Investment plan

The fundraising platform set up in Taiwan specifically for news reporting projects includes the “Investigation Reporting Public Appointment Platform” and the recently established “SOS News Fundraising Platform”. In Europe and the United States, there are fundraising platforms such as Beacon and Contributoria. The platform not only allows journalists to raise funds for the reporting program, but also provides online space for them to promote their work. Other world-renowned large-scale fundraising sites, such as Indiegogo (cross-media and writing), Kickstarter and Taiwan's flyingV, also have news-related project categories on the platform.

However, there are multiple projects on each fundraising platform that hope to attract the attention of the audience. What strategies does the news publishers have to help their projects stand out and successfully raise the expected amount? This will be divided into three stages: preparation before the event, fundraising for the fundraising, and fundraising. We will introduce 12 strategies to help fundraisers to help fundraise.

Preparation stage

1. Pick the theme that is suitable for fundraising: time limit and audience considerations

• In addition to considering their professional and reporting interests, the proposer also needs to consider the time frame of the project and the potential audience.

• Since online fundraising requires early preparation and an online fundraising window of about one month, time-sensitive reporting projects are often not suitable for the ecology of the fundraising platform.

• Selecting a topic that will be marketed or related to more viewers will help the project and other readers to resonate and increase the chances of successful fundraising.

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2. Carefully select fundraising platforms: platform audience, evaluation and business model

• Each fundraising platform, like social media, has its own unique target audience and exclusive project characteristics. Smart fundraisers need to pick the most suitable market and design a fundraising copy for the chosen platform.

• In addition to representing past word-of-mouth and success rate, platform evaluation also demonstrates credibility and professionalism. Selecting a high-evaluation platform can increase the success rate and increase the value of the fundraising project itself.

• Understand the proposal rules for each platform, such as the handling fee for the project, and the option when the fundraising amount does not reach the target (some platforms stipulate that the project fails and cannot receive any funds as long as the target is not met; some platforms are Whether the final fundraising amount has reached the set target, and the sponsors can get the funds raised, etc., will help the fundraiser to select the most suitable platform.

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3. Decide on fundraising days: 30 days recommended

• The number of days of fundraising should not be too long, to avoid viewers losing interest or even forgetting the project; but it should not be too short, ignoring the time required to promote the fundraising project. Based on experience, the most suitable and most common fundraising days are 30 days and no more than 60 days.

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4. Set reasonable expected fundraising goals

• You can divide the project into different periods and details to think about the amount of funds needed for each stage.

• In general, about 20% to 30% of the expected fundraising amount will come from friends and family members, and as long as the expected fundraising target is 10%, the chances of successful project fundraising will increase by 4 times. Proposers should refer to these empirical values ​​to set reasonable fundraising goals.

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5. Establish your own professionalism: prototype goods, team composition and word of mouth recommendation

• It is possible to think of project fundraising as "line sales". One of the most important factors in convincing the audience to invest in sponsorship is to gain trust. Although the report itself is only in the pre-production stage, if you can come up with a complete idea and even produce a report template, you will be able to increase your audience's confidence in the project.

• Before the project goes live, the sponsor can contact other groups related to the project. If you can get recognition from other well-known organizations or representatives, or even join the team, you can further enhance the trust of the audience.

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6. Planning the publicity strategy when the project goes live

• Before the project goes live, the sponsors need to take the initiative to promote the project information with friends, relatives or related organizations, and do a good job of online promotion, including social media operations and website export links.

Fundraising project start-up phase - online file creation

7. Describe the fundraising project in a true and transparent manner

• Introduce the proposal team (individual): including professional background, past related experiences, and representative works.

• Clearly and proactively account for the project budget so that donors can see the purpose of the donation amount at a glance.

• Provide a project execution schedule: including the project start date, phase planning, and expected completion date, and explain each date consideration.

• Explain the "importance" of the project: including the existing gaps and the potential impact and inspiration for society after the completion of the report (or the launch of the news media).

• Understand the target audience of the project (like what type of audience will be interested in the project topic): Use the language and examples that the target audience will be interested in to attract their attention and increase trust.

