Each year, the Unreasonable Institute gathers 25 entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental problems from every corner of the world in Boulder, Colorado. There, they live under the same roof for six weeks, learning from mentors like the former Managing Director of Investments of Google.org and an entrepreneur who’s brought 19 million farmers out of poverty. In order to be accepted to the Unreasonable Institute, finalist candidates are challenged to raise the it costs to attend the Unreasonable Institute ($10,000 for 2012) in small contributions on the Unreasonable Marketplace. These are tips from 2010 Fellow Maria Springer who set the record (nearly 300) for most supporters in the first two years of the Unreasonable Marketplace.  She helped 2011 Fellow Cynthia Koenig, who has then added to this amazing resource as well! 

LivelyHoods’ Unreasonable Strategy for Success

1. BELIEVE and ENGAGE EVERYONE: Engage everyone you know. Don’t be embarrassed to ask for support. If you believe, they will believe. If you don’t believe, you will be embarrassed to ask.

2.   WHO IS EVERYONE?

• Beneficiaries of your programs!!! (for me, it was easy to make an ask to Americans when I could say “4 street youth donated more than the average daily salary of Kenyans last week. What can you do?”)
• Mentors
• Boardmembers
• Local entrepreneurs & businesses
• Advisors
• Family
• Friends
• Book club members
• Neighbors
• Church groups
• Your old elementary school, high school, university, etc.
• Your favorite college professors
• Twitter followers
• Facebook friends
• Volunteers
• Co-workers
• Any “villages” to which you belong. Example: StartingBloc, Alumni Networks, other NGO’s, social business ‘Friends’!

3.    SOME THINGS YOU SHOULD “ASK” FOR:

• Sponsorship on the Unreasonable Marketplace
• Getting supporters to commit to finding you sponsors for the Unreasonable Marketplace. I had all my closest supporters commit to getting $10.00 from 10 other sponsors. Not all of them were able to, but the commitment was there.
• Getting supporters to donate their facebook statuses & tweets
• Getting supporters to email, text & call their friends, family, co-workers & everyone they know!
• Getting supporters to hang a flyer in their workplace!

4.    Get your supporters to feel ownership. I made this a “race.”

• Make them feel the urgency.
• Ask them for their “advice” and “strategy.” We found that the individuals that we reached out to before the race even kicked off donated with a 100% success rate. Getting them involved before you make the “ask” for $ is HUGE! And, we got a lot of great ideas this way also!
• Make them part of the team.
• Send out “campaign kick-off” emails and “race to the finish” emails. Make this fun! My supporters became addicted to checking our progress and while that also entails email after email, it means you are in this with your team! (Cynthia says: “One email isn’t enough – send out a pre-marketplace email + regular updates. I was surprised to hear from people later that they loved getting the updates!”)

5.    Social Media Marketing. Social Media marketing is difficult and requires engagement, collaboration and conversation. Bombarding your followers only with what you are doing won’t work. You have to build trust with your social media networks and get them excited to help you! Likewise, you have to be genuinely excited to help them achieve their dreams! (Cynthia says: “Social media is a great way to get supporters / well-wishers involved – the marketplace was one of my first forays into social media, and it led to great exposure. Also – people LOVE to help! This is a great way to get new supporters involved  / engaged.”)

• Use Twitter
• Use Facebook
• Use Flickr
• Use Tumblr – here you can check out our “race to the finish”
• Use Ning
• Cynthia says: “Causevox is something I’ve come across recently – haven’t used it, but it looks like a great way to run an online campaign!”

6.    Make a Video if possible. I had a volunteer make our video in 2 hours! He was a genius, and I’m not going to lie, being based in Los Angeles helps a lot! MUSIC AND WORDS – anyone can make a video!

7.    Use email marketing. Using a service like Constant Contact, or iContact are key. Because you have to pay for an account, I gave my email list to someone who I knew that had an account. There are ways to work the system.  (Cynthia says: ”Agree! I use mail chimp which is free for lists below a certain size.”)

