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Northwood University

$
collected through donations
donors
$
matching grant

“[GiveSmart] 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

Solution

Struggling to increase the number of donors and donation size, Northwood University faced uncertainty. 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. They then contacted [GiveSmart] for a solution. 

northwood-university-pic

The Northwood University crowdfunding campaign began as a 3-day pilot called “The Power of One.” GiveSmart made the campaign to test the effectiveness of reaching alumni and supporters with crowdfunding. The University called eight individuals, and all agreed to be captains and crowd-fundraisers. The alumni captains created crowdfunding pages from their smartphones during a short meeting. Alumni began sharing pages with personal networks by email, text, and social media. These pages allowed for donations to Northwood University by 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 prominent donor offered a $10,000 matching grant for the campaign. The overall campaign generated $4,480 in online gifts and $8,890 in offline donations, plus the matching gift. Further, social media participation was at an all-time high. 

Smiling African American woman using digital tablet.

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.  

GiveSmart is a fundraising and donor management system that enables organizations to accelerate fundraising through configurable, mobile-friendly campaigns, peer-to-peer giving, auction and event management, simple tracking, and secure payment processing. 

Our mission is to help nonprofits and organizations reach their fundraising goals while creating an engaging, exciting, and easy giving experience for their donors. All. Year. Round. Click here to get started with GiveSmart. 

Sydney,Australia - August 24,2014: Competitors in the 'Color Run' fun run in Centennial Park. Runners are doused in coloured powder, bubbles and water as they run the 5K course.

Disclaimer: This case study originally featured a nonprofit that used MobileCause. MobileCause is now fully integrated into the GiveSmart platform. All mentions have been edited to reflect the new naming conventions.  

 The legacy feature set, staff assistance, and training continue to support thousands of nonprofits in raising billions of dollars. We invite you to check out GiveSmart Fundraise, Events, and Donor CRM today.