Project Description (About Section) Example Your crowdfunding campaign should fully explain your organization/department/group and provide specific details about your initiative (aim for write 300-700 words). The Project or The Challenge – What is the goal of your project? Let the readers know why it is important to give Who We Are – Describe your organization and its affiliation with Penn State The Impact – How will your project impact Penn State, the community, etc. What Your Gifts Will Do – Tell them where the money is going/what donations pay for Share this Message – Request the reader shares your project page on social media, with friends and family, etc. Thanks for Your Support! – A short message of appreciation about what donations mean to you Our Project We are raising money for displaced students following a fire on April 3 which affected students at Penn State Harrisburg. Our goal is to provide these students with virtually everything they lost in the fire including books, clothing, bedding, and electronics.  In addition to emergency assistance, we provide support for students in most need of financial aid to stay in school and maintain a healthy life while studying at Penn State Harrisburg. Who We Are The Student Emergency Assistance Fund was established to assist students who have been affected by emergencies such as the recent fire. We help students persevere through financial emergencies and continue their studies at Penn State Harrisburg. Our fund provides immediate support to students who have exhausted all financial aid options through scholarships and grants. The Impact Last year, more than $37,000 was raised for the Student Emergency Assistance Fund which was disbursed to 37 students. Some of these students had experienced the death of a parent, some were homeless, and some had other financial emergencies. While we were able to assist 37 students last year, the need for this support far exceeded what we were able to provide. With the addition of the fire, our mission to provide assistance to these students has never been in more need of your support, What Your Gifts Will Do Your donations will help our fund provide more relief to our in-need students and allow for more students to receive financial su22222222pport in their time of need.  Make a difference in the life of a student by making your gift today to ensure no student has to put their dreams of a Penn State degree on hold because of a financial emergency. Please Share this Message We have a short amount of time to make a big difference.  Please share our project with friends, family, and colleagues to help us surpass our goal and provide a higher level of quality support to more students in need. Thanks for Your Support! The Student Emergency Assistance Fund and all of our benefiting students thank you from the bottom of our hearts for selflessly supporting our students in their time of greatest need. Your support is greatly appreciated, and will directly impact the lives of students and their families. Because of donors like you, students at Penn State Harrisburg will always have a place to live, nutritious meals to eat, and the opportunity to complete their education without dropping out because of their financial need. This is an example of an about section, but you will notice it is entirely text – you will want to use text in conjunction with pictures, charts, supplemental video, and other forms of media Typically I would aim to include 3-4 images depending on the length of your text And I always recommend to include a picture of your campaign team so potential donors can see the people behind the initiative – this will work in your advantage because people like to give to people Also be sure to break up your about description into different sections – it will make it easier for potential donors to read and creates the illusion of being less text

Step 2: Impact Description Showing the Impact A tangible impact When people support your campaign it makes a tangible impact on your project and takes you one step closer to being able to accomplish your goal. Allowing your supporters to see how their donations may impact you and your team will empower them to be in charge of their contribution. Focus on the impact – not just what you think you will be able to purchase Use there items to explain your budget more clearly Use an array of dollar amounts consistent with your dollar goal to help all types of donors to envision their gifts Step 1: $ Amounts Step 2: Impact Description Step 3: Impact Title $10 You are showing a deep interest in technology, innovation, and helping children and students alike. Thank you for your support! Lending a Hand $25 Your gift is equal to one material spool. One hand requires less than one material spool. Helpful Hand $50 Your generous donation is enough to make one full hand, including printing, screws, comfort pads, and more! Thank you! Give us a Hand $100 A gift of this amount will assist us in paying for and maintaining our website. The website will help us reach people around the world to distribute our hands and gain even more support. Join Hands $250 Your donation will fund our Research and Development budget so we can create customized prosthetics and explore how to help as many children as possible. Thank you! Safe in your Hands $500 This donation will fund the Production budget. All funds will go directly to printing and creating hands for families in need. Hands on Helper $1,000 This generous donation will help us afford one of our two 3D printers. These printers are the key to our entire initiative. Gotta Hand it to you Impact items are measureable items that show a donor what their money can support. How we recommend to use impact items are to first figure out what dollar amounts may be important to your campaign. Looking at this chart, this team chose $10, $25, $50… they then gave each of those gift level amounts a title and a description

Campaign Updates Posting crowdfunding updates is one of the most important parts of running a crowdfunding campaign. Without updates, your donors and future supporters don’t know what the status of your fundraiser is or how you’re coming along with your goals. Post updates weekly Studies have shown that crowdfunding organizers who post updates every five days or so raise three times more than those who don’t post updates. Even if you don’t have a great week, it’s important to let your donors know about any progress that has been made, no matter how small! This also shows that you are invested in your campaing. Where to post: Campaign page updates section Social media Email Examples: Fundraising progress – “Wow! We can’t get over the generous support everyone has given us! We’re a week in and have raised 35% of our goal! Thank you for your support!” Deadline reminders – “We only have three days left for our campaign and are just 10% below our goal. Please help us reach our goal and make a gift!” Updates about your project, event, or cause – “We raised $5,000 through our crowdfunding efforts and are leaving for our service trip tomorrow! Thank you to all of our supporters who made this trip happen!” Information about any press coverage – “ Our campaign was just featured in the collegian! Check it our here.” Meet a member – “ Meet the president of our organization…” Include photo or video in your updates As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Adding photos to your update can help donors and potential donors connect with your cause by showing them the progress you have made. Thank current supporters Without them, you wouldn’t be where you are with your fundraising efforts. Be sure to show your appreciation by thanking them in an update! Depending on the number of donors to your campaign, you may be able to thank donors individually within each weekly update. If you have a large number of donors, you can post a general thank you to all of them. Another idea is to include a “Donor of the Week” to highlight a specific donor. Link updates to social media Donors and potential donors probably won’t be checking back on your campaign page, but they are likely to be on social media daily. Make sure that all updates are posted to your page as well as social media accounts. Not only will your current supporters be able to see how you’re campaign doing, but you might intrigue others within your network who are willing to give. Be sure to encourage people to like, comment, and share. Also include your crowdfunding page link toward the top of you post to make it easy for potential donors to navigate. Campaign updates can be anything Examples would be: We’re a week in A donor thank you A spotlight feature on one of the members of your campaign team You’ll want to post in the updates section of your page as well as on social media and in emails (when it makes sense to)