- 04.07.14
Live Chat!
Tim Ferriss, Alexis Ohanian, And Charles Best On Crowdfunding For Good
How do you harness the power of the crowd to make something positive happen? Join Fast Company editorial director Jill Bernstein for a live Q&A with Ferriss, Ohanian, and Best on Thursday, February 20th at noon (ET).
Photo: Joi Ito on Flickr
The conversation starts on Thursday, February 20th at noon (ET) -- but you can start submitting your questions using the "Make a comment" box above!
In our annual 50 Most Innovative Companies in Business issue, we profiled DonorsChoose, an education crowdfunding site that founder Charles Best launched back in 2000 while he was a teacher at a Bronx public school. His organization has raised an impressive $225 million -- more than 10 million students have benefited from DonorsChoose-funded projects. Now he's using his platform toward an even bigger goal: education reform.
All that fundraising did not, of course, come easy. So how did he do it—and what can your organization learn from his success? Join Best as he discusses crowdfunding for good with two industry all-stars:
- Investor, startup advisor, entrepreneur, and author Tim Ferriss
- Activist, author, entrepreneur, and reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian
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Charles, Tim, and Alexis will be joining us in about two hours. In the meantime, be sure to read this month's cover story about DonorsChoose:
Beyond School Supplies: How DonorsChoose is Crowdsourcing Real Education Reform
Fast CompanyThe charity is using its networking strength to provide teachers with new kinds of resources, and its data to hold bureaucrats accountable. -
Charles recently spoke to Fast Company about the fine art of asking for money, as well:
DonorsChoose Founder Charles Best On The Art Of Asking For Money
Fast CompanyAsking for money doesn't have to be painful. Donors Choose founder Charles Best boils it down to three principles. -
Charles Best is the founder of DonorsChoose.org, the pioneer charity site that has raised $227 million to date and helped over 10 million students receive needed classroom materials. Last year alone the organization raised $58 million, a year-over-year jump of 25%. If he looks familiar, it’s because that’s his face on the cover of the current issue of Fast Company, which celebrates the 50 Most Innovative Companies in the world.
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Tim Ferriss is an investor, entrepreneur, speaker, and author of three books, most notably 2007’s The 4-Hour Workweek. He’s written about “Hacking Kickstarter – How to Raise $100,000 in 10 Days” and is on the National Advisory Council of DonorsChoose, where he’s waged several creative funding initiatives, including dedicating his birthday to fundraising.
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Alexis Ohanian is the cofounder of social news site reddit, which has raised millions of charitable dollars through various campaigns. He helped launch the travel search website Hipmunk along with Breadpig, which helps people self-publish or crowdfund projects (and gives much of its profits to charity). He is the author of Without Their Permission: How the 21st Century Will Be Made, Not Managed and is also an active and innovative member DonorsChoose’s National Advisory Council.
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So….it’s safe to say that these guys know a thing or two about crowdfunding –what works, what doesn’t, and what’s particular about raising money for good. We’ve gotten a ton of great questions in from readers so far, and more are certainly on their way, so let’s jump right in and get started.
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Ah, the early beginnings. I first met Charles in high school. Believe it or not, we were wrestling partners in the same weight class. He ALWAYS beat me by 1-2 points, which drove me nuts. We've known each other for a long time, and we've both been focused on education for ages.
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Charles Best came into my life because I was in the right place at the right time. I'd heard about this magical non-profit getting funds directly to classrooms that sounded remarkably high-tech in an industry that was very not. It sounded too good to be true and then I met Charles and realized how it was all possible -- this dude started crowdfunding before it was cool. It always makes me giggle when I hear "DonorsChoose.org is the Kickstarter for classrooms" -- KICKSTARTER is the "DonorsChoose.org for creative projects."
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Hey thanks, Alexis. It's true that when DonorsChoose.org was operating out of my classroom, "crowdfunding" was years away from becoming a word. But the awesome rise of Kickstarter has helped so many more people understand our model and support teachers' projects!
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Tim and Alexis, you have both been involved in various fundraising stunts with DonorsChoose, such as reddit’s “donation strike” in 2010, to help get Stephen Colbert to do a mock rally in D.C., and Tim’s Tweet to Beat campaign and birthday fundraisers. What are the most important elements in staging a successful crowdfunding campaign?
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Off the bat, here are some tips or best practices for successful crowdfunding/crowdraising. First, don't reinvent the wheel. Find case studies and study what's worked:
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Look at the analytics of campaigns that have already surpassed their goal. Most people don't know they can do this on Kickstarter, and -- even if you're not on Kickstarter -- you can see where these campaigns got the majority of their traffic: which bloggers, which sites, which Twitter accounts, etc. It's a HUGE leg up.
