In the past few years, over a hundred MSU projects have been funded via MSU Crowdfunding. Although similar to GoFundMe or IndieGoGo, MSU Crowdfunding is optimized for higher education fundraising.
Why Use MSU Crowdfunding
Years of experience lend to Missouri State having a robust crowdfunding approach.
The MSU Foundation will guide you through project setup and help throughout the campaign life cycle. While there are Foundation management fees, the Foundation does absorb all fundraising costs associated with the crowdfunding platform, credit card processing fees, and receipt postage.
Benefits of MSU Crowdfunding
MSU Crowdfunding is mobile optimized – a donor can make their gift on the spot and in less than a minute. All major debit/ credit cards are accepted, along with Apple Pay.
All donations received through the MSU Foundation are tax-deductible and the Foundation provides donors with the appropriate receipts.
All gifts are recorded in the Foundation database, allowing donors to be contacted in the future – whether it be to solicit, thank, or update information. Other Crowdfunding sites do not provide this information for you to utilize. Offline gifts (checks, payroll deduction, etc.) can be added to campaign totals.
Gifts appear in the regular college/ department gift reporting and go into specific designated Foundation accounts for your purpose. All University spending guidelines also apply to Foundation accounts.
When MSU alumni give a gift of $50 or more, they receive a Very Important Bear card – the VIB card allows the alumnus to receive special benefits.
Heat maps and leaderboards are available for use on every campaign; tracking where donations are coming from and/ or creating competition for people to contribute to your campaign. Advocates have their own dashboard to share your campaign and track their impact on your campaign.
Challenges, matches, and personal pleas can all be entered on MSU Crowdfunding to push your campaign to its goal.
A sharing plan can help your campaign go viral on social media. Custom sharing hashtags can be added to your campaign. The MSU Foundation will share your campaign across social media accounts.
Next steps
Submit a crowdfunding application.
Create your MSU Crowdfunding account and create your project by clicking “Create a Project” at the bottom of the page.
Reach out to crowdfunding@missouristate.edu or the MSU Foundation at (417) 836-4143 with any questions.