Humans are visual creatures. Images quickly grab our attention, convey emotion and are much more shareable than plain text.
For all these reasons, it’s essential that your crowdfunding campaign strategically uses visuals to captivate and engage your audience. Especially since most of these fundraisers are time-based, you’ll need to choose visuals that stand out and inspire support quickly.
However, it can be difficult to know which images will inspire your audience before your crowdfunding page officially goes live. That’s why we’ve created this guide—to help you build a library of crowdfunding-ready media! Together, we’ll review four key signs to check off before your media is campaign-ready.
It’s branded to your organization
Images, videos, charts and any other type of crowdfunding media you use should be representative of your organization’s brand. This enables supporters to instantly recognize your organization and trust your online appeals. You can ensure your visual media meets these standards by incorporating the following elements:
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- Your logo. Place your logo or watermark on your images or at the beginning of your videos to establish trust and familiarity with viewers. Keep the logo smaller or transparent to ensure it doesn’t obstruct the view of the image or video.
- Typography. If you plan on posting organization-specific designs or charts, make sure the typography is both readable and indicative of your organization’s brand.
- Background and color scheme. Use a video and photo background that directly relates to your cause. For example, an animal shelter might have rescued puppies in the background of its crowdfunding video appeal.
- Visual consistency. Ensure that all of your media supports your overarching cause and is visually cohesive. For instance, this could mean a homeless shelter uses images of volunteers, staff and beneficiaries to give viewers a full picture of its cause.
In most digital campaigns your photo and video gallery will be front and center. Ensure all content from YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook or your personal library can be easily traced back to your cause. This way, your gallery will illustrate your cause in a professional manner while deepening trust in your supporters.
It’s mission-focused
You may have access to great photos, but ask yourself if they would make sense outside the context of your website or a social media post. For instance, a photo of your volunteer team posing outside your organization’s headquarters or serving beneficiaries is much more effective than a selfie of just a few volunteers.
With this in mind, create media that relates to the impact of your work to communicate authenticity and credibility. You can also mix up your mission-focused media library by including a variety of content. To give you an idea of what this might look like, here’s how a nonprofit after-school program could feature mission-focused media in its crowdfunding campaign:
- Beneficiary photos. Photos of beneficiaries zeros in on who supporters are helping and why their help matters. With parent or guardian permission, the after-school program could feature images of student groups enjoying their programs with excited smiles.
- Action shots. Pictures and videos of your nonprofit serving its beneficiaries instill confidence and interest in supporters. The after-school program could capture photos of students benefiting from their services like tutoring, sports programs or art programs.
- Community engagement photos. If the program holds family-friendly events, they could feature a photo of their school families having fun together and enjoying other school-related activities such as fundraising auctions, concerts or other get-togethers hosted by your program.
- Infographics. Graphs or infographics are helpful to explain the importance of your cause. For example, an afterschool program could include a statistical infographic explaining the behavioral and cognitive benefits of a robust tutoring or sports program.
- Historical or contextual photos. Crowdfunding campaigns can also celebrate how far you’ve come and indicate your financial stewardship. An afterschool program could feature a photo of its first year of operating when just a few students were enrolled in contrast to its present-day, thriving program.
- Video appeals. A short video from nonprofit leadership, volunteers and beneficiaries can capture the heart of your mission while making a straightforward ask. The afterschool program could gather testimonials from students, teachers and families promoting its mission and asking for support.
A varied collection of these media elements communicates a comprehensive message to supporters that won’t leave them guessing. Instead, they’ll explore every angle of your mission to quickly understand why your work matters and how they can help.
Additionally, you want to make sure your supporters can easily navigate the donation page to see your compelling media! To accomplish this, Fundly’s roundup of crowdfunding platforms suggests selecting a site with user-friendly features that enable viewers and fundraisers alike to navigate the page with ease.
It complements your descriptions
Align your media to fit your crowdfunding descriptions. One way to do this is by making sure every element on your page supports the overarching message. For example, a nature conservation nonprofit could have all of its crowdfunding elements support the page’s title, “Conserve The Chattahoochee River and Watershed” with a brief appeal stating the importance of the cause, its history and how donations will revitalize the area.
With this message in mind, the organization should be confident that their crowdfunding images and descriptions collectively hit the mark. This means that each element would need to carry a consistent tone such as formal, friendly, authoritative or inspiring. Scenic shots of the river, before and after imagery depicting conservation impact and even detailed maps would be great options to supplement the causes’ written description.
If possible, avoid being overly redundant in your media choices. For instance, if the conservation nonprofit’s page already features a few wildlife shots, they may opt for an infographic explaining the impact of poor waste management on the river’s ecosystem.
It’s sharable
There are 4.6 billion people using social media worldwide. To take advantage of this pattern, your campaign media should be shareable. This means you’ll need to select a crowdfunding platform that has integrated social media sharing that will enable you to easily post your page on Facebook, Instagram and other platforms that align with your audience.
Once you’ve completed your crowdfunding page, you can keep your media shareable by:
- Choosing emotionally charged, relevant content.
- Breaking down complex infographics into easily digestible formats.
- Keeping fundraising videos short and to the point.
- Optimizing your content for mobile.
- Encouraging supporters to create user-generated content related to your campaign photos or videos.
Keep track of supporter likes and comments as you integrate your content into social media and provide updates throughout your campaign. This way, you’ll keep supporters updated and engaged following your initial appeal. Then, they can share your progress with their personal networks and help you reach your goal!
Compelling, relevant visual media is essential to every crowdfunding campaign. Before you finalize your page, double-check that your media checks all the marks and is easily accessible. If needed, have backup images on hand or select a crowdfunding website to feature your cause in the best way possible.
Missy Singh is the Director of Operations, Client Services & Sales at Fundly. She has been working there since 2011 when she started as a Customer Experience and Implementation Manager. As an integrated platform for social impact, Fundly serves as an industry leader in crowdfunding and peer-to-peer fundraising. In 2015 Fundly combined with NonProfitEasy to offer enterprise-level technology that addresses nonprofit needs with features such as a CRM, volunteer management, membership management and event registration.