8.    Don’t be afraid of the almighty power of canvassing. My interns and I bought clipboards, made t-shirts and wrote a script in case we had to take to canvassing. We didn’t have to do it, but our plan was to work outside a local Coffee Bean where they have free wireless internet. We talked to the manager and she was agreed to let us canvass and have people register for the Unreasonable Institute on the laptop we were to bring to the store. (Cynthia says: “I was in grad school at the time, and did something similar: pitched wello in a few classes (this was a great way to get sponsors, people who were fanatic about spreading the word, as well as ideas to help raise more $)”)

9.    Send out “behind the scenes emails” to your VIPs. When there was a bug with the Unreasonable website, or when we wanted to discuss strategy, we sent out emails to our “VIPS.” They are now our biggest advocates and supporters.

10. Make prizes. We are sending a homemade company t-shirt to all of our supporters who donated more $50.00 and/or more. We bought the t-shirts for 99 cents each, and bought iron-on t-shirt paper from a local office supply store. Each t-shirt ended up costing us around $1.25.

11.Try and use the Unreasonable Marketplace race as an opportunity to do speaking engagements. This past week, I presented our company and the Unreasonable Marketplace to 150 StartingBloc fellows for 8 minutes and received tons of support! In fact, if it weren’t for that opportunity, I wouldn’t have finished the race so quickly!

Some more of Cynthia of Wello on her experience:

First, I second everything Maria has said above! She sent this guide to me when Wello was on the marketplace, and her experience was a huge help!

12. Plan. In retrospect, the main thing I would have done differently was: more preparation! If you have the time now (I know, you don’t have the time… make the time!), start making a plan, prepare your mailing lists, start planning events, doing press outreach… I didn’t do any of this, and by week 2 was waaay behind the fundraising leaders. In theory, it sounds like you have a long time to raise the $10K, but it goes by quickly!

13. Strategize. Get pledges early on + follow up on them when the marketplace opens (remember, you start with small amounts, which get bigger each week… pledges are a good way to get commitments for larger donations).

14. Publicize. Think of this as an opportunity to introduce your work to new people – hold an event (or a virtual FB event) at a bar / restaurant / coffee shop + ask for a $5 donation to attend, set up a computer + ask people to email their friends on the spot, hold a raffle! Make it fun. The marketplace is a great way to get press for your venture: prepare draft blog posts + news articles announcing that you are an unreasonable marketplace finalist, and circulate it to blogs you follow, your local newspaper, alumni magazine, etc. Don’t forget to ask readers for their support! For example: Wello was featured in an article in the U of Michigan business school magazine, as well as on the University’s home page – had this happened BEFORE the last week of the marketplace, it could have had an even bigger impact… so again, planning is key! Keep in mind that news articles require some lead time.

15. Make it easy for people to support you. Everyone likes templates. In addition to drafting blog posts + articles, make up facebook + twitter templates, and draft email templates.

An Unreasonable Call to Action

There are many amazing ventures on the Unreasonable Marketplace.  Many have no access to the internet, many don’t own a computer, many come from very humble families with very limited means but these are people working on solutions that will make the world a better place and shape the course of history! All they need is someone to believe in them enough and invest in them to enable them attend the Unreasonable Institute and be able to benefit from world-class mentors and network with potential investors. Please give high impact entrepreneurs wings by supporting these amazing Finalists on the Unreasonable Marketplace!

Step 1: Find the right people/reporters/bloggers

• Use Google reader and search for articles related to your business or your industry on the web to find potential people to write about you.
• Look at competitor’s and similar companies’ websites to see their publicized media and contact similar or those same resources (for example, when I was looking for people to write about Unreasonable in the early days, I looked for reporters who had written about social entrepreneur conferences because I knew they would care about what we were doing)
• Don’t pass someone up because you think they don’t write for a big enough publication.  No person or media source is too small to email – they could all be connected to bigger blogs/newspapers/magazines. Many people write for multiple publications.  Plus, who knows, you could be their breakthrough story!
• Here are some tips to find their email addresses, which are usually not openly shared
1. Search and find their personal blog, Facebook, Linked and see if their email is there (may times it is!)
2. Find the email of someone at their company. If you know a teammates email, you can sometimes guess the format of their email (ie: everyone at Unreasonable is name@unreasonableinstitute.org. If we hired a new employee named John, can you guess what their email address would be?  Similar patterns exist at other companies.)
• Give them 1-3 weeks to write the article

