The New Community Project Roadmap: Lessons from Crowdfunding for Repeatable Success in Building and Sustaining Community Initiatives
THREE 2-HOUR VIDEO CONFERENCE SESSIONS + Q&A
Are you in the midst of a community project that seems stuck? An initiative that you just can’t get off the ground? Something that you know will make your community a better place but is lurching forward one step and backward two steps? It can be hard to get community projects going at all, let alone with sustained commitment, resources, and follow through. And even if your community has tasted success, how do you replicate that magic?
In this course, you’ll learn proven approaches from the world of crowdfunding that will help you lay the groundwork for a successful community crowdfunding campaign—and for a repeatable process that you can use to create, start, finish and sustain community projects again and again, even if you decide not to crowdfund.
Bring your current challenge, or a project or initiative that you’re incubating to this interactive course. Our goal? To help you see your community and its resources differently, find the gold in your networks that could contribute to the project, and tell your story to reach people you haven’t connected with before and to more deeply engage those you have.
This course is structured in three, two-hour sessions, with a few hours of homework (and a week off!) in between. An optional open forum session wraps up the course with an opportunity for diving deeper into your questions about applying what you’ve learned. By the end, you’ll have created a new roadmap for tackling your challenges or bringing a new project into being. To make it easier for community teams to participate and learn and plan together, we offer discounted course fees to two or more people attending from the same community or region.
In this course, you will:
Understand your community and project through the lens of crowdsourcing to identify hidden resources in your community and beyond, and find out what’s missing.
Do network mapping in a way that honors how communities’ networks have changed in an era of greater mobility and technological connection.
Sift through your community’s networks to find the “gold”: specific contacts and hidden assets that could contribute to your project.
Rework and tell your story in a way that resonates with people you haven’t connected with—and more deeply engages those you have.
Use technology and personal contact to take care of your own and your community’s networks to keep them ready for sustained involvement and new initiatives.
Build systems for tracking communication and taking action that help you repeat success again and again.
Prepare a framework for a successful crowdfunding campaign.
In this course, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to learn from other participants, ask questions and get guidance specific to your project, and learn how other communities—especially small towns and rural areas—have resourced and accomplished their projects.
Who is this for?
Community & economic development organizations and agency staff • Chambers of Commerce & business alliances • Place-based & conservation organizations • Extension & community development professionals • Downtown & Main Street groups • Business owners & other community leaders • Other community groups • Community leaders (elected, appointed and self-selected)
Course Instructors
Kathleen Minogue is the founder and CEO of Crowdfund Better. She is a capital entrepreneur, crowdfunding consultant and educator who guides entrepreneurs, small businesses and social enterprises to use crowdfunding strategically to unlock the financial and creative support of their networks and to empower individuals and communities with new capital-raising tools to fund projects not supported by traditional finance.
Michele Archie is a principal of The Harbinger Consultancy. She brings 30 years of experience with community engagement and community economic development in rural communities across the West and throughout the country to this course.
Session Dates and Times
Three live 2-hour video conference sessions, every other week.
Fees & Details
Every class will be presented live and available for replay in case you need to miss a session or want to review.
Early registration $425. $525 regular course fee
Group rates for two or more participants from the same organization or community — $375/person early registration, $425 regular group rate