Wiltshire Museum’s first Crowdfunder Campaign

The project involved various stages which included:

• Setting a target total and where the money would be going. Deciding whether they would ‘gamble’ on a higher-achieving option where funds are not released unless the target is realised or take the safer, but possibly less lucrative, route of taking all donations despite not achieving the target.
• Creating a Crowdfunder campaign page: ‘Support Curiosity and Creativity at Wiltshire Museum’ using the Museum Association ‘Save our Museums’ template.
• Putting in place a set of ‘rewards’, cost-effective incentives which included a short film of David Dawson, the Museum Director, talking about the Bush Barrow Burial emailed to donors (£20); a private tour of the museum (£65) and a personal tour of the Stonehenge inner circle with David Dawson (£1000).
• Taking part in Crowdfunder training webinars and one to one support sessions.
• Planning social media promotion of the campaign for its four weeks duration. Working with relevant team members to produce short video clips etc to share.
• Promoting the campaign to the 10000 members of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society via email newsletters. The Crowdfunder campaign fell at the same time as its traditional Members’ Appeal.
• Contacting local interest groups and the press to further share the campaign.
• Allocating time every morning to thank donors of the day before.
• Posting weekly updates on the campaign page to both attract new donors and update existing ones. Including a final thank you.
• Processing Gift Aid on relevant donations, using information given to Crowdfunder by donors.

Like museums everywhere, the 2020 income had been seriously reduced during the pandemic. The museum applied for emergency funding but was not successful. Therefore the aim for the Crowdfunder was to raise funds to support the museum’s education and learning programme including:

• Core costs of the learning team after losses caused by Covid19.
• Essential technical equipment for new virtual sessions with schools and community groups.
• Creating duplicate handling boxes for ‘blended’ school sessions (the Education Officer explaining from the museum via a digital link to the classroom).
• Commissioning new ‘post-COVID appropriate’ gallery interactives.

• The campaign raised £4,400 (plus £768.75 gift aid). 
• There were 51 donors.
• 43 donors chose no reward.
• The most popular reward was the ‘Have the Director delivered to your inbox’ reward (£20).
• Roughly 25% were names unknown to them. They had reached out to a new audience.
• Crowdfunder’s user’s interface is sophisticated and includes tracking and forecasts in real time. It tracks how donors landed on the Crowdfunder page: 28 pledges came from the Crowdfunder website itself. The second most popular link used was via a widget on Wiltshire Museum’s website. Facebook delivered four donors and three were from Twitter.

• Crowdfunder records the number of visits to the page. There were noticeable spikes after a social media post and especially after its online Wiltshire Archaeological Conference.

Planning time was short. They heard of the Museum Association’s  ‘Save our Museums’ campaign (which waived the usual 6% Crowdfunder fee) only three weeks before their official appeal launch. It was a great incentive to do a Crowdfunder, but gave little time for preparation.  

In addition, this was during November 2020, a national lockdown, which impacted on where and how museum staff could work, making it harder for staff (especially part-time) to collaborate. For example, they were unable to hold the physical launch party that Crowdfunder recommends.

However, they

• Reviewed similar Crowdfunder campaigns online, noting best practice.
• Read the wide-ranging planning and advice pages of the Crowdfunder website.
• Attended Crowdfunder webinars linked with the Save Our Museums campaign.
• Had a one-to-one support session with Crowdfunder.
• Worked as a team to decide targets, approach and social media planning.
• Researched special interest groups and formed a timetable for contacting them.
• Crowdfunder strongly recommends contacting known supporters and interested groups before the campaign launch and asking them to share the message via their networks. Trustees were crucial to the campaign’s success.

£4,400 was paid by Crowdfunder into the museum’s bank account a week after the campaign closed. Crowdfunder requires no follow-up report.

• A further £1,815 (plus Gift Aid) was donated by people choosing to give via cheques and BACS. These were, most likely, members choosing to pay in their traditional way.
• The combined totals from Crowdfunder and traditional payments were more than double the average usually donated for the member’s appeal.
• Donors could opt-in to the mail list, so the museum’s supporter group grew.
• They spread the message that Wiltshire Museum is a charitable concern that needs support to survive and thrive.
• They widened their evidence of supporter buy-in; valuable evidence for future approaches to Trusts and Foundations. This includes comments such as: 

“We have a cottage in Wiltshire not far from Stonehenge. We love learning about the area and its history. We think the museum is absolutely one of the best around. Amazing objects beautifully presented as we walk the timeline”.

• Plan more in advance, especially to engage with possible supporters. Hopefully, there will be no pandemic then! Try to schedule when you have several ‘real life’ or virtual events where you can spread your message.
• Social media posts including short (one minute) videos featuring appeals from staff worked best.
• Try to engage the help of social media influencers in your field.
• Always include a short introductory video explaining your campaign. Crowdfunder recommends this and the museum felt it gave the campaign an edge over others which did not. It provides a personal connection with your cause and shows you care about persuading donors to give.
• Shorten the introductory video (theirs was 1 minute 50 seconds).
• Shorten the Crowdfunder page text. Striking the balance of giving enough information, whilst not overloading is difficult. They would cut a paragraph or two.
• Plan on a four-week campaign. This gives enough time for promotion and sharing and is a realistic commitment on staff time.
• Apply for as many of the ‘Extra Funding’ pots of money from exterior funders linked with Crowdfunder as you can. These are unlocked as your campaign reach certain percentage totals.
• Because of its global reach due to the  Stonehenge collections, they museum thought they would reach out to supporters around the world. In fact, the donors were all UK based.

• Think carefully about what you are appealing for funds for. Is Crowdfunder the best way? Crowdfunder may work best for causes that are more immediate and urgent, e.g. helping the Bronte Museum buy an original manuscript at auction. But, if you urgently need urgently money for core costs, with no restrictions, try a Crowdfunder.
• Plan an achievable target. You can always ‘stretch’ if you reach it. Having a ‘we raised 100%’ on your Crowdfunder campaign page (which stays up after your campaign closes) makes your campaign and organisation look extra special!
• Review and research similar campaigns on the Crowdfunder website.
• Read the Crowdfunder advice online. Make the most of their support and knowledge.
• Take time to think about who your current network of supporters are and engage with them. They are crucial to help spread the word of your new appeal.

Broader Learning

• Just do it! This was the museum’s first step into the world of online crowdfunding. It took a pandemic and a Museums’ Association special event to make them do this, but they say it was really easy and fun!

• Online fundraising is becoming a mainstay of the fundraising landscape. It should be written into fundraising forward plans and highlighted with Trustees and stakeholders holders.

• Fundraisers need to keep learning about the latest developments. Organisations like Charity Digital provide great courses and information.

• Because of the museum’s global reach due to its Stonehenge collections, they thought they would reach out to supporters around the world. In fact, their donors were all UK based.

Rachael Holtom

Development Officer, Wiltshire Museum

rachael.holtom@wiltshiremuseum.org.uk