Before crowdfunding, it is the project leader’s responsibility to review and understand the following Lehigh Crowdfunding guidelines.
The Crowdfunding Student Leader is expected to:
- Ultimately be responsible for the successful funding of the project through the coordination of marketing and promotion efforts between the student group, alumni affinity group, faculty/staff adviser and alumni relations staff member
- Lead by example for other project members
- Accountable for the completion or delegation of project duties, including, but not limited to:
- Page and project set up pre-launch
- Weekly project promotion checklists
- Marketing and communication & social media content creation and promotion
- The Office of Development and Alumni Relations will send broad mass communication to the alumni base promoting the launch and progress of all projects housed on Lehigh Crowdfunding, however, student leaders are responsible for organizing the communications strategy pertinent to their specific crowdfunding project
- Post-project stewardship plan and wrap-up
- Make a commitment to the project through a personally meaningful gift
- Accountable for the completion or delegation of project duties, including, but not limited to:
- Work with faculty/staff adviser to research and identify other community or national groups, as well as alumni or campus partners to include in communication strategy to broaden project exposure network
- Serve as main student point of contact for faculty/staff adviser and Alumni Relations staff member. Maintain regular communication with both parties on project activity, status and strategy to reach goal
- Prepare [online platform] project page with personalized content, videos and/or images
- Connect regularly with alumni affinity group leader directly or through DAR staff/group adviser to utilize alumni network
Time Commitment:
The time commitment for project leaders will span approximately 9 weeks (2 weeks pre-launch, 5 weeks of live project fundraising, 2 weeks post-project). Successful student leaders should expect to spend between 2 and 4 hours per week throughout the duration of the project setup, launch and wrap-up.
The Crowdfunding Faculty/Staff Adviser is expected to:
- Provide assistance, oversight and advice to student leader(s)
- Serve as a point of contact and communicate regularly with Development & Alumni Relations staff member and student leader(s) for status check ins and overall project progress
- Establish regular check-ins (weekly/semi-weekly) with student leader(s) to review previous week’s progress and review upcoming week’s tasks
- Review and establish member responsibilities and assigned tasks created by student leader(s)
- Check in with leaders to ensure tasks and deadlines are met for each week
- Assist with reviewing tracked progress and discuss next steps with leaders
- Assist in research and brainstorming to help students connect to networks beyond family and friends
Time Commitment:
The time commitment for faculty/staff advisers will span approximately 9 weeks (2 weeks pre-launch, 5 weeks of live project fundraising, 2 weeks post-project). Faculty/staff advisers should expect to spend between 1-3 hours per week throughout the duration of the project setup, launch and wrap-up to assist student leaders in successful project completion.
The Crowdfunding Alumni Group Leader is expected to:
- Endorse and promote project mission to alumni network
- Act as “lead sponsor” to leverage personal networks (regional, professional, etc.) to encourage alumni support of student project
- Maintain consistent communication with student leader(s) and faculty/staff adviser via Development & Alumni Relations staff member to ensure role expectations are understood and tasks are being completed
- Post/share/email messages to alumni network
- Content to be provided by student leader(s) for email and social media messaging
- Follow strategic outreach plan provided by student leaders
Time Commitment:
A successful alumni group leader should expect to spend approximately 1 to 2 hours weekly throughout a 6-week span (5 weeks of live project fundraising, 1 week post-project for wrap-up messaging) focusing on messaging through various channels to their alumni peers and network.
To ensure compliance with Lehigh Crowdfunding’s guidelines, all projects must have an approved fund/account set up to which donations can be accepted and then distributed to the respective campus organization’s account. Groups may use a gift fund associated with a college unit, department, program or center, with respective approval from department head or business manager.