1. Goal Identification Identify what the you raise will support. Flight
Be realistic. You want to identify a goal that will get you what you need, but is also attainable. The average crowdfunding campaigns raises $5,000. Have an idea of where the money will come from to help identify your goal. If you don’t have a large network, expect to aim for a lower goal.
It is better to have a lower goal that is more realistic to ensure that you hit 100% of your goal. Smaller goals also motivate donors more, as their one gift will have a larger impact.
Starting Goal – This amount represents the sum of your high priority items. This amount should be the minimum amount of funding you need to complete your project goals.
High priority items/What you need
Target Goal – This amount represents the full sum of your campaign needs (excluding reach goal items). This amount should equal everything that you want to achieve through your campaign.
Medium priority items/What you want
Reach Goal – This amount is to provide value-added items to your campaign. You should have an additional case statement about what extra funds can do and why they’re important.
Low priority items/What would be nice to have
Item
Description
Unit Cost
Quantity
Total Cost
Priority
Flight
Students traveling this summer are responsible for their flight costs. Funds raised will be evenly divided among all students.
$450
15 students
$6,750
High
Site Materials
Students traveling to Western Africa this summer have largely outdates supplies to complete their fieldwork. Supplies vary from notebooks, pens, and pencils to construction materials and tools.
$1,250
1 for various purchases
Medium
Local Learning
Experience
Students traveling to Western Africa this summer have an opportunity to visit a local historical museum while in the country. Funds raised will pay for student admission and travel to the museum site.
$500
1 for tickets and travel
Low
You want to be realistic when setting your goal to ensure that it is attainable. If you don’t have a large network to solicit for funds you’ll want to ensure the goal you aim for is conservative.
You can think of your goal in three steps or sections:
Starting goal – For the things you need to have
Target goal – For the things you want to have
Stretch goal – For the things that would be nice to have
Ultimately high, medium, and low priority items
Starting lower and increasing is strategic. People like to give to campaigns with lower goals because their dollar has more impact and they are also more confident that your campaign will be successful. This is why people tend to give to things that are successful as opposed to those that are not
You are able to increase your goal though. Each time you obtain a goal, you may increase to your next goal. Be clear and transparent in where the money is going and the impact it will have and your donors will understand.

2. Target Goal Identification
Fundraising goals can make or break a great campaign.
Realistic goal setting exercise.
Think about your goal and the resources you have to support it.
Remember that for each member you have on your team, you multiply your network and reach. The best way to set yourself up for larger goal amounts, is to have a strong team.
Think about your network that you will be asking to make a gift. Does your goal seem realistic based on your identified network and their giving potential?
This is a chart is here to help you establish your goal. It asks key questions that are important to the success of a goal.

3. Obtain your Goal
Some calculations based on industry averages to learn what kind of marketing effort you’ll need to reach a specific goal.
How much do you need? $ Focus on the minimum you need to complete your core objectives.
Divide that amount by $50: This is the number of $50 donations you will need to reach your goal.
Note: Average crowdfunding gifts range from $25-$80.
Divide that number by .25: This is the number of people who will need to visit your campaign page.
Assuming that 25% of the people who are driven to the page will give an average of $50.
Divide that number by .85: This is the number of people your solicitation plan must drive to your campaign page.
80-90% of the funding a campaign receives is from donors who are driven there by the direct efforts of the campaign team. Only 10-20% of gifts come from donors who find out about the campaign from other sources.
Reflect on the significance of box 4.
If the number of people you need to actively drive to your campaign page is beyond your network size and ability, it’s a good indicator to lower your goal or find a way to increase your network
Don’t be discouraged if your initial goal it too high. Higher goals just require more effort and better tactics. One of the best tactics for breaking into higher goal levels is to set a goal you KNOW you can hit, and then use stretch goals to get there!
You can use this equation to estimate if your goal is attainable from your established network. This is meant to act as a guide and to give you a general idea based on the industry averages of crowdfunding. Therefore, it may not hold true for every campaign that runs through Let’s Grow State, but it’s going to help set realistic expectations for most campaigns.

4. Funding Sources Identifying your funding sources. Funding Source
Remember, what you think you will raise is not always what you will be able to raise. This could be due to several reasons. An example is, a donor gives less than anticipated or does not give at all. To best account for these types of situations, we will apply a standard reduction percentage to your estimated dollars raised based on market research and conservative expectations. This will assist in identifying a realistic goal for your campaign.
Another resource available to you for assessing your ability to reach your goal is crowdfunding.io. Through a series of questions and prompts, this site can provide a reasonable estimation of whether you will be able to reach your fundraising goal.
Funding Source
Estimated Amount
Percent Reduction
Anticipated Total Donation
Personal Network Contacts
Total ask amounts for your team from identified contacts for gifts
75%
Fundraising Events
Number of events x $100
60%
Social Media
Number of follows x $10
50%
Local Media Coverage
Penn State Department Support
100%
Foundations & Charitable Entities
Corporate Contributions
It’s important to remember that what you think you’re going to raise may not necessarily be what you end up raising.
Looking at this chart, you want to take what you think you might obtain from different funding sources and reduce that figure.
So for personal network contacts, this is typically where most of your money is going to come from for a crowdfunding campaign, but you want to take what you think you’re going to raise and reduce it to 75% of that figure.
So if you think you’re going to raise $1,000 from your personal network, reduce that figure to $750.
You can follow that equation with the different percentages of reductions for each of the different funding sources.
Another tool to help you figure out anticipated totals is crowdfunding.io. It’s not going to give you the exact figures the above equation will, but it’s going to give you another general idea.