• Provide a way for readers to participate: participation models are not necessarily only donations, others include accommodations needed for reporting, local contacts, and even volunteering. When the audience has a sense of participation, they will be more willing to help.

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8. Provide personalized but professional videos

• According to statistics, the project to provide the film, the funds raised is 1.14 times the project that only provides text and pictures.

• The film should succinctly and vividly explain the expectations and expectations of the work. In addition, the narrative technique of the film should refer to the audience attributes of the platform. For example, the audience on Kickstarter and flyingV is young and loves creativity. The style of the film is usually lively or avant-garde. The projects on the "Investigation Reporting on the Public Appointment Platform" are mostly serious issues, so the professionalism and depth of the film will be an important consideration.

• The film has to attract the attention of the audience and make them willing to read it, so the length should be within five minutes or less.

• Proposers can show up in the film and talk directly to the audience, drawing closer to the audience and impressing them.

• The promotional film placed in the proposal implies the quality of the work at the completion of the future report, so a good film is very important.

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9. List the returns of donors

Although many donors are interested in the project itself, the donation expresses support. However, providing donors with rewards other than reporting the work will greatly increase their willingness to donate and even participate.

• The rewards provided are related to the fundraising project and are preferably feedback that the donor cannot obtain in other projects.

• Gifts can be invaluable or valuable, in addition to traditional mugs and bookmarks, others include exclusive lectures or mealtelling after the completion of the report, and donations and donations from donors, providing exclusive behind-the-scenes footage to donors, like Unpublished images or unpublished texts, unique postcards for donors to read, give away to the location of the report, and free special courses to help viewers learn more about the issue, new book discounts, free membership, or Express your list of donors in public and express your gratitude.

• Is it possible to consider the rewards provided, is it affordable for the proponent's strength, time and even cost? For example, if the number of donations is staggering, a hand-made return gift may not be suitable.

• Rewarding gifts can best be differentiated based on different fundraising prices to encourage different amounts of fundraising.

Fundraising project start-up phase - online and offline promotion

10. Intensive publicity fundraising project: online and online simultaneous attack

• Ask friends and family to help promote the fundraising project.

• Look for groups or organizations related to the project theme and ask them to help promote the fundraising plan.

• Grasp the audience in the social media and maintain high visibility in the social media. The most effective way is to find "influencers" like experts or celebrities, in addition to helping to build a reputation for the project, but also to promote the fundraising project through a large audience of "influencers".

• The data shows that non-profit organizations have to contact the public 7 times in order to get their donations, so the sponsors need to continuously and intensively promote the project fundraising.

• Considering a personalized propaganda strategy, because of the one-on-one propaganda, the message is less likely to be ignored or the pressure of the person is considered, the chance of donation will increase, but only if the propaganda method is interesting and not disturbing.

After successful fundraising

11. Announced the completion of the fundraising process

• Through all the publicity channels, inform the donors that the fundraising plan is successful, and once again explain the expected project implementation progress.

• Establish contact information and files for donors, and inform donors of the expected contact and communication channels.

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12. Proactive communication and notification

• Fundraising is only the first step in the project, and continuous communication with donors is the key to success. Whether it is the promotion of the project after the completion of the project or the fundraising of future fundraising projects, these donors will play a key role.

• Project leaders should regularly inform the donors about the progress of the project, relevant media reports, and future plans, via email and social media, on a regular basis (about once a week).

• Organize offline events to increase ongoing interaction with donors and help maintain a community network.

• Conduct online and offline promotion after the project is completed, and inform the donors at the first time, ask them to help promote.

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While traditional news media is working on digital transformation, news media workers are also exploring the possibilities of online platforms, including emerging online fundraising platforms. This article provides some business strategies for journalists who want to use the online fundraising efforts to create project reports or set up news media. I also believe that many of these proposals are not only related to online fundraising in the press and publication category, but also to other sponsors in the online fundraising field. (Extended reading: How do independent journalists succeed in the crowdfunding platform? Learn the thinking of marketers)

References: Global Investigative Journalism Network、International Journalist’s Network、Nieman Lab & Poynter