Step 2: Get them to care enough to write about you

• Make the email you send them personal. Don’t do generic or blast emails to media sources.  Treat these people as what they are: people! (not as an email address)
• Give the email a catchy headline (imagine they get 100 emails a day, make them open yours by making it worth grabbing their attention)
• At the beginning of your email, relate to their interests or a past article the wrote to let them know “why you are contacting them”
• Do not say everything in the initial email. Don’t pitch your whole company. The point of the initial email is to get them excited to follow up with you. When they follow up, that is when you can say more.
• Give them an exciting reason to care about reading on right in the beginning (“There is a challenge given to 46 Unreasonable entrepreneurs around the world who are using business to tackle the worlds greatest problems to raise money to attend the Unreasonable Institute in Colorado, USA!”
• Similarly, your company is not the story that they will most likely be excited about. Your company + the challenge on the marketplace is a more exciting story and more likely to get picked up (at least I think).
• Its nice to include a catchy picture in the email, but you certainly don’t have to.
• Refer to their readers throughout the email. Their job is to produce things that readers will want to read (this is how they get paid), so make sure to focus on their readers.
• I have never gotten far by simply including a press release on first email. Press releases are not 100% necessary in the first email in my opinion.
• Follow up with them if they don’t respond in 5-7 days. We call this a “gentle nudge”, or a reminder to them they you care about them writing the article, not just anyone out in the world.
• After you send the initial email, feel free to bring in a press release or interviews with other teammates if it helps.

Step 3: Make it worth it for them!

• Send thank you’s after they write it! They did you a huge favor!
• Drive traffic to their posts (spread it on social media, comments, etc). This will help give you good will for when you contact them again.

Each year, the Unreasonable Institute gathers 25 entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental problems from every corner of the world in Boulder, Colorado. There, they live under the same roof for six weeks, learning from mentors like the former Managing Director of Investments of Google.org and an entrepreneur who’s brought 19 million farmers out of poverty. In order to be accepted to the Unreasonable Institute, finalist candidates are challenged to raise the it costs to attend the Unreasonable Institute ($10,000 for 2012) in small contributions on the Unreasonable Marketplace. This is the story of 2011 Unreasonable Fellow Moses Sanga of the Eco Fuel Africa team from Uganda who raised their funds against all odds.

An Uphill Battle

When I first heard that to be accepted to the Unreasonable Institute I had to raise thousands of dollars through credit card contributions over an internet based Unreasonable Marketplace, my first reaction was that this is unfair!  I remember thinking: “How do these people expect a guy like me from a remote village in Africa, with no rich friends or relatives and with limited access to the internet to raise thousands of dollars.”

Honestly, I didn’t know anyone with a credit card. No one in my entire village knew even what a credit card is and to make matters worse, the nearest place to access internet was 17 kilometers away.  I remember telling my father about the Marketplace and the rules of the game and he advised me not to even waste my time. Everyone I talked to said that this was impossible but somehow I refused to accept.

I knew that I could surprise myself and the world if I only tried and oh yes, I did. I walked the 17 kilometers, talked to everyone I could and somehow the entire world conspired to help me and the rest is history. I raised the funds and become an Unreasonable Institute Fellow, 2011.

The Strategy: Sharing My Honest, Personal Story

My strategy was simple. I simply shared my honest life story on the Marketplace and talked to everyone. People supported me when they heard my story!

Internationally, one person read it and he was touched. He told a friend and the friend told another friend. Before I knew it, I had many supporters around the world. These were people I had never met!

Locally, I talked to all potential funders, both friends and strangers. Of course the local funders had no credit cards but they gave me cash contributions. I visited many CEOs of local companies in Uganda. 3 of them were touched by my story and impressed by my passion and drive and they gave me $1000 each. This contribution made all the difference! I tried to appeal to both local and international potential funders and this helped.

My advice to all the finalists is that you should be original. Tell your personal stories. Let the world know why you’re so passionate about this problem that you’re willing to risk your life to solve it. Take this as an opportunity to share your passion and commitment to solve the problem you’re working on. You will be surprised to know that many people around the world also care about the same problem and these are the people who will support you in the Marketplace.

Best of Luck, and Never Give Up

It won’t be easy but it’s not impossible. You can do it! If I could do it everyone can! This is an opportunity of a lifetime. Attending the Unreasonable Institute has changed my life. Don’t allow any obstacle to stop you! This is an opportunity you shouldn’t waste. Do everything within your means to succeed and we are here to help you. You only need to convince us that you’re the best option among the many! I wish all the Finalists good luck.

