The crowdfunding space is well, crowded. How does it work, what’s the value add for a consumer, how do you find a different niche to make sense? All tough questions to answer. Some efforts are wildly successful, some fall flat even with the best of offerings. Enter into the space FanAngel, which is a crowdfunding-for-performance team campaigns with the Washington Capitals and NY Red Bulls being the first to on board.
How does it all work, and work well, and where is the space evolving as it pertans to sports? We spoke to Erit Yellen, co-author of the book titled, “Crowdfunding: The Corporate Era” and an adjunct professor at USC’s School of Communication on her work in the space and with FanAngel..
When people hear crowdfunding these days their eyes kind of glaze over. How does a company, a brand an athlete separate themselves from the masses?
Offering something unique, authentic and personal to a fan base is not only the way to separate yourself as a brand and athlete, but it’s also the most natural way to endear yourself to an endemic population that is already looking for a personal connection. The way FanAngel helps teams, brands and athletes connect local and global fan bases through cause based initiatives provides a deeply emotional and personal connection for the fan.
Is it always about the money, or are there other creative ways to raise funds through a platform that does not have to involve hard-earned cash?
On average, throughout the crowdfunding space, about 1% of visitors to a crowdfunding platform will actually donate. When given an additional opportunity to share the message of the cause in awareness raising initiatives, a visitor will often choose that option. More than half the battle for cause based fundraising is actually in the awareness raising. Non-Profits can then hopefully leverage that heightened awareness in other direct fundraising efforts.
You have worked with a few teams on a crowdfunding platform, how has it worked with a team like The Red Bulls?
True partnership, communication and directed client services is at the base of all of our campaigns. Hours of quality conversations and a lot of time was put into launching and building The New York Red Bulls initiative to make sure we had all of the right people on board which will always include internal champions to utilize the different communication channels a team such as the Red Bulls has to offer. We really take our time setting up these relationships as we deeply believe in the long-term goals of utilizing sports for social change and making sure FanAngel is the best tool for our partners to achieve their goals in this space.
What are the biggest mistakes people make in the space?
To quote Coach John Wooden, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” It looks so easy, but in actuality any successful fundraising initiative takes months of planning and strategizing from pre-launch, preparing for the ebbs and flows of a campaign and post-campaign follow-up. There also must be a campaign head coach if you will who keeps the engines running at all times and knows how to get the best out of their fan base. FanAngel is a tool, but we also make sure to communicate that only the campaign managers know their fan base the best and we advise in the areas of outreach.
What are some of the more creative value propositions athletes, teams or causes put forward?
Specialized unique products that a fan can only get through a campaign page are usually great movers. The Washington Capitals have playoff pucks; the Red Bulls offer special team jerseys. The more unique the offering that is exclusive and special to the fan, the better it is for the success of the campaign.
Is this type of platform a last resort or a first step in engaging an audience with a story?
One of the greatest aspects of using technology like FanAngel is that it can function as a fan engagement tool on every level. Whether a team, brand or athlete is just at the beginning of trying to mobilize their fan base around their specific causes, in the middle of it, or finishing a strong fundraising and awareness raising initiative, FanAngel can be used for it all because the messaging can all be individualized.
What sets FanAngel apart from so many others in the space?
We are specific to sports causes and want to remain only in the sports space, catering to what sports fans from all areas need. Our technology and the technological team behind our platform, led by our CTO & Co-Founder, David Burton is unbelievably impressive. A few weeks ago we had Kim Kardashian tweet about one of our campaigns. It crashed our site and within 8 minutes, David had it up and running. When have you ever heard of that from a Co-Founder other than Mark Zuckerberg? We also have an business development team led by Oliver Davis-Urman, our VP of Business Development, who has spent his career building some of the strongest relationships in the sports business with a deep understanding of where the sports industry is headed in the fan engagement space. Our legal counsel, Andrew Morton, has the most legal expertise in non-profit compliance in all of entertainment and sports so that we don’t put our campaigns at risk.
Most important out of all aspects of FanAngel is that the team behind the platform is truly double bottom-line with a first priority of only doing good in sports and doing good by all of our clients. We all have the belief and knowledge first hand that, to quote Nelson Mandela, “Sports has the power to change the world” and we hope that we are doing our small part in enabling and promoting this sentiment.
How does it make money?
Right now monetization comes from taking a very small percentage of the campaigns on the platform. Down the line, as we grow further into this space, closely working with our partners, we will be co-creating white labels enabling our unique technology to be further utilized according to what clients and causes are specifically looking for when tapping into the power of the sports community.
Is the space growing and at what pace? Where do you think a platform like this can being five years?
In the last 3-4 years crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter have raised over $1B, Indiegogo raised over $800M and GoFundMe now raises $100M a month being privately acquired for $600M this year. This is just the beginning of this space in sports crowdfunding for causes and we all know how the sports industry is a multi-billion dollar global industry looking for unique ways to not only mobilize but also engage their fan base. New media platforms in sports have also been growing where traditional outlets are losing numbers. If you combine an opportunity for a team, brand or athlete to control their content, share their stories and grow their fan bases while doing good, the future of a platform like FanAngel is truly an industry game-changer.
