2014/05/03 Omni Hackathon/Fund-Raising Workshop
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Fund-Raising
Questions
- schedule of costs?
- schedule of revenue?
- do we need sprinklers / integrated fire alarm?
Concerns
- nature of build-out costs
Known Needs
- ADA
Resources
- Owner will pay for 1/2 of capital improvements up to $50,000
Ideas
- Grants
- Kickstarter / Indiegogo
Fundraising Basics
- Start with:
- One clear goal
- Specific needs and $ requirements
- Deadline
- Strategies:
- Inner circle - direct, personal asks - people you trust and have intimate relationships with
- Wider audience - people who catch wind of it, you don't have direct access to them for this goal
- Events and stunts - bumper stickers, fliers, bake sales, ways to reach strangers and get press
- 30%-60% of what you need for your goal you should already have direct access to.
- i.e. you should already have tested the waters
- Visibility of support - early support generates more faith in success
- Notes on Kickstarters (in general):
- Products are usually more successful than causes
- In other examples of collectives using Kickstarters, private investors were largely the people "donating"
- Great marketing tool
- Kickstarter itself doesn't allow real estate projects - other crowdfunding platforms do
- What do we need to tell the audience, what do they want to know?
- Conversations with private donors:
- Elicit rather than solicit interest
- Meet them where they're at
- Demonstrate pride and knowledge
- Find out if they have any advice and their opinions on the projects
Examples of other makerspace crowdfunding campaigns
- BioCurious pledged: 35,319 goal: 30,000 backers: 239
- Hub Oakland pledged: 142,719 goal: 100,000 backers: 1294
- Hacker Dojo pledged: 53,655 goal: 30,000 backers: 762
- LA Makerspace pledged: 34,204 goal: 15,000 backers: 465
- Baghdad Community Hackerspace pledged: 29,471 goal: 27,500 backers: 671
- Konbit Communitere pledged: 14,507 goal: 12,000 backers: 97
- FFL Fab Lab pledged: 13,670 goal: 20,000 backers: 16
- Benicia pledged: 13,228 goal: 30,000 backers: 57
- Hackermoms pledged: 12,564 goal: 10,000 backers: 288
- Ladies Learning Code pledged: 10,772 goal: 10,000 backers: 188
- Tampa Hackerspace pledged: 16,185 goal: 10,000 backers: 157
- Danger!Awesome pledged: 36,737 goal: 35000 backers: 636
- Houston Makerspace pledged: 10,045 goal: 10000 backers: 119
- PreFAB pledged: 15,821 goal: 15000 backers: 135