A crowdsourcing campaign should be launched with specific objectives in mind. Perhaps you’d like to encourage knowledge-sharing or collaboration around an issue, develop a new approach to fundraising or improve processes within your organisation by involving team members who’d never usually have the opportunity to contribute in such a way. Or maybe your goal is to help strengthen ties with supporters by inviting them to collaborate.
We’ve found that crowdsourcing campaigns can be very useful for start-ups – in particular, for identifying, gathering and supporting ideas, and nurturing their progress into real projects or businesses. This acts as a first step towards real impact, speeding up the idea-refining process and connecting those who participate with mentors and team members, giving them access to resources and advice they’d never normally be able to access. On the other hand, applications to incubators tend to be lengthy and favour start-up ideas set to yield the most financial return.
It’s important to clarify your goal early on, as this will influence the design of your campaign and how you communicate it to participants and partners. It's important to let people know what you’re trying to achieve, because they won't be motivated to participate if they can't see the purpose.
While this site aims to guide nonprofits and NGOs in helping participants develop ideas, implementing those ideas and achieving real impact, there are some broader benefits to running a crowdsourcing campaign, which we cover below.
A. LEARN FROM IDEAS THAT ARE WORKING
A crowdsourcing campaign can help to collate the ideas, solutions and knowledge that already exists among various organisations and individuals concerning a specific issue. This collation process can help you to refine existing processes and projects, therefore increasing their impact.
B. INCREASE THE CHANCE OF ADOPTION
Crowdsourcing can increase public engagement – after all, those who have contributed to the process will be likely to adopt or endorse the product, project or idea they’ve helped to form. For example, a community energy programme designed by the community it serves is likely to have a real impact because people will feel invested in it and will work hard to make it a success.
This phenomenon is known as co-production, and it makes the system more effective and responsive to community needs. There is an additional marketing benefit from building this kind of local supporter base – it gives you a chance to attract potential donors, partners and colleagues to contribute to your cause.
C. AMPLIFY SECTOR IMPACT
By bringing in participants from various sectors and teams who would not normally interact – let alone collaborate – increases the potential of your project to create real impact. Crowdsourcing platforms create connections and new ways of working together, and this can be a real catalyst for innovation – especially in those sectors where funding is limited and where organisations compete for the same space.
Crowdsourcing also allows you to use resources in a much smarter way, in order to get further. For example, it would be hugely beneficial in the current rush to innovate our way out of the “refugee crisis”, which has so far resulted in a fair amount of idea duplication and, therefore, redundancy.
NOTE: Make sure you check that your objectives align with that of your funder (if they are a third party), as having differing ideas will affect how long it takes to design your challenge.
