contribution amount, and you can also make multiple contributions to multiple projects.
Immediately upon making the gift.
Yes, your gift, made to the CU Foundation, is tax deductible as allowed by law. You will receive a tax-deductible receipt for the entire amount of your gift. Funds contributed are then transferred from the CU Foundation to the university for use by the specified project.
No, CU Anschutz Crowdfunding does not store any payment or credit card information.
No, your name and contribution amount will not be publicly displayed.
Yes, you are able to indicate when making your contribution payment that you would like to remain anonymous.
Projects will receive their funds once the funding period has ended (typically 30 to 45 days from the start of the funding period).
Yes, there is a button on the CU Anschutz Crowdfunding site thank you page that you will see after a contribution is made that will allow you to share news of your contribution with your own social networks.
Currently, CU Anschutz Crowdfunding is only allowing for non-tangible rewards to be given and only from certain selected projects. These non-tangible rewards are defined as rewards that have no monetary value except for the costs of the materials, such as cards, blank CDs, poster boards, paper, etc.
Yes, you can make a refund request directly to the Processing Department in the Office of Advancement by calling 303-541-1290 or emailing advancement.processing@cu.edu.
A full 100% of the funds raised will be used by the project to which you have contributed for project tasks and related expenses. Each project has a detailed budget breakdown and a section on “use of funds” in its project description pages on the CU Anschutz Crowdfunding website.
A full 100% of your contribution will go only to the project (or projects) you have designated. Each project has a separate account set-up by university accounting, which will be monitored by an assigned university staff and/or faculty sponsor for each project.
You can always check back on the project page to look at the funding progress. You can also sign up for updates or follow the project’s social media pages for updates. You will receive an email when the project fundraising time has expired, regardless of whether or not the project reached its funding goal.
Each of the project teams has identified a set of baseline project tasks and goals, in addition to a set of “stretch goals.” Should a project be fortunate enough to exceed its funding goal, the additional funds will be utilized to help the team reach the project stretch goals as identified in their project description pages on the CU Anschutz Crowdfunding website.
No, our policy is that project teams retain funds raised, even if the total funding goal may not have been reached. We expect each of the project teams will make some progress in achieving their project goals even if they may not have been fully funded.
Absolutely! Just click the “Ask a Question Button” under the project starter box and your question will be sent to the project creator/lead.
Those who have contributed to a project will receive emails when the project lead creates an update, or when the project funding period ends.
