Some of you may know I am a psychology nerd in addition to being a dancer and director. I try not to say I’m a psychologist because people immediately tell me about their childhood trauma. Unfortunately, I’m not equipped to deal with that. I didn’t study mental health but I did study persuasion, collective action, and behavior change. Ok so why tf does this matter? Well, let me explain some psychological reasons why people gave to our campaign:
One reason people gave to our campaign is that they thought the campaign would succeed. In the last 7 days of our campaign we raised $6000. Whoa, that is way more than any other week; compare to week one when we raised $1600. People typically wait until the last minute to give to campaigns because they want to see that other people have given and that it is likely to succeed. Because people are jerks and want you to have three panic attacks before the end of your campaign. Kidding. It’s because they want to be a part of something that succeeds, and that’s how most people live their lives, doing things they will succeed at. (Look up rational choice theory to learn more and get sent down a spiraling hole of psychology.) Additional note: it helps your campaign to become the type of person who people trust will succeed.
Related to this is that people gave to avoid losing what we had gained. Several people who initially gave $50 or $100 in the second or third week, in the final few days, doubled their pledges so that we did not lose the $12K we already raised. We made sure everyone knew that if we didn’t make our goal we would get nothing. So when it came down to the wire, people gave to avoid us losing the money. (If you’re also a nerd, look up prospect theory to learn more about this concept of avoiding losses.)
learn how to create and communicate a project that people will support in my step-by-step guide on how we raised $18K
To read my beastly step-by-step guide explaining how we crowdfunded $18K with no following or fanbase, click to view this awesomely detailed post I wrote 🙂
a little backstory
It was a chilly January 2018 day in the current dimension when 30-year-old unnecessarily educated Justina, queer artist child of black Panamanian immigrants, learned she had three months until her cushy job would let her go. Stunned that her comfortable safety net had broken, she stared at the email for 60 seconds before she resumed binge-watching Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee. Two weeks later, she had a nervous break down. BUT. Finally, she will play. She will create. And hopefully never work again. Oh, and now she has a journal. More on her/me here.
my money journal: crowdfunding edition
This, my money journal, is a reflection on my successes & failures to make money doing what I actually love. I want to share it with you cuz… I bet you’re on this journey too. In the first series of my money journal, I’m sharing my first big success as an artist. At the end of 2016, I was listening to my boyfriend’s song Black Man in America when a vision for a dance film struck me. Five Black men seated at a white table with guns. Don’t worry. It is nuanced. By January 2017, I was storyboarding. By June, my boyfriend was on board, we determined we needed $16,000 to bring it to life, and we launched our crowdfunding campaign. With no fan base and no real fundraising experience. On August 6th, we filmed. I was freaking out. I had opened a credit card just for this project, was $4,000 in debt and owed our cast and crew $7,000 more. I was all in. By August 20th, 400 backers had given a total of $18,000 for Black Man in America to come to life, exceeding our goal. In this crowdfunding series of my money journal, I’m going to share how we did it, because – imagine what you could do with $5K ,$10K, $20K to bring your visions to life. It’s our tiiiiiiiiime. (Shine bright, shine far…)
