Looking to solve a tricky problem – but lacking in data? Have supporters keen to help, but can’t bring them together offline? Need to raise money for potato salad? Well, strategist Joe Mitchell lays out how you can tap into the power of the crowd for your campaign’s needs in this week’s tip.
When you harness people power, you get big results. Here’s three examples:
1. Ushahidi pioneered SMS-based violence reporting. They now offer a range of crowdmapping tools to help people donate geographic information: where’s your problem happening, what’s needed where? The crowd can tell you.
2. Kickstarter and IndieGoGo are the biggest names in crowdfunding, but it’s a burgeoning field. When everyone chips in a small amount towards a clear target, you can solve funding problems at scale. There’s even crowd-equity – which makes everyone angel investors.
3. Crowdscience is booming. Users play games to crack protein problems, donate their computer’s processing power to fight malaria, or use an app to measure and report light pollution. Millions of actions = big breakthroughs.
These tools give supporters, members or passers-by the ability to actually do something. That helps your cause – and it helps supporters feel like they’ve truly contributed. It’s a win-win.
for Equity & Evidence