Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding

I. Policy Statement

Definitions

Institutional Advancement: The Vice President of Institutional Advancement oversees all fundraising activities at Fort Lewis College. The Annual Fund Director reports to the Vice President for Institutional Advancement. The Crowdfunding Manager is the Annual Fund Director or a direct report.

Crowdfunding: The practice of funding a project by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.

Crowdfunding Project Leaders: One or two individuals that will act as the face of a crowdfunding project, work with platform administration, delegate tasks to Team members and collaborate with the Crowdfunding Manager.

Crowdfunding Project Team: Responsible for content and copy creation, help with marketing tasks and outreach, and track fundraising progress.

Guidelines

The Office of Institutional Advancement will determine the eligibility of student, faculty and staff crowdfunding projects.  The Vice President for Institutional Advancement, Annual Fund Director or the Crowdfunding Manager may discontinue an active crowdfunding project at any time due to a Project Leader's failure to comply with these policy guidelines.

1. All crowdfunding projects must support the Mission of Fort Lewis College.
2. Crowdfunding projects must have specific goals that are driven by tangible accomplishments such as, purchasing equipment, funding research, or providing workshop opportunities. Projects without a specific goal may not qualify for a crowdfunding project page.
3. Crowdfunding projects will be hosted for a pre-determined amount of time, typically 30-45 days. While some exceptions may apply, 30-45 day crowdfunding project campaigns tend to drive urgency and perform strongly.
4. To ensure compliance with Institutional Advancement guidelines, all crowdfunding projects must have an approved gift fund set up through the Fort Lewis College Foundation to which donations can be accepted and distributed to the Project Team's campus unit account. Crowdfunding Project Leaders may use a gift fund associated with a sponsoring unit, such as a department, program or center, with the approval of the Dean or Director in that area. If an appropriate sponsoring unit gift fund isn't available, the Foundation will determine if the Crowdfunding Project qualifies for its own gift fund. Crowdfunding gift funds and accounts must be approved before a Crowdfunding Project can begin.
5. All monies must be used for the crowdfunding project's stated goal. Crowdfunding Project Leaders and Teams are strictly prohibited from keeping any portion of the funds raised as profit or compensation. All crowdfunding projects must be non-profit in nature.
6. Crowdfunding projects must support Institutional Advancement or College programs and initiatives. Funds cannot be redirected to a third-party, external charity or other non-profit. The Office of Institutional Advancement will not act as a "pass-through" entity to provide funding for projects outside Fort Lewis College.
7. Crowdfunding Project Leaders agree to provide the following:
   1. 1. Crowdfunding project description and case for support.
      2. Video creation, filming and editing.
      3. Images for the crowdfunding page description, homepage and social sharing.
      4. A biography and photo of each Project Leader.
      5. Budget breakdown that describes how crowdfunding donations will be spent.
      6. Non-monetary perks for crowdfunding donations at multiple increments.
      7. Ongoing marketing and outreach to promote the crowdfunding project before, during and after launch.
      8. Regular project updates to the Crowdfunding Manager throughout the crowdfunding project.
      9. Thank-you messages to donors, describing how donations will be spent immediately after the crowdfunding project concludes.
8. The Crowdfunding Manager will approve all content on crowdfunding pages and has the right to edit or require content edits at any point during the project.

9. Project Leaders and their Teams are responsible for marketing crowdfunding projects and promotion via social media, email, on-campus communications and phone calls to potential donors.

10. Project Leaders can request assistance from the Crowdfunding Manager to generate additional marketing and outreach ideas.

11. The Crowdfunding Manager may request a list of potential donors prior to project approval to determine project eligibility and goal capacity.
12. The Fort Lewis College Foundation will provide official tax receipts issued to crowdfunding donors.
13. While most gifts will be raised online via a crowdfunding project's page, offline donations such as cash, checks, matching gifts, gifts of stock or other funds may be used toward a project goal. Gifts-in-kind, non-monetary contributions such as food, clothing, books or equipment may count toward project totals and will be evaluated by the Crowdfunding Manager and considered on an individual basis.
14. Project Leaders will work with the Crowdfunding Manager to deliver all funds raised outside of the crowdfunding project page to the Foundation for deposit and proper documentation.
15. If a crowdfunding project is not fully funded within the allotted time, any funds raised will still be allocated to the project goal.

III. Responsibilities 

For following the policy: Students, Faculty, Staff

For enforcement of the policy: Annual Fund Director

For oversight of the policy: Vice President for Institutional Advancement

For notification of policy: Policy Librarian

For procedures implementing the policy: Annual Fund Director