Nowadays, we can say crowdfunding is one of the easiest and fastest mechanism to raise money for business or charity purpose.
Recently, a new trend emerged in the corporate world with companies increasingly using crowdfunding in their CSR strategy. Crowdfunding is more and more considered as a viable alternative for companies looking to develop their CSR.
Even if global companies have a different approach than start-ups or SMEs, we can say that there is a global push towards the fact they are increasingly using crowdfunding to further their CSR. Companies see crowdfunding platforms as an opportunity to create a new way to interact directly with their customers. But, it is also a way to interact directy with other donors, charities and their local community in general.
CSR crowdfunding campaigns hosted on platforms such as Weeboon can be considered as a way to increase the company’s CSR visibility as well as a tool in order to get some free marketing. Additionally, such campaigns provide transparency which means that customer’s trust into company’s CSR actions are amplified.
This type of crowdfunding can change the game of Corporate Social Responsibility to actually involve the community. Instead of trying to tell them about all the great things a company does. In other words, the company makes its CSR program more engaging and participative by getting its employees and customers involved.
Tangible benefits for the company
Such crowdfunding campaign helps the company to achieve its CSR goals by increasing community’s involvement. It’s also a good way to showcase a company’s CSR projects to its local community. It is also a way to make a difference with its employees and customers.
On the other hand, it also amplifies the company’s marketing efforts by improving its brand reach and recognition while gaining social branding and loyalty. A huge exposure can also be the result of such campaigns. At the end, it lowers customer acquisition cost (CAC) and increase customer lifetime value (CLV).
In term of internal pursuits, the fact of using this kind of platform gives the opportunity to unite a community around the cause a company supports while taking a leadership role. The company is seen by its employees’ networks as a corporation with heart. Indeed, the company become a corporate trendsetter increasing its employees’ engagement.
Final words
As CSR is already a developed market, corporates already know what they want or what they are doing. Using crowdfunding for CSR actions is a democratic way to do things more efficiently and on a larger scale.
