Crowd Funding at VU

[M]

Brand new to the university is crowd funding. They got their first tree projects listed. Looks like a neat opportunity to give to specific projects that you find worthy of your money. Here is a link, https://crowdfunding.valpo.edu/s/1347/17/cf-home.aspx

I think this is a neat idea. I'm not rolling in the dough, but I sent a crisp electronic $5 bill to each project.

[vu72]

Brand new to the university is crowd funding. They got their first tree projects listed. Looks like a neat opportunity to give to specific projects that you find worthy of your money. Here is a link, https://crowdfunding.valpo.edu/s/1347/17/cf-home.aspx

I think this is a neat idea. I'm not rolling in the dough, but I sent a crisp electronic $5 bill to each project.

This idea has been promoted on the Valpo athletic site yet no project has been promoted.  Notwithstanding the quality of the aforementioned projects, I, for one, would be happy to donate to a specific project related to ARC improvements.

[vu84v2]

This is a great idea and I just donated to one of the programs. However, Valpo needs to get the word out to alumni and others regarding the crowdfunding program.

I will also say that, while this is a great idea, I always have some concern about whether the money donated is a vote for that program or just a way to generate funds to support all desired programs. In my view, it needs to be more of a vote and programs that do not get close to necessary funding should be delayed or lowered in priority. Otherwise, you're just donating to a general fund.

[M]

I have it on good authority that this is a sneak peak and the big rollout is forth coming soon.

I'm sure you're concerns are answered in the FAQs or will be addressed with the big rollout.

I think it's a neat way to get specific projects funded and could be a new way to get alumni interested in contributing to the school.

[crusader05]

I really like it for two reasons:

It alleviates yearly budgets to help maybe stretch their dollars a bit which is always great and it is really a cool direct way to interact with the university. I think this is especially awesome for younger alums who maybe don't have a large amount of cash or bristle at the idea of donating to a university for which they're still paying student loans. By encouraging them to support direct programs they feel like they are supporting students or orgs directly, their small donation goes a long way, and people like to give directly to something they have a relationship with like the storm chase experience.

It seems a clever way to fund smaller projects while creating a giving mindset in regards to alumni, and a sneaky way to get more individual donors which factors into some of our rankings on the college lists.

[vu84v2]

Here is a suggestion on expanding this idea. Right now, Valparaiso (like most colleges) has students that are employed to call alumni to check on their contact information and ask for money. This is frankly really annoying and I can't imagine that the students employed to do this get any real enjoyment out of these jobs. So as part of a crowdfunding program, have the students that are involved create some sort of promotion or advertisement to get donations instead of these impersonal phone calls. They should not do this with phone calls, but instead the participating students could do videos that are linked to the Valpo crowdfunding website.

[vu72]

Here is a suggestion on expanding this idea. Right now, Valparaiso (like most colleges) has students that are employed to call alumni to check on their contact information and ask for money. This is frankly really annoying and I can't imagine that the students employed to do this get any real enjoyment out of these jobs. So as part of a crowdfunding program, have the students that are involved create some sort of promotion or advertisement to get donations instead of these impersonal phone calls. They should not do this with phone calls, but instead the participating students could do videos that are linked to the Valpo crowdfunding website.

Valpo has announced that the student calling is done.

[M]

The phone program is over...

This is a pilot, hopefully it goes well and new projects can be submitted in the fall. The website has everything on it.

[valporun]

They discontinued the phone program last semester. I'm guessing to do the crowdsourcing sites, they repurposed things to make it more cost effective. Plus, I don't know how many times I would get calls from the phone program, when I was having dinner or not home.

[VULB#62]

For  the last several years I have maintained that regular (defined as not rich) alumni like myself, who want to donate to Valpo might be reluctant because we just don't get the sense that there is someth8ng tangible that results from our donation. This crowd funding strategy might satisfy guys like me.

[M]

A few of these projects have seen nice jumps! I'm sure there will be exciting new projects to fit everyone's tastes in the future, assuming these succeed.

[crusader05]

There has also been some healthy competition between the departments trying to see who gets to meet their goal first. Which is always fun

[M]

Congratulations to the Storm Intercept Field Study project people! 100% funded!

[M]

Looks like they extended the crowdfunding window, with some successful results.  https://crowdfunding.valpo.edu/s/1347/17/cf-home.aspx

[VULB#62]

Athletic Department Vectra Laser got funded!

[M]

It was $95 short when I posted originally.  Well done VU donors!

[vu72]

Athletic Department Vectra Laser got funded!

Great news!  4 out of 5 are funded.