Eco Cascade is a Community Interest Company (CIC) set up by Alison Baker and her team to help develop the emerging seaweed farming industry on the beautiful west coast of Scotland. It provides important processing services to the local community of seaweed farmers, bridging the gap between cultivators/growers of seaweed and the needs of seaweed product makers. You can find out more about this exciting growth company here.
The team at Eco Cascade raised a whopping £35,665 from 129 supporters in just under 70 days through a donation and rewards based crowdfunding campaign, although most of their funding came through donations from interested supporters, despite their super-interesting range of rewards, such as seaweed themed scarfs, jewellery and prints…and of course dried seaweed!
The crowdfunding money they raised was ‘unrestricted’, which meant they could use it for any key activities they needed to help grow the business. This was helpful for the company at this early stage as most grants they had already received were ‘restricted’, meaning they could only use them for very tightly defined purposes.
Grace at Eco Cascade says they found telling their narrative about Eco Cascade the easiest part of the crowdfunding process – no wonder given their compelling story and beautiful scenery! And once they had their campaign page set up, it was straightforward to send to all their contacts.
What they found most difficult was reaching out to people as they didn’t have much of a social media presence set up, so there is a strong recommendation from Grace to future crowdfunders to get your social media channels set up as early as you can! Grace also says:
“In hindsight, I wish we had done more research into other possible cohorts/associations/groups, that our work would resonate with. That would have been so helpful with our campaign.”
The team were also sensible in deciding on what rewards they could offer, keeping a careful eye on only offering what they could afford and what they had easy access to.
Aside from all the money that Eco Cascade raised in a short period of time, the team found that the campaign planning process was in itself a very useful exercise, helping the team to think deeply about their story and how it would appeal to potential supporters and future customers.
The top three tips from Alison and Grace for a successful campaign?
- Get your social media presence early on – it’s so important for a strong campaign.
- Create as good a video as you can within your limited resources – and give yourself enough time to make it. Our video could have been much, much better, and was done in haste.
- Let your personal networks know that this crowdfunding campaign is coming their way. You can’t afford to be shy in asking for support – ask them to forward it to everyone they know!
And some final encouragement from Alison if you are thinking about crowdfunding for your business or organisation:
“GO FOR IT, you have absolutely nothing to lose… it’s all about getting your message out there! Wishing you lots of luck and success!”
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