The key to successful crowdfunding is tapping into personal networks—your most dedicated supporters love MIT, but they REALLY love you and your project. Crowdfunding is a peer-to-peer solicitation rather than an institutional solicitation. You can use your personal, group, department or team’s email lists, Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, LinkedIn groups, etc. to promote your project. It’s best to bring your own “crowd.” If you or your team do not have a pre-existing audience (personal or otherwise), then crowdfunding might not be the best platform to raise money for your project. 

The Basics

The key to crowdfunding success is a solid communication plan. Who are the people you want to support your project, and how do you plan to reach them? There are several ways to promote your project.

1. Peer-to-Peer Outreach aka Ambassadors.  Email, text, and call your classmates, friends, family, colleagues, mentors, and more.  
2. Email. Use and personalize the email templates provided, or feel free to write your own messages. Check the website throughout the campaign to follow progress, and then share updates with your network to keep them engaged. 
3. Social Media. Tap into your social network to share the word. Post about your fundraiser on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat, TikTok, WhatsApp, or any social platform of your choice, and create hashtags relevant to your project. You can use the suggested social media text below and make it your own! 
4. Web. If your project is featured on websites, blogs, or elsewhere on the web, you can use that to publicize your project.
5. Events. 
6. Corporate Partners. If you have corporate partners, tap into their network to make gifts or help publicize your campaign.

Want to track how many in your network have made a gift in response to your outreach? Speak to the Annual Giving team about creating tracking links. 

Finally, like, share, and retweet your supporters' social media posts.   

Email Templates and Examples

Tips for great email content:

• A subject line means everything, so make it count. Keep the count at 25–35 characters to optimize for mobile. Do not use capitalization or exclamation points, as these will go to spam.
• Feel free to use the templates below, but make sure you personalize the messages.
• Your impact statements are very important. Make sure you are clear and transparent about how donations will be used.
• Keep it short and sweet.
• Use imagery where you think it will help your pitch, but note that not all mobile email clients will download images. Make sure the images do not have important information about your campaign.
• Be creative: Forward a previous message with a personalized note as a follow-up. Ask them to share your campaign on their own social media accounts.

Social Media Best Practices

Social media is a great way to gain traction for your project. Be sure to share the project on any personal, team, or department platform that you can. The more you share, the more success your campaign will find.

For each social media post you make, please be sure to do the following: 

• Start early!
• Choose the right social platform. Try all platforms and experiment with what will work best:
  • Where do you have the most followers?
  • Which channel are your prospects on?
  • Where are the influencers?
  • What channel are you comfortable with?
• Use tracking links. Speak to the Annual Giving team about creating tracking links.
• Keep within the character limit of the platform.
• Make posts mobile-friendly to make it easy for your donors.
• Schedule social posts.
• Used mixed media in all posts.
• Build a community.
• Keep it personal.
• Use campaign-specific and MIT hashtags.

Instagram

• Add a link to your profile, since you cannot have live links in posts. 
• Reels on Instagram get many more views than videos on your profile. The best way to get the most attention is to post on both.
• Use Instagram stories to share progress.

Facebook/LinkedIn

• Use your Facebook community to share your fundraiser.
• Try to find groups or create your own to share the campaign.

Official MIT social media accounts

Facebook: @MITAA  

Instagram: @mitalumni  

X (formerly known as Twitter): @MIT_alumni and @CrowdfundMIT

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/mit-alumni-association-careers

Social Templates

Texting Template

Hi [Recipient Name]! This is [Sender Name] from MIT. I am supporting [fundraiser name] with a crowdfunding campaign that runs until [end date]! Can I count on you to make a gift to support our/their fundraiser?  [Link to crowdfunding page].