Summary
Far Reach helped Wartburg College launch its crowdfunding website for UKnight Day, its annual 24-hour day of giving, and supported it for the first three years.
In 2015, Wartburg set the bar high with a goal of 500 donors for its first UKnight Day. That meant every feature needed to make an emotional connection with potential donors.
The website included:
- Real-time chart with donor goal vs. actual donations to keep people coming back to check progress throughout the day
- Interactive map showing donations as locations to build a sense of community
- Countdown clock to create urgency
- Real-time donor message board for people to share why they gave
- Moderated social media feed to encourage people to spread the word
- Online donation form with as few steps as possible to make giving easy
In 2016, Wartburg set the bar even higher with a goal of 852 donors. (The college was founded in 1852.) We needed to show the site wasn’t just a one-hit wonder.
Additions to the website included:
- Digital badge (1 of 852) customized with each donor’s number to share on social media
- Social media feed that was more user-friendly and handled infinite scrolling better
In 2017, Wartburg set the biggest goal yet—1,000 donors. We added two new sections to make the site even more personal:
- “Buckets” based on the donor’s affiliation (alumni, parent, student, faculty/staff, or friend) to encourage a friendly rivalry
- Bar chart showing the number of donations by class, making it a competition to see what year is named best in class