Northwood University
Founded
1959
How we helped
Campaign strategy
Pre and post event communication
Crowdfunding
Collect online and offline event donations
Real-time donor recognition
Text-to-donate
Mobile pledging with auto-fulfillment
Donor reporting
Gift management
Segment
Higher Education
Size
Medium
$13,370
collected through donations
160
donors
$10,000
matching grant
MobileCause crowdfunding made it fun for alumni to raise donations and easy for them to
make a difference… which was a big win for us!
—Justin Marshall, Director of Advancement
Challenge
Struggling to increase amount of donors and size of donation, Northwood University faced uncertainty. In order to get more donors and donations, they needed to increase participation. Researching the best way to engage donors and increase participation led them to the idea of crowdfunding. With this in mind, they contacted MobileCause for a solution.
Solution
The Northwood University crowdfunding campaign began as a 3-day pilot called “The Power of One”. It was made to test the effectiveness of reaching alumni and supporters with crowdfunding. 8 individuals were cold called and all agreed to be captains, crowd-fundraisers. During a short meeting alumni captains setup crowdfunding pages from the convenience of their smartphones. Alumni began sharing pages with personal networks by email, text and social media. These pages allowed for donations to Northwood University through texting IDEA to 71777.
Impact
Totaling 160 donors, this campaign was a huge success. Within 72-hours they exceeded their pilot goal of $2,500. Many donors expressed excitement about being able to make a difference on campus and one large donor offered a $10,000 matching grant for the campaign. The overall campaign generated $4,480 in online gifts and $8,890 in offline gifts plus the matching gift. Further, social media participation was at an all time high.
Northwood University
Northwood University develops future leaders of a global, free-enterprise society through degree programs in business, finance and management. The Northwood Fund supports students, emergency fund scholarships, intramural athletics and academic programs. To donate to the cause, click here.