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The reddit donation bomb happened because a bunch of people all over the world wanted to get Stephen Colbert's attention and 'convince' him to hold this Rally. They found out his favorite nonprofit was DonorsChoose.org (he's on the board) and they setup an EPIC money bomb. It worked wonders - it raised over half a MILLION dollars. Pretty awesome. And all grassroots.
http://www.donorschoose.org/truthiness
The thing is, it's hard to know what's gonna work. Be open to experimenting. Small experiments because it's all a numbers game. I never could've predicted it would have taken off, that's the magic of the connected web. Even from my seat, I can't see where it's all headed. -
Next, don't be shy about approaching killer non-profits or fundraisers for advice. Charles knows Scott Harrison of charity:water, for instance. They have built a great knowledge exchange. DonorsChoose.org has taught charity:water a ton about large corporate sponsorships (and gift cards), and charity:water has taught DC how they do their hugely successful birthday campaigns. Here's an example:
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Following on Tim's blog post about Hacking Kickstarter, here is a teacher's great post on hacking DonorsChoose.org and ensuring that a classroom project gets funded:
Getting Your Project Funded on Donorschoose.org!
Mr. Andy's WebpageAs a pre-kindergarten teacher in his second year of teaching, I have been quite successful in utilizing donorschoose.org to help get materials and resources for my classroom. With 24 projects funded... -
First, I'll confirm the obstacle: only 20% of donors we acquire in a given year will give again in subsequent years. (Although that 20% tends to be the most generous donors, so we're retaining the right 20%.) I wish we were a subscription business! Now I'll get to some points about building community among donors...
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I recently did another fundraiser for DonorsChoose.org, to raise 50K for every single STEM classroom project in my hometown of Brooklyn. I love BK and I know how important it will be for STEM education to reach every single one of us -- lest the gap in this country between haves and havenots grows even wider. I'm grateful there's such a great platform to get these funds where they need it most. Not everyone can do a prizeo campaign, but we all have followings online (even 10 Twitter followers!) it's not about how big, it's about how you use them. www.prizeo.com
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@JillBernstein: software is making this a lot easier. the next generation of nonprofits (I wrote about this in Without Their Permission - profiled DonorsChoose.org in fact because they're doing such a great job) are built on software that does the heavy lifting of relationship maintenance that people can't do. DonorsChoose, Charitywater, kiva, watsi -- what these nonprofits have in common is that they're lean and have tech in their DNA. Because of that, software builds that relationship and maintains it -- you make that donation/loan and software keeps you engaged because you're getting updates, you're getting thank you notes, you're getting ACCOUNTABILITY which has for so long been lacking in the nonprofit space (unless you donated big money)
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Here are some things we do to build community:
- Awesome, vivid feedback from the classroom for every donor, even if they've given $1. And inviting the donor to reply back to the teacher.
- Enabling people to see the projects that their Facebook friends have supported or created
- Providing "giving page" technology so that people can curate projects that match an affinity, and draw people in to support those projects, like this one:
Music Makes Our Students Smarter!
DonorsChoose.orgMusic is such an important part of every child's education. Sadly, more and more music programs are being eliminated from the school's curriculum due to budget cuts across the country. Fortunately, there are schools where music is still thriving, and those teachers and students could use some help! Every donation counts and we appreciate your support! Join us on Facebook: Music Makes Our Students Smarter "Without music, life would be a mistake." ~Friedrich Nietzsche -
I think there are a few ways (probably hundreds) to build a community of donors. The real question should be: How do you build a world-class community? In my case, it's done primarily through my blog, and I take extra steps to ensure that it's continually a positive place for people. Read up on the "broken window theory" for why I take these steps. Here is the paragraph(s) people read before they can comment on the blog:
Comment Rules: Remember what Fonzie was like? Cool. That’s how we’re gonna be — cool. Critical is fine, but if you’re rude, we’ll delete your stuff. Please do not put your URL in the comment text and please use your PERSONAL name or initials and not your business name, as the latter comes off like spam. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation! (Thanks to Brian Oberkirch for the inspiration)
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To have a community, you should have well defined codes of conduct. You do this by setting the expectations and enforcing them. Lax or strict, there are cultures on every web-based community out there. -
@KellySmith: All of the tools are outlined in great detail here:">www.fourhourworkweek.com
Hacking Kickstarter: How to Raise $100,000 in 10 Days (Includes Successful Templates, E-mails, etc.)
