What Happens After a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign? Yellow Leaf Hammocks Q&A Follow-Up…

Our outreach was pretty consistent over the course of the campaign, which was reflected in the fairly consistent pace of pledges. We continued to share daily facebook & twitter updates and e-mailed our supporters once or twice a week. We really liked using the Campaign Update function on Kickstarter to keep our donors & supporters fully in the loop.

Toward the end of the campaign, we were worried about overwhelming people with ongoing messages, so we tried to reach out on a more personalized basis. It’s human nature for some people to procrastinate—we ended up with people pledging at the very last minute! One huge pledge came in with less than two minutes left in the campaign!

Through the whole campaign, it was awesome to watch Kickstarter’s statistics and see how people found us—almost 1/3 of our donations came through the social networks (for example, people who saw the campaign in a friend’s facebook status). It was amazing to see that our fans were inspiring a whole new group of people to become involved!

Q | Innov8Social: So, what happened immediately after the funds were raised? And how did you & your team feel when you found out you had achieved to goal?

A | Joe : We were ecstatic when we hit $10,000! It was really gratifying and humbling to feel the support and excitement of this amazing community of backers. We posted the news through all our social networks and tried to just express our excitement and gratitude as we soaked in the news!At that point, we had 4 days left in the campaign, but a lot of people didn’t realize they could still pledge after the goal was reached. We did one last push to make sure people knew they could still get a hammock in time for Christmas & be a part of the campaign. That spurred another round of backers, so we ended up exceeding our goal by nearly 15%!Once the campaign officially closed, we immediately shipped out the first batch of Kickstarter rewards (the ones that were meant as holiday gifts), then took a nice relaxing break to celebrate over the holidays!Q | Innov8Social: You guys had set up some great rewards for donors. How has the process of following up with the rewards been?

A | Joe : It is definitely time-consuming! I think we underestimated the time it would take. It was a challenge to organize the process and there was a mad dash to get those initial rewards out in time for Christmas. We are continuing to work on fulfillment for a couple of the backer levels and we’re especially excited about getting these first stands manufactured and shipped out for spring!

That being said, putting these packages in the mail is one of my favorite things to do! We are so grateful to our backers and it’s nice to be able to express that gratitude in a meaningful way. I’ve personally hand- written a Thank You note to each person and we’ve sent them each a Polaroid from the Mlabri village.

We also worked with a designer to put together a ‘Rewards Suite’ of beautiful, unique gift cards and stationery, because we wanted it to be a really special experience when people opened up their rewards package.It meant a lot to us that people saw our vision and supported us and we wanted them to know we were truly thankful.

Q | Innov8Social:  Does Kickstarter do any follow-up after funds are raised? Do you have to complete any additional forms?

A | Joe : No. Before you start the project, you do all the necessary paperwork & get them your financial info. When the project closes, they transfer you the funds (minus their fee). They also send you an email with some broad tips to engage your backers as you move forward.When the deadline hits, your project page is immediately ‘retired’ from active duty- a notice goes up with the end date and final funding amount. People can still watch your video and you can continue to post updates as the project progresses, which is great.Q | Innov8Social: Finally, do you have any tips for social entrepreneurs on what to do (and what not to do)  after raising funds on a crowd sourcing platform?A | Joe : Things don’t slow down when the campaign closes. Once you are lucky enough to reach your goal, you have to immediately switch gears and begin delivering on your side of the pledge.

Plan ahead for rewards fulfillment and make sure that you continue to give your backers the best experience possible. A pledge on Kickstarter is more than a purchase on your website and people are really vested in your success. They’re genuinely excited to hear about how the project is going and it is awesome to continue to interact with them afterwards.

It is amazing to have this whole new community of people who share our vision. We’ve received really touching emails from people who love their rewards packages and we’re looking forward to staying in touch with everyone who was a part of this project. Update your supporters!

It can feel overwhelming to realize that you need to a) keep up with your day-to-day work b) manage your rewards fulfillment and c) actually build the project you funded! Just hold onto the excitement you felt when you launched your project and remember that now you have an awesome group of people cheering you on!

Many thanks once again to Joe and the Yellow Leaf Hammocks team. We can’t wait to see the new hammock stand prototypes!