Annexes: Examples from TDR open call* for crowdfunding finalists
*TDR Global organized a crowdsourcing contest to solicit research proposals from LMIC researchers and then provided training and mentorship to selected finalists to build capacity for crowdfunding. A total of 121 researchers from 37 countries submitted proposals to the challenge contest. Five finalists were identified, matched with 10 TDR Global mentors, and were given public engagement training to prepare them for crowdfunding.
1. Zika campaign in Thailand
Title
Modeling Zika virus transmission from mother to child using uterine mini-organs - Dr Teerawat Wiwatpanit
Purpose of the campaign
To raise initial funds for a cell culture platform in order to study mother-to-child transmission of Zika virus
Pre-campaign activities
Prior to attending the capacity-building workshop on crowdfunding for researchers hosted by TDR Global, I created social media accounts (for example, Twitter) in order to engage online networks. I also started engaging with well-known scientists in the field (namely mosquito-borne infections, tissue engineering, female reproductive science), my former colleagues, advisors from Ph.D. programmes and related journals.
Once I had created my base of followers, I started posting updates on the TDR Global crowdfunding challenge contest, the workshop and preparations for crowdfunding pitches. I created a blog (https://busymosquitoes.blogspot.com/) to showcase our lab, experiments and introductions to crowdfunding for scientific research. My research team published contents on this website at least once a week. At the end of each post, I always included a small paragraph reminding the readers about our upcoming crowdfunding campaign.
After the capacity building workshop with TDR Global, I contacted my institution’s public relations office to update them on the crowdfunding campaign. I also asked for their help in filming the video pitch for the campaign and they connected me with their camera crew.
After preparing substantial pre-campaign materials, I started reaching out to my friends, family members, current and former colleagues to inform them about the upcoming crowdfunding campaign.
During campaign activities
Once the campaign was launched, I remained very active both on my social media accounts and the campaign page. Then, I compiled a mailing list of potential donors (friends, family members, colleagues and alumni networks from my US high school, college and Ph.D. programmes).
On the launch day, I sent them an email to introduce the crowdfunding campaign. I posted once or twice a day on Twitter to advertise the campaign and asked for pledges. I updated the campaign website a couple of times a week (under “Labnotes” section on the website), which then was shared on all my social media accounts. In order to attract more attention, I created a TikTok account and posted funny short clips about our work―how we set up experiments, how we prepared samples for the microscope and shared pictures of our 1-ft tall mosquito model in the lab.
These types of contents were also well-received on Twitter and Facebook. I also reached out to my social media influencer and blogger friends to share my campaign page. They agreed to post about our crowdfunding page and even made their followers share it until it showed up exclusively on the Facebook account reaching over 2 million followers. This one post helped us raise a significant amount of funds overnight. Communications were handled depending on the type of audience. For those on the mailing list, more official messages were sent than with other social media outlets. The email would include a weekly update on the campaign (number of donors and how many pledges collected) and lab updates.
In addition to the online strategies, our institution’s public relations team connected me with the local news stations for interviews. We realized that a lot of people wanted to help but were not comfortable giving out their credit card information online, did not own a credit card or readily had access to the Internet.
Therefore, we set up a booth to collect pledges and cash donations at events in various on-site locations including farmers’ markets and science conferences (during the pre-pandemic phase) that contributed to a big portion of the raised funds.
Post campaign activities
After the campaign was successful, I reached out to my audiences on social media and mailing list to share the good news and thank them for their support. I remained relatively active on my academic social media accounts as well as on the campaign page (Experiment.com) that allows you to keep your campaign page active even after the campaign is over and use it to connect with your donors. I continue to post updates on my research progress but not as frequently as during the campaign.
Monetary support
Within the 45-day campaign period, the goal was to raise $8,000. We received a total of $8,180 from a total of 130 donors. The average fund pledged was $62.
Non-monetary support
We received support from the institution’s public relations team for filming and editing of the final video pitch. We also received help from the public relations team to identify local news outlets for interviews and in-person events to showcase the crowdfunding project. In-person events provided an opportunity for on-site donations.
2. Leishmaniasis campaign in Sri Lanka
Title
Community-based Leishmaniasis Research in Sri Lanka - Dr Asha Wijegunawardana
Purpose of the campaign
To monitor and control leishmaniasis using the Mobile Vector Surveillance Unit (MVSU)
Pre-campaign activities
I learned about crowdfunding projects and gathered information to incorporate into my campaign. Then I built a campaign team, including three students, two interns, five colleagues from my institution, and five members from other relevant government institutions. As a result, I collaborated with colleagues in my workplace and relevant government agencies, such as the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) in Anuradhapura and the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) in Madawachchiya.
Once I established my team, I invited them to the project campaign website to pitch videos. Before the campaign began, we benefited from the monthly working group organized by TDR Global. This created a community around our crowdfunding project concept and helped expand our list of potential stakeholders. We received support from our university and student volunteers. We also interviewed patients who had leishmaniasis in the past in order to inform the video pitch. With the help of our TDR Global mentor with expertise in communications, we drafted a campaign page. Comments and recommendations from other mentors increased the scientific rigor of the proposed study.