An Unreasonable Call to Action

There are many amazing ventures on the Unreasonable Marketplace who are challenged by hurdles far larger than ours. Many have no access to the internet, many don’t own a computer, many come from very humble families with very limited means but these are people working on solutions that will make the world a better place and shape the course of history! All they need is someone like me and you to believe in them enough and invest in them to enable them attend the Unreasonable Institute and be able to benefit from world-class mentors and network with potential investors. Attending the Unreasonable Institute has changed my life. Please join us in our campaign to give high impact entrepreneurs wings by supporting these amazing Finalists on the Unreasonable Marketplace!

Read more about the work of 2011 Unreasonable Fellow Moses Sanga and his team at Eco-Fuel Africa on the Unreasonable Network!

Each year, the Unreasonable Institute gathers 25 entrepreneurs tackling social and environmental problems from every corner of the world in Boulder, Colorado. There, they live under the same roof for six weeks, learning from mentors like the former Managing Director of Investments of Google.org and an entrepreneur who’s brought 19 million farmers out of poverty. In order to be accepted to the Unreasonable Institute, finalist candidates are challenged to raise the it costs to attend the Unreasonable Institute ($10,000 for 2012) in small contributions on the Unreasonable Marketplace. This is the story of the One Earth Designs team, who raised their funds from 132 people in a record 22 days.

The Challenge

Every year, the Unreasonable Institute chooses 40-50 start-ups from hundreds of applicants around the world. In 2011 each finalist venture needed to raise $8,000 (in 2012 it is $10,000) through crowdsourcing and only the first 25 to do it attend the Institute.

The Organization That Did It First

One Earth Designs (OED) broke the Unreasonable Institute’s crowdsourcing record by raising the needed funds in just 22 days. OED works with rural Himalayan communities to incubate local innovation and entrepreneurship. We engage directly with villagers to co-design products and services such as clean decentralized energy generation and rural waste management programs.

The Strategy

In the beginning, we made lists. We wrote out names of friends, Tweeters, neighbors, and dignitaries and made projections about how much each group was likely to contribute. We reached out to our most ardent supporters first, getting them on board with the challenge we were facing and asking for their advice in crafting our message.

We strategically recruited friends and family from four different continents to serve as outreach hubs and shared marketing materials with them via Dropbox, a fantastic file sharing and syncing system. Our lifestyle of building friendships wherever we go and of being supportive of others’ work meant that our networks were full of individuals who were go-to people for information and guidance within their communities. As a result, news about our work and the Unreasonable Institute spread rapidly on an international scale.

Implementation

Our staff spent approximately 200 hours campaigning and our hub supporters spent countless more. Collectively, we sent around 1,500 emails and hundreds of Facebook and Twitter messages. We used HootSuite to automatically push tweets out around the clock while we either slept or worked on OED in parallel. All in all, we reached over 2,000 people and perhaps more through our extended networks!

Our initial estimates indicated that 90% of our supporters would only be able to contribute up to $50. During the first 2-weeks of our campaign, we focused on galvanizing this group using LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. In the last week of our campaign, we relied more heavily on personal emails and phone calls to donors we felt might contribute $100-$500.

Results & Lessons

The majority of the traffic to our Marketplace page came from Facebook. However, all of our serial supporters and larger donations were recruited through personal emails and phone calls. Our peak Twitter readership periods were between 12:00-14:00 both on the East Coast of the US and across Asia.

We had 168 total donations and 132 unique donors. As it turned out, 86% of our supporters contributed $1-$50. We raised $3,056 from these supporters. A small group of donors (both new and long-term) contributed $100-$500, summing to $4,944.

We raised 54% of the Marketplace funds in the first 21 days. During the 3rd week, however, we experienced a technical glitch that prevented part of our donor network from receiving our emails. Within 24 hours of fixing the problem (on Day 22), we received the remaining $3,650 we needed to complete the challenge. The power of email is still alive and well in today’s social media-dominated world!

An Unreasonable Call to Action

There are many amazing ventures on the Unreasonable Marketplace who are challenged by hurdles far larger than ours. One traveled 17km to access the Internet to raise the funds. Another Fellow collected cash donations door-to-door because no one around owned a credit card. Join us in supporting these finalists to attend the Unreasonable Institute by mobilizing your networks and giving these entrepreneurs wings on the Unreasonable Marketplace!

Read more about the work of 2011 Unreasonable Fellow Scot Frank and the One Earth Design team on the Unreasonable Network!