Floyd’s Jacksonville Center for the Arts is about to explore unmapped territory. The nonprofit arts center is ready to launch a crowdfunding program to raise money to meet a variety of needs including the bedrock of an endowment.
“We’ve heard of crowdfunding campaigns among start-ups and small businesses,” says Lee Chichester, Marketing Coordinator for the organization. “But I didn’t realize there were programs and options designed especially for nonprofits.”
Crowdfunding is the act of pooling small contributions from a large group of people who want to help an idea become a product, or an arts organization to take its effort to the next level. While most have heard of Kickstarter as a crowdfunding platform, Jax representatives have chosen Indiegogo (indiegogo.com), an open and global crowdfunding platform where anyone, anywhere, can raise money for anything — whether creative, entrepreneurial, or cause-related.”
“Our path to Indiegogo began with a beautiful hand-made guitar donated to The Jax by a generous local luthier,” said Sally Rugaber, among the board of directors members for The Jacksonville Center. “The intent of the gift has always been for us to convert that guitar into a substantial donation that recognizes its value. Auctions and raffles just didn’t seem like the way to go.”
“A young member of The Jax approached us with an idea,” recalls Linda Fallon, President of the board. “What if we created a crowdfunding campaign built around the guitar as one of the perks to be given as a ‘thank you’ for a substantial level of investment? She introduced us to Indiegogo, and we began planning our approach.”
This effort comes on the cusp of The Jacksonville Center’s 20th Anniversary. It is being described as a campaign to “take our service reach to the next level.” Paired with the facility improvement and expansion grant funds recently awarded (with construction to commence this summer and finish this fall) the Indiegogo campaign will add equipment, staff training, and further infrastructure enhancements, in addition to the endowment.
Additionally, the campaign is seen as a marketing effort. It will not only introduce Floyd’s Jacksonville Center to a wider audience, but also stretch awareness of the artists and craftspeople who have donated perks to the campaign. “Most of our sixty-some contributors (artists, businesses, and Jax members) work and live in the Floyd area. But we’ve also gotten generous donations from other parts of Virginia, North Carolina — even Seattle!” says Rugaber. “I haven’t seen any other Indiegogo campaign that has so many unique, hand-made perks. We are really excited about the generosity of our supporters and these ‘thank-yous’ that will encourage investors to pledge to our campaign.”
The group anticipates the “go live” launch within the next two weeks. The entire campaign will last for 45 days. There will be further information about the exact website address to find the campaign, and links to share among friends at The Center’s website: jacksonvillecenter.org
