In recent years, the global crowdfunding industry has accelerated in leaps and bounds, with a projected market valuation of $196.36 billion (2021-2025) at a 15% CAGR. The boom has generated a lot of interest among entrepreneurs and NGOs globally, who want to venture into the domain of crowdfunding, by deploying an app or a website.

Now you need to understand that, as a practice, crowdfunding is primarily used for the following purposes;

• Raise funds for a charitable cause or to initiate a fundraiser
• Acquire funds for a business venture
• Fund any innovative project (tech or otherwise)

For this blog, our sole focus would be crowdfunding for a charitable cause. So, if you are thinking of crowdfunding app development or building a website that would enable people to start fundraisers then hang tight and keep reading because all that you need has been mentioned in the Q and A below.

What is Crowdfunding?

In a literal sense, crowdfunding is the process of raising money for a venture or cause from multiple sources, by promoting the varied aspects of the cause. Initially, crowdfunding was primarily used by entrepreneurs to raise funds for their business projects, an accumulation of investors who after knowing about the project would invest in the same.

However, in recent years, the process has proven its benefits for fundraising purposes too. The modern version is a convergence of fundraising and crowdfunding towards a charitable cause via online marketing and promotion on a virtual platform (app/website).

How Effective Is A Crowdfunding App/ Website For Fundraising?

In recent years, the advent of crowdfunding platforms into the fundraising landscape has brought forth a holistic transformation, connecting the people in need to the people who want to donate to a credible cause.

It has enabled people to provide support to people in need of emergency financial aid, especially for medical purposes, a seen during the peak periods of COVID-19. Patients’ family members struggling to pay the medical bills resorted to fundraisers on such platforms to raise money.

Similarly, many these days are turning to crowdfunding platforms, when they feel that they cannot reach out to a maximum number of donors for a cause within a limited period. But, the ultimate question is about the efficacy of the approach; does it meet the purpose?

Let’s find out.

Higher Efficacy:

It is more efficient than traditional fundraising which might take up days and months even for a small amount. On a crowdfunding platform, you can host multiple initiatives at the same time and share their respective stories, collecting funds simultaneously, quickly, securely, and efficiently.

Greater Reach:

The reach is one of the fundamental issues with traditional fundraising, where it is hard, time-consuming, and expensive to get the word out. The advent of crowdfunding app development for fundraising has resolved this issue through online promotion and marketing.

So, you can reach out to a broader spectrum of donors who might help you with the much-needed funds. With the help of an app or website, you can acquire funds on a global scale.

Transparency & Validation:

Authenticity and transparency play a vital role in convincing people to donate to a cause. Well, with a crowdfunding platform that gets sorted as well. A crowdfunding app/website can be used to launch a highly visible fundraising campaign that offers social proof and validation to the cause.

Through social media promotion, video content sharing, and other corroborative documents you can not only add more visibility to the campaign but also make it more trustworthy in the eyes of the potential donor.

Using a secure payment processing gateway along with regular updates or notifications on the progress of the campaign adds more transparency to the fundraiser where the donor knows that the money is being used diligently and honestly.

Media Exposure:

Marketing is essential for crowdfunding a charitable cause through a virtual platform. Using the right media marketing channels you can gain more traction for the cause, more supporters, making it a successful campaign.

Read More:

4 Reasons Why Companies Should Invest More in Digital Marketing After COVID-19

You cannot expect either of these benefits from the traditional fundraising means. No wonder, people have started to rely heavily on crowdfunding platforms to raise funds for their respective causes. 

NGOs and human rights organizations can reap great benefits from a crowdfunding platform since they are working on multiple social projects at the same time. Here, a single platform allows them to reach out to a broad spectrum of focus groups thus making a significant difference in people’s lives through the causes.

What are the Essential Features of a Crowdfunding Platform?

Crowdfunding app development for raising funds is incomplete without the following features:

• Log-in & Registration: Fast and easy registration is essential to increase the accessibility and functionality of the platform.
  
• Publish Fundraising Campaigns: The ability to create and publish campaigns using details like written content, pictures, screenshots as proof to the potential donor along with the provision to make changes and update the campaign as needed.
  
• Attach Videos & Images: Seamless uploading of videos and pictures by the campaigner related to the cause.
  
• Browse Fundraisers: Segregation of projects as per their category so that a donor can browse for the cause they feel closest to and make donations.
  
• Campaign Shortlisting: Allows the donors to shortlist a campaign they would want to donate to in the future.
  
• Campaign Milestone & Progress: This is a transparency feature where a donor is given the authority to track the milestones and progress of the project through the app and via notifications.
  
• Email & Notifications: Emails and notifications are the staples of any virtual platform; crowdfunding app development is no exception.
  
• Queries & Feedback: Keep a clear channel of communication between the campaigner, admin, and the app/website user for any queries and feedback.
  
• Social Share: Allow and encourage donors to share the fundraiser directly across multiple social media platforms for enhanced visibility.
  
• Donor Acknowledgement: Enable auto acknowledgment emails to the donors post-contribution with their name and details of the campaign.
  
• Payment Options: Enable the integration of multiple payment options on the platform to streamline the process of donation.
  
• Auto Commission Calculator: Integrate features that would automate the calculation of commission for each donation made towards a cause.
  
• Campaigner’s Dashboard: An intuitive dashboard allows the campaigner to create and update projects, view the donations made, and overlook other aspects related to the fundraising campaign.
  
• Admin Panel: Along with these, there needs to be an admin panel for the owner of the app/website to overlook the entire operation of crowdfunding. All of these features are directed towards making the crowdfunding platform secure, transparent, and user-friendly.

What Must Follow the Launch of a Crowdfunding Platform?

So far we have covered everything from the benefit of a crowdfunding platform for fundraising to the salient features required, but is deploying an app or developing a website enough? What about getting people to know about your platform. That’s where you need to hire app marketing experts.

Even before the launch of your app, the marketing, and social promotion need to be at their peak across all channels to keep the visibility at its best. Similar to search engine optimization for websites, your crowdfunding app development needs the marketing boost of app store optimization.

The right promotional strategies ensure that you garner the right traction from both donors and the people who want to start a campaign on your platform for a cause.

Wrapping Up

On a concluding note, considering the existing market projections and dynamics, crowdfunding app development for charitable causes poses as a worthwhile venture for NGOs and people invested in social programs. Such platforms encourage people to donate towards good causes, through a transparent medium and enable people in need to appeal to a large group of a global audience for financial aid. Reach out to our experts or request a quote if you are interested in starting your very own crowdfunding venture.