Crowdfunding to Support Your Racing
OpenFender has a number of tools to help you raise money for your racing:
- Boosts for your fans to congratulate you for a great performance, to show appreciation or just to give some support. It’s the quick way to engage.
- Crowdfunding for specific goals, events or larger ticket items.
- Sponsorships for selling space on your ride, your racewear, shoutouts, appearances and anything you are doing in exchange for showcasing a brand.
OpenFender will also have a marketplace to sell and trade your products and gear, but that is coming soon.
For now let’s focus on Crowdfunding. Specifically, how do you do Crowdfunding right?
Like any good plan, your crowdfunding plan has the best chance of success if you make it specific, bold, and realistic. When you’re asking others to join you or support you in your endeavor, like when you’re asking for funding, you need to make it relevant and you need it to resonate with them.
- Specific - You need to know exactly what you’re raising money for. “Racing” or “Travel is too vague. Try one aspect: Travel to a specific race (see Tati’s success story), entrace fees for a series, tires, etc.
- Bold - Your supporters want to see you succeed and the best kind of success is big success. Be a bit audacious and have the confidence you can make it. Crowdfunding for should be big and it success in reaching it should require help from the community
- Realistic - Bold is important, but realistic is too. Your supporters want to see that you’re ambitious, but it will be hard to get behind a goal that is unattainable. If this is your first year in MX, raising money for your Supercross debut is probably not within reach this year.. However, looking for support for a series of races that put you in the top half of the field might be. Raising money for a European GT it not going to have the same grass roots support as a new Karting frame.
- Relevant - Are you connected with your supporters? Do they like you? Are you racing in events they watch? All of these things are important and increase your odds of funding. The bridge club at the senior center may not be your best audience for your MX crowdfunding (unless your grandmother is there or somehow you found the dirt-riders old folks home). Your racing is relevant to fans of that type of racing. You are relevant to your friends and family. Become relevant by engaging with others’ in their interests.
- Resonate - Make your success contagious. Make your supporters part of your team by keeping them engaged and thanking them for their support. Include them in your journey with regular updates about your success and even with your challenges. When others see their role in your wins, they will be more likely to fund you.
When your goals are specified and you’ve built your crowdfunding request the real work - the networking - begins. You can’t expect people to search for ways to fund you, You have to bring it to them. Visibility, consistent updates and reminders, and giving thanks are key.
- Post your crowdfunding campaign to your social media and don’t be shy about it. Put it on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, Twitter, your email signatures and anywhere you engage with potential supporters
- Repost every few days or every week with updates about your goal, why you have this goal and how close you are to achieving it. People may need to see others get on board before they add to the support. They may need to know you’re serious and you take your racing seriously. They may just need another nudge.
- Thank those who fund you. Do it both privately and publicly. Use the shout-outs as updates and reminders.
Be enthusiastic and be excited. Supporters like this with their heroes and are more likely to get on board with those who seem to be having fun.