Mike Del Ponte co-founded Soma, which raised more than $100,000 on Kickstarter using virtual assistants and free apps. I first met Mike Del Ponte two yearsEven if some are not available for Indiegogo, etc., you can still learn by studying successful case studies (campaigns) on Kickstarter. Promotion is promotion, PR is PR, and good sources of traffic are good sources. -
Thanks for the question, Nicole! First I built momentum with food bribery: offering my colleagues my mom's dessert to motivate them to create the first projects. Then my students wrote letters to alumni of the high school that Tim and I attended, telling them about this place where someone with $10 could be a classroom hero. Then I cold called a LOT of media outlets (nearly all of which wouldn't talk to me) until I got traction with Jon Alter of Newsweek. One of his pieces was read by Oprah, who then brought me onto her show in 2003.
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Hi Alexis. Love the small empire installments your doing with the verge. That kind of insight is very rare so I am very happy with the intel we all get from the view behind the curtain.
Right now I am playing with several ideas in my head I imagine are worth a shot. But every time I start thinking about crowd funding them I fear the idea gets "stolen" before I can even launch my product/service. So the duration of the fundraiser is crucial to me. A short period might not get me were I need to be in order to get the project started. Any advice from your side regarding the time span form a fundraiser? What should I look out for? -
@JulianG: Right on, JulianG! Thanks. I'm super proud of Small Empires and just because you said so, I'm gonna tell you SPOILER that we'll shoot Season 2 as soon as I'm done with the bus tour. Do not worry about your idea being stolen! Ideas are a cheap. Run the best campaign you can - don't fret about keeping the duration short. You're gonna have to out-execute anyone anyway.
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(Here's the link to Small Empires on The Verge, by the way)
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@SalarChagpar@Prepr...: Speaking from my experience as an advisor to a handful of start-ups (Uber, Evernote, Donorschoose.org, Vittana.org, etc.), I think one of the most important things is: As a founder, make SPECIFIC requests. Your advisors will distance themselves if your questions/requests reflect a lack of serious thinking on your part (e.g. "What should we do for PR?"). Instead, they should be more along the lines of:
"We've tried A, B, and C for PR for D and E reasons. Where do you think we could improve this?"
or
"We have an event (e.g. Fast Company Q&A) that we'd love for you to be a part of. It'll take roughly 60 min. Are there any dates that work in the next 3 weeks?"
Good advisors are almost always, by definition, busy. If you don't make things precise, they'll tend to put you on the back burner, in my experience.
Tim -
@SalarChagpar@Prepr...: A few tips for building a great advisory board with rockstars like Tim and Alexis:
- Make asks of individual advisors that match their particular relationships and expertise, rather than taking a wholesale approach to cultivation.
- Present your organization/service as a means by which an advisor can achieve their own objectives. For example, redditors used DonorsChoose.org to help persuade Stephen Colbert to hold a rally in Washington D.C. (where DonorsChoose.org as a cause was secondary). -
Second, on advisors -- if you use their advice or connections, and good comes of it.... TELL THEM! I'm amazed how infrequently this is done. Part of the reason Charles has dedicated advisors and a great board is because he keeps them informed of progress in a regular way (perhaps quarterly or semi-annually), and thanks people personally when applicable. Advisors take time to advise those who use their advice, at least every once in a while.
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What we at Fast Company think is innovative about DonorsChoose right now is how it’s parlaying its crowdfunding success into actual education reform – through curriculum (offering AP STEM courses at underfunded schools) and big data (comparing dollars earmarked for education to teacher requests to hold local bureaucrats accountable).
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Charles, I know YOU are ready for whatever comes your way when it comes to challenging the bureaucracy with your raw data about what teachers need. But are you worried that investors or advisers -- or donors -- might be uncomfortable with any controversy that arises? Is there risk here to the whole operation? How do you manage expectations?
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While Charles is responding, learn more about DonorsChoose here:
And read all about it in our recent cover story about Charles and the organization: www.fastcompany.comby Anjali Mullany via YouTube 2/20/2014 5:37:54 PM -
You know, Jill, we've already fielded one phone call from a school district that effectively said, "if you're going to open up the data generated by our teachers' projects, and that data might reveal embarrassing deficiencies, then we're not so happy about our teachers using DonorsChoose.org." but I think this reaction will be few and far between, and i think that even in this district, they won't be able to put a halt to teachers using our site. A quarter million teachers at half of all the public schools in America have created projects, which is enough participation to be unstoppable, we hope. Also, Tim is very strong and he will protect us.
