Interview with Breanna DiGiammarino at Generosity by Indiegogo
Howard Lake | 13 April 2016 | News
Breanna DiGiammarino, Senior Director of Social Innovation at Indiegogo, the global crowdfunding company, is in the UK this week and taking part in the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship. She talked to UK Fundraising’s Howard Lake about how Generosity, the company’s dedicated cause site, was developing.
Generosity by Indiegogo is “the new home for all personal cause and charitable fundraisers powered by Indiegogo’s powerful, global crowdfunding engine”. After joining Indiegogo in 2012 DiGiammarino led the development and launch of the site.
HL: You’re in the UK this week at Oxford at the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, and you will be chairing a session on ‘humanitarian relief in an era of connectedness and the impact of social media finance and advocacy tools’.
Based on the panel speaking what do you expect will be the topics and issues that get raised?
BDG: I suspect the conversation will start by covering the value that modern day tools bring to the people and organisations providing humanitarian relief. These values include the ability to:
- Raise unrestricted funds quickly: today’s tools enable anyone with a passion to advance their goals more quickly and directly than ever before. Just hours after the earthquake in Nepal, a Massachusetts General Hospital doctor launched a fundraiser to provide medical relief on the ground via his NGO the American Nepal Medical Foundation. His fundraiser raised more than $470,000 from more than 5,000 backers, amplifying his unique ability to provide relief quickly.
- Demonstrate grassroots interests: Today’s tools also enable communities of people to amplify their voices by coming together for collective action. The Greek Bailout Fund campaign raised 1.9M Euros from 108,000 backers in July 2015, demonstrating that people around the world wanted to help in the face of tough economic times in Greece. Though the campaign did not hit its goal of 1.6B Euros and ultimately returned the funds raised to backers, the campaign owner did launch a second fundraiser that raised 290,000 Euros to from 13,000 backers to support a nonprofit supporting young adults in in obtaining jobs.
- Raise awareness for important issues globally: In the summer of 2015, blogger Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York visited Pakistan to meet and share the stories of individuals there. During his visit, he met an incredible woman named Fatima who is bravely addressing bonded labor in the country via her organisation the Bonded Labor Liberation Front. His fundraiser not only raised $2.3M for her work but also raised awareness of the issue of modern day slavery among the 15M followers HONY had on Facebook and the 76,000 who donated to the fundraiser.
https://twitter.com/Generosity/status/710322775852916740
HL: At Indiegogo’s Generosity would you say you find yourself in the middle of nonprofits and social entrepreneurship? Do you see this as a new model for nonprofits and their supporters achieving their aims, or is it more of an evolution and adaptation from past fundraising activities?
BDG: Generosity is ideal for people, organisations or companies who want to launch an impactful fundraiser quickly therefore it can either replace or complement other existing fundraising activities. It only takes a few minutes to create a Generosity fundraiser and there are no required platform fees on the site. Instead, when a donor contributes to a Generosity fundraiser they are encouraged to leave a gift for the site but they can always opt out of it.
These features make Generosity the ideal site for raising funds for humanitarian causes, where the need is often immediate and great. The site’s social media integrations enable people to share the fundraiser and activate their communities and beyond to support their efforts.
HL: How can nonprofits embrace social entrepreneurship? Is planning and implementing a crowdfunding campaign a useful discipline in this process?
BDG: Yes, definitely. A great crowdfunding campaign integrates many of the best practices nonprofits have developed over time, such as communicating their impact and developing deep relationships with their closest community members. We find that strong campaigns will activate their closest community to help raise about a third of their campaign goal within just a couple days of the campaign’s launch. This support serves as a social proof point that activates broader communities to get engaged.
In the strongest campaigns, a nonprofit’s development department, marketing and leadership teams will work together to align contributions from major donors with outreach to their broader communities via email, social media and press.
HL: Please share some examples of charities that have managed to develop a significant or more effective funding stream through Indiegogo or Generosity. Has this success informed their other fundraising activities?
BDG: The Cure Black Bone Disease fundraiser helped father of two Nick Sireau not only raise funds to move forward research on the rare disease that both of his kids face but also identify others dealing with this disease in their lives and the lives of those they love. He has since run and advised additional campaigns on Indiegogo for other facets of his work in the rare disease space.
The Harry Potter Alliance has run several Indiegogo campaigns for their innovative work for equality, human rights and literacy. These campaign serve to activate the Harry Potter fan base for projects such as their recent fundraiser to bring books to kids in Uganda.
https://www.instagram.com/p/9G6l9wzSuR/
HL: Individual donors are clearly keen on using crowdfunding sites and social media finance tools to support their favourite causes. Do you think this is driving many nonprofits to explore and test crowdfunding themselves?
BDG: We have seen individual donors use crowdfunding to support their favourite causes. From our experience campaigns are most successful if they consolidate these efforts because they are able to reach a wider audience. We’ve been working closely with nonprofits to make sure their campaigns are created and managed for maximum success.
HL: For smaller nonprofits with limited staffing and resources, which would you recommend – test a crowdfunding campaign themselves, or focus on supporting and inspiring their individual supporters who are using these tools?
BDG: Creating and running great crowdfunding campaigns can take a lot of work and requires someone managing the process who cares deeply about making the effort a big success. I find that managing one campaign is hard enough, and trying to coordinate multiple campaigns by members of your community is even harder. To that end, I tend to work with nonprofits most frequently in running their own strong campaigns. That said, it can be a great idea to engage and feature members of your community in your campaign updates. See how this fundraiser features the story of a community member as a video in the campaign text.
HL: At the Skoll World Forum this week, as moderator you won’t get much chance to share your experiences with Generosity. If you were a panellist, what practical tips would you give an audience of nonprofits, donors and indeed fintech professionals?
BDG: Make it personal – people give to people first and foremost. They will need to connect with the people sharing their stories in the campaign video and text.
Provide multiple ways for people to participate in your fundraiser. Some people want to donate purely for the impact you are providing, so create donation levels that align with specific units of impact. Others will want to be part of something bigger than themselves. Offer opportunities to connect with members of your team or beneficiaries in order to engage them.
Activate your closest community first and then reach broader networks of people who will care. Be creative in thinking through who might find your campaign of interest and reach out to influencers in those communities. They can help you reach new audiences.
HL: Are you seeing cross sector collaboration for impact?
BDG: We see companies engaging in crowdfunding by identifying change makers and supporting them. For example, Shock Top contributed $50 – 100K each month for four months to innovators in the water space. The donations amplified the recipients’ ability to move forward their work, and raised awareness for the issues they address!
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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.