Applications were submitted to the institutional approval committees for both ethical (Ethical Review Committee (ERC)) and budgetary (Finance Committee) permissions. We created lists of potential backers and networks. We classified personal networks into three types: (a) friends and family; (b) collaborators; (c) alumni and others. We solicited contact information of influential people interested in our idea while preparing for our launch in order to expand our network.
Furthermore, we collected email contacts from several sources: events, social media and in-person contacts and engaged with them to promote our campaign on various online and offline media platforms.
During campaign activities
We built outreach lists, designed templates, and created an email schedule for two separate groups. One group of friends and family received emails every five days. One group of alumni and others received emails every two weeks. Our mailing list contacts actively contributed and spread the word about our campaign. Additionally, Sri Lankan embassies in Italy and Austria helped spread the crowdfunding campaign news among the Sri Lankan groups residing in these countries. Since the main goal was to keep the campaign’s momentum going, we kept sending news, trends and other pertinent updates to supporters throughout the campaign. We also sent a weekly update email on the amount donated, the number of existing supporters and the progress of our activities. Other activities such as post, remark, remind, share, like, pin in social media were also made possible by the crowdfunding platform, which was constantly monitored for timely response.
Post campaign activities
After the campaign was over, all funders were thanked and notified on the project’s development through email. Furthermore, the immediate updates on the progress were uploaded on the crowdfunding campaign page. For example, the news on the special research collaborations fostered as a result of the campaign was formalized with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding. This news was published on the campaign’s main website for reference.
Monetary support
Within the 45-day campaign period, the goal was to raise US$ 5,650. We were thrilled to receive a lot of generous support such that we were able to exceed our funding goal. The project received 128% funding. The total funds received via the campaign platform from 93 supporters was US$ 7,244. The average fund pledged was US$ 78.
Non-monetary support
We received support from TDR Global as part of the initial capacity building workshop in Geneva. We also received feedback on the written pitch and video pitch from the TDR Global and other mentors.
Several undergraduate students and media specialists graciously donated their time. Two colleagues supported translations of the campaign into German, French, and Spanish and embedded subtitles into the video. The host institution, Rajarata University, helped to create and edit the video. My research team members within and outside the university played important roles to support the project.
3. Schistosomiasis Campaign in Nigeria
Title
Community-based interventions to control urogenital chistosomiasis in Dam communities in Kano State, Nigeria - Mahmud Ali Umar
Purpose of the campaign
To finance implementation research on urogenital chistosomiasis to reduce the disease burden and interrupt transmission in rural dam communities.
Pre-campaign activities
It all began after the TDR open call for the crowdfunding challenge contest and following my selection as finalist to attend a capacity-building training workshop on crowdfunding and public engagement. Upon receipt of instructions from TDR Global to make video and written pitches, I prepared the first draft with help from two TDR Global mentors. I learned the art and science of public engagement as a sine qua non for successful crowdfunding.
After the workshop, I shared the experience with colleagues at a special faculty seminar organized on 30th January, 2020, to celebrate the first World NTD Day. A multidisciplinary research team was formed with members drawn from nine different institutions. We visited community leaders, engaged the public, and mobilized beneficiary communities. We revise the written and video pitches upon receipt of feedback from TDR Global working group members. My team created video subtitles in the local language.
We received ethical approvals from the institution review board (IRB) and Health Research Ethics Committee of the Kano State Ministry of Health. We received permission to use TDR Global logo in crowdfunding campaign materials.
I prepared an email list of potential project backers. I uploaded campaign materials onto an online research crowdfunding platform and developed a timeline for the in-person campaign. We developed a detailed schedule and action plan for the campaign. The plan had specific strategies for reaching academic groups, traditional/village groups, political groups, public sector institutions, religious institutions, and civil society organizations.
During campaign activities
On the launch day, I sent an email message to potential backers and embarked on social media campaign with attached campaign flyer. Every 2 to 3 days, I posted a message on Facebook and WhatsApp. We conducted public lectures as part of campaign promotions. With the help of communications experts in the TDR Global community, a social media campaign card was prepared and shared via TDR LinkedIn and twitter handles.
We conducted a community radio campaign in which Rahma Radio and Freedom Radio supported us to describe the project on live radio programmes without fees. Our campaign t-shirts attracted attention during community mobilization. For example, a university student contacted the team with symptoms of Schistosomiasis and was referred to a urologist who is a member of the research team.
We paid advocacy visits to diverse stakeholders, including civil society organizations such as Kano CBO Forum and Kano Network of NGOs who helped in promoting the campaign. International professional associations such as CORE GROUP and Global Schistosomiasis Alliance (GSA) promoted the campaign. Updates were posted on the campaign page regularly.
Post campaign activities
As the campaign ended, we had a ‘thank you’ radio program and expressed our appreciation