Whether you are attempting to raise money to help cover medical bills or attempting to crowdfund a game you’re developing, you will need the capital to make your dreams a reality. If you’re a social entrepreneur or a writer, then you’ll be able to write a brief that will inspire change.
Social entrepreneurs are coming up with a variety of creative solutions to common social and ecological issues. However, these big ideas require money to will them into action, and that’s where the ability to write comes into play.
By being able to effectively being able to articulate your thoughts on a crowdfunding website, you’ll be more likely to attract donors. By the end of this article, you’ll have a general idea on how to write a description for your crowdfunding campaign, and correct anything you’re currently messing up.
Be Specific
Writing a large block of text that tells people little does more harm than good. People are more apt to donate money if they know what it’s going to include info about the background of your cause, why you need money, and what the funds will be spent on.
Invest Time into Proofreading the Description
By spending the extra time to proofread your description, it will show that you genuinely care about this issue, and you’re going to spend the time to research and plan, rather than go into something with a large quantity of money and let the chips fall where they may.
We recommend looking at several pieces of software because each will do something different. This article, for example, was proofread with four applications. Grammarly, Hemingway Editor, SEO Book, and Copyscape.
We’re now going to spend some time explaining each tool and how it can help you while writing a brief.
Grammarly
This program allows users to check a variety of metrics that will fall into 1 of 4 categories: Correctness, Clarity, Engagement, Delivery. Correctness refers to grammar conventions, such as correcting the spelling of a word or phrase, misplaced commas, and hyphens.
Clarity refers to the use of active vs. passive voice or unclear antecedents; this can be ignored, but clarity is good to look at to make sure the crowdfunding description is clear and concise.
Engagement refers to how exciting something is to read; if you have a monotonous passage, it will be highlighted for you to correct. If you use the same word multiple times in a sentence, synonyms are offered to add variety to the sentence.
Then there is delivery. This is how information is presented most of the time; notifications for this are related to prepositional phrases.
Out of these 4 categories, grammar is the most important. This is because grammar corrections tend to make things sound more correct.
Hemingway Editor
This program is suitable for looking at a grade level of a text. When writing a crowdfunding brief, you want it to be around a fifth to ninth grade reading level.
Hemingway is a free program and highlights adverb usage, instances of passive voice, and times where phrases have simpler alternatives. This proofreading software also analyzes sentences and informs you if hard or very hard to read.
SEOBook
SEOBook helps with Search Engine Optimization. This is when you want to increase the quality and quantity of web traffic by increasing where an article features in the Search Engine Results.
There are two things you can do to increase the chances of your fundraising page, appear at the top of a Google search. You should make sure that the occurrence rate is under 2.5% for each term. Also, use a variety of synonyms to help increase the content richness of your brief.
Copyscape
This program checks for plagiarism. Although you wrote the info related to the fundraiser, you may have unintentionally created a passage that is similar to something that is already published.
This can negatively impact your SEO and cause your fundraiser to be pushed farther down a Google search, which would negatively impact your ability to reach people, and receive contributions.
“In addition to software tools, consider asking a friend or two to proofread your crowdfunding brief. A person will not only give you feedback, but they may see something that Grammarly missed, or say that something is or isn’t clear.” — Miranda Dawson, Senior Writer at PickTheWriter and TrustMyPaper.
Consider delegating
We aren’t always good at everything; and it’s totally fine to delegate editing or writing, in case you’re not feeling confident with your end copy.
Keep the Brief Brief
This is important because, as previously mentioned, you want to keep it short and simple. A good crowdfunding description should between 300 and 700 words. This length ensures that you can communicate all the information related to your campaign.
Following this tip will allow you to avoid being long-winded in your delivery. We also recommend that there only be 3 lines of text per paragraph. We are saying 3 lines, as opposed to three sentences because 3 lines are best for when you are reading things on a smartphone.
It will allow the reader to take breaks while reading, and avoid feeling trapped by the brief sort of speak.
The 5 Ws
Similarly to a grade school essay, there are 5 questions you have to answer. The who, the what, the when, the where, and the why as to your need for crowdfunding. Were going to break down each one of these parts so you have a better understanding of the description writing process.
The Who
The Who, besides being one of the greatest pop-rock groups of the 1970s, requires a two-part answer in your crowdfunding brief. Who is the person, people, or organization receiving the money, and what is your relationship to them.
John Smith, who is a member of the X-Club at his local high school, could be an example of the Who.
The What
This aspect of the description is the topic of the project. This question can normally be answered by writing a couple of sentences about the reason that your raising money and info about your project.
An example of the What is that Club-X is trying to raise money to purchase recycling bins for their school. This project is apart of Club-x “Greener School Greener World” initiate, which will teach students about various ways they can reduce, reuse, and recycle a variety of goods.
The When
This part refers to when the project will occur. On your description of your campaign, be sure to include a tentative timeline of events. For this part, it’s recommended that you break it down into steps, and you should consider thinking about creating a bulleted list to help break up the info.
An example of the When is, continuing with the Club-X example, is the 2019-2020 Academic School Year.
The Where
Similarly to the who, this also requires a two-part answer. You need to decide on which platform you will be crowdfunding on. Examples include GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and Indiegogo. The second question that needs to be answered is the physical location of the event or project.
The where in this example would be John’s high school. The where would also be the crowdfunding efforts Club-X has started on GoFundMe; in addition, the donation box located in the front office of the school.
The Why
This is the problem that you are trying to solve with your campaign. You would also express how your campaign would be a solution.
The Why to John’s project would be by setting up recycling areas, Club-X would be able to reduce the amount of recyclable goods that end up in landfills. By having designated areas for recycling paper, plastics, and cans, they will be able to promote sustainability at the school.
The Wrap Up
Although you and people around you will know about your efforts, the masses won’t. Think of your crowdfunding description as your sales pitch. The more thorough you are in writing it, the more likely you are to find donors to support your efforts.