I’m a philanthropist too (and I’m not rich)
Howard Lake | 17 August 2010 | Blogs
The recent debates on ‘US style philanthropy’ are perhaps naturally revolving around the big donors and the big cultural institutions (all of whom tend to be London based) but what about smaller organisations around the country and the man or woman in the street? Could crowd-sourced funding and the plethora of sites dedicated to it be the answer? Blackbaud’s Index of Online Giving, released on 15 July, highlights that online revenue increased by 23 percent for the three months ending May 2010 as compared to the same period in 2009. People are giving online and the cultural sector needs to get to them. And the relatively low entry costs means it’s not just the big organisations that can profit.
Crowd-sourcing isn’t new of course but what has made a difference is the ease with which the online community via social media can be engaged. A blog on the Forbes website recently highlighted how companies are using social media to ‘democratise corporate philanthropy’ by getting customers to decide where the CSR budget is spent. Organisations who received that support have also built their brand by association.
Online crowd-sourcing linked to micropayment technology can help democratise individual philanthropy. Rather than trying to find and chase a few rich donors, fundraisers can engage their audience, their audience’s friends and their audience’s friend’s friends relatively cheaply. Every member of the audience is a philanthropist who can make a difference and no matter where you are in the country or the world you can mobilise that support.
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There are a number of websites, like JustGiving, where individuals and organisations can go to set up a giving campaign and are well used by mainstream charities, but it is the newer generation of sites that are more exciting. They are more exciting because they lend themselves brilliantly to the creative output of cultural organisations. Sites like the well documented Kickstarter deepen the relationship with the supporter by seeing them as partners who get rewards for their support from free items to a share of any profits. The supporter can be part of the process. Kickstarter is currently US only but UK-based Sponsume is making headlines. Other sites include Sellaband for music or CatWalkGenius for fashion, but they are just the tip of the iceberg as the crowdfunding wiki page highlights.
Arts & Business has even got our own crowd sourced initiative, The Big Arts Give in partnership with The Big Give. Projects involved in The Big Arts Give will need to mobilise their supporters to make the most of the initiative and get more cash.
Adam Lopardo joined the Sponsors Club for Arts & Business as Director in March 2004. He leads the development of partnerships between commerce and culture through consultancy, sponsorship, investment, volunteering, personal development and training.
Adam’s role combines his love of the arts and his corporate experience. Starting in theatre at the age of 12 he went on to run gigs at University before joining Solihull Borough Council to learn all aspects of theatre, exhibition and conference work before settling on marketing as a career. He developed his skills further whilst working at Ticketmaster in London. He then moved to Manchester where Ticketmaster created the role of Regional Sales and Marketing Manager for him and went on to run Ticketmaster’s newly established Scotland office before taking his current role.
Adam is a Princes Trust Mentor and he is a board member of New Writing North.
About Howard Lake
Howard Lake is consultant editor of UK Fundraising. He founded the site in 1994 and successfully sold it in 2022. As director of Giving X Ltd he is exploring growing giving on a massive scale.
He is the founder of Fundraising Camp and co-founder of GoodJobs.