Some campaigns start off super strong, and meet their goal in days (or in some cases, even minutes). Think Yeastie Boys, ParrotDog (really, anything craft beer related).
But, those are extreme cases and definitely not the normal.
Often, you’ll make your goal in the final few days or even final few hours. We’ve seen some campaigns raise over 75% of their goal in the final countdown, but we’ve also seen some campaigns completely lose the will to push.
We’ve put together this case study to show how some campaigns managed those final pushes, even when the going got tough. Hopefully it will inspire you to keep on going (and educate you on what you might be getting yourself into).
Making your crowd feel loved IRL
Moustache cookie Monday & wall of pledgers
Moustache ran a project campaign in 2015 to buy a Cookie Bus. A week out, they still had a way to go to be funded, so they sent out this update:
I spent Easter weekend reading through the comments and names of all our pledgers & supporters of Moustache. Since then, I’ve been adding every believer’s name on our wall inside the shop. The sheer time it took me to write your names up shows just how many people believe in our little cookie bar. I don’t want this to be the end of Moustache just because of one silly curveball event, but I’m humbled by how many other people also want to #SaveMoustache.
There are only 8 more days of our fundraiser left & we still have a little bit of a hill to climb but we are getting so so incredibly close to saving Moustache!!! I guess it’s all about the Power of the People. We’ve got over 25,000 fans on Facebook so it’s hard not to go into that mindset of “If everyone on our facebook just gave $1 then we would be done!” but that’s not a very logical assumption. There are moments when I get nervous & those sort of illogical thoughts pop up because of my nerves but those moments are nothing compared to the overwhelming feeling of gratitude and humility I have towards each of you.
After spending hours writing the names of our supporters up, I was so overcome by indebtedness to those who believe in us, I couldn’t stop thinking of other ways to express myself.
But that’s one thing I love about cookies. No words need to be said. To me, nothing screams gratitude more than a person buying ingredients, waking up extra early for you & baking you a warm, fresh cookie straight out of the oven.
So, we’re going to do the one thing we know how to do. And that is to bake.
We’ve got a little “secret” cookie party coming up. This Monday we will close our doors to the public at 6pm. But that’s exactly when we’ll open our doors to our supporters. For 2 hours from 6pm-8pm, we’ll be baking furiously & if you happen to be free, gifting each of you a free cookie. There’s no requirement. Some of you have pledged towards our fundraiser, some people have supported us via kind words and some have supported us in their heart. No matter what form your support, we invite you into our doors to say hello & grab a cookie on us. What we lack in huge amounts of money, we want to give back through labour of love. Feel free to invite any fellow Moustache lovers. So come along to our “secret” supporters cookie day. Monday the 13th, 6-8pm at Moustache Milk & Cookie Bar, 12 Wellesley Street West. We would love to meet you.
I know it’s not much for now, but I will continue to dedicate my life now to the cause. To creating a fun & quirky business that not only I love, but that the community can enjoy too. Lets make Moustache Milk & Cookie Bus a vehicle not just for milk & cookies but also a vehicle for community. So for now, what I can offer you is my sincerest gratitude, some kickass pledge rewards, a free handmade cookie & a promise of my dedication & love.
Here’s a picture of the folk that lined up around the block to have their cookies:
They met their goal on Wed, Apr 15, 2015 at 12:29 PM and their campaign closed on Fri, Apr 17, 2015 at 11:00 PM. They got 228 pledges after their goal was met, and $11,000 more than they needed.
Pineapple Heads happy hour
Pineapple Heads were running an equity campaign, and a day out they were still only half funded. But founder Megan didn’t give up – instead, she hosted a party! She got all her friends around to talk them through the investment proposal, and convince them to take a chance on her.
Thanks to her efforts, in 24 hours she raised over $90,000 and funded her campaign.
Eat My Lunch Gala Dinner
Eat My Lunch’s deadline was 15 July 2016, and on Sunday, 3 July they still only had a third of the funding pledged of their $500,000 goal. So, a week out from the end of their campaign, they hosted a gala dinner.
On 8 July they hosted around 70 people from their interested investors, crowd, and the media. They had a guest speaker, Lance O’Sullivan, talk about the issues facing our young people in poverty. Lisa spoke about why they wanted their company to become obsolete (which later became this opinion piece in Stuff) and they had their crowd rally around.
They had $36,000 pledged on the night, but over $500,000 in that final week, getting them to over $800,000 pledged.
Crowdsourcing new rewards
Loves Me Not raises half its goal in the final day
This project was close to home for me, because I ran it. And somehow, even I found myself less than half funded with a day to go.
Desperate times called for desperate measures, and I went out to my crowd asking if they could donate any rewards for me to offer. And my crowd delivered. I had everything from a woman I didn’t really know offering to write Love Poems through to friends offering Beer and Cheese tasting sessions.
With all the additional rewards I also had a widened network of people hearing about the campaign, through their friends offering rewards.
In the end, we raised over $10,000 to help the Sophie Elliott Foundation create online content for the Loves Me Not programme.
Otakaro Orchard raises $40,000 in the final week
A week out from this campaign ending was pretty stressful for Chloe, the campaign creator. She had a big vision, and a supportive crowd, but her goal of $60,000 was large for a project campaign. But, she didn’t give up. She had a friend calling her every morning to help her figure out the focus of each day, she called in some big sponsors, and she hosted a session in the Orchard space showing people their plans.
She crowdsourced rewards from a local network of Women Who Get Shit Done, she got media coverage, and she didn’t give up.
As a final rallying call, she hosted a countdown Happy Hour at a local bar on the night her campaign closed – offering to shout drinks for anyone who pledged more than $250 on the spot! By the end of the night, she had raised $65,359 from a $60,000 target.
