Meeting MPI Toronto | NCFA Ambassador, KC Harry | September/October 2014

Crowdfunding is taking the world by storm and presents exciting opportunities for event and meeting professionals to leverage.  A simple and broadly accepted definition of crowdfunding is the pooling of small amounts of money from a large amount of people (the "crowd"), using the internet and social media to fund a project or business venture.

If you were to ask me, and some have, I would define crowdfunding this way:

Crowdfunding is the process of creating a time-limited event to leverage your crowd and secure funds for your idea, cause, product or undertaking.

Here I stress the linkage of crowdfunding to an event, because of the many parallels to event planning, where you would:

Related:  Picatic, Canadian Ticketing and Event Management Crowdfunding Portal

• Determine the viability of your overall event
• Prepare your assets, pitch and other marketing and promotional content;
• Engage with your supporters and niche before your launch to let them know what's coming (and hopefully also get their feedback while you're at it);
• Inform a broader audience, such as media outlets and popular related blogs about your upcoming event (again, before you launch and while your event is live);
• Launch when the time is right and reaching out regularly to promote your event and help people take action in making a pledge;
• Sustain momentum throughout the pre-event promotion period, and even during the event, through regular updates; and
• Close out your event and transitioning smoothly to post-event feedback and fulfillment.

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The National Crowdfunding Association of Canada (NCFA Canada) is a cross-Canada crowdfunding hub providing education, advocacy and networking opportunities in the rapidly evolving crowdfunding industry. NCFA Canada is a community-based, membership-driven entity that was formed at the grass roots level to fill a national need in the market place. Join our growing network of industry stakeholders, fundraisers and investors. Increase your organization’s profile and gain access to a dynamic group of industry front runners. Learn more About Us |About Crowdfunding or contact us at casano@ncfacanada.org.