Off To the Transalpine Run Thanks to the Crowd

Crowdfunding connects. At least if you define your target group specifically and succeed in addressing the right people with your project. The two German street runners Frank Schröder and René Grass, who want to finance their participation in the multi-day Ultratrail Transalpine Run through crowdfunding, also have this idea. They have launched a crowdfunding campaign on the web portal Gofundme.

1,780 Euro costs the participation on Transalpine Run this year for two people. For semi-professional runners, who are not organized in a club, this sum is difficult to raise. Schröder and Grass made it thanks to crowdfunding: over 2,300 euros had already been collected by the online supporters by mid-August.

The advantage of funding: Individuals only have to donate a small amount, the mass makes it, and the total volume often comes together quickly.

This problem gave rise to the successful crowdfunding project "Crowdfunding" in 2015. Help two chamois to the Transalpine Run“. The two project initiators, Erika and Tizi, collected their entry fees online and were successful in a short time: A total of 30 supporters raised 1,540 Euros, which even exceeded the desired amount of 1,500 Euros.

But why do the supporters donate? Because they want to be part of the whole! Erika and Tizi took their donors with them on their journey by repeatedly providing insights on their social media channels and keeping a video diary at the same time. It also makes sense to offer supporters so-called extra benefits.

In the case of Erika and Tizi, the donations were staggered, and the two lured sponsors with various goodies. For an amount of 10 Euro there was an entry in the video and a photo as a souvenir. Anyone who reached deep into their virtual pocket and contributed 300 euros was given a run training session with the two in Styria as a thank-you.

The larger the project, the more potential interested parties can be addressed. There is currently a big showcase project for this in the outdoor sector: For the Pacific Garbage Screening 231,205 euros by almost 4,000 supporters were donated and thus already 31,205 euros more than the target.

The idea behind this ambitious project is to use a floating platform whose special design makes it possible to filter plastic and plastic particles out of the water and free the sea of plastic pollutants. Fish and other creatures are not endangered. The big advantage of the project is its target group. The topic concerns the entire planet - so every single person belongs to the target group.

But it can also be smaller, and that doesn't have to be any less successful. Above all, municipal issues are often successful because they reach the potential support group on an emotional level and arouse empathy. For example with the Playground Traiskirchen. The aim was to build a children's playground for the first reception centre in Traiskirchen (Austria) in order to offer refugee children playgrounds so that they could forget the painful escape for a short time.

As is often the case with successful crowdfunding projects, this action also hit the ravages of time. The issues of refugees and children meet with broad interest in society, which means that people are more willing to donate money for them. In general, studies show that crowdfunding projects that serve the common good are more popular in society than projects that benefit private individuals.

And yet also the project of the two German street runners can be successful if they know their target group and observe the basic rules for the success of swarm financing: Idea, credibility and implementation.

An appealing presentation is the be-all and end-all, as well as a realistic and comprehensible financing goal for the target group.

In the next step, it is important to inspire people and pick them up. The Transalpine Run is the perfect way to get close to your crowd and take them with you on your journey. This begins for Grass and Schröder on August 31 in Oberstdorf - thanks to their numerous supporters, the two are by no means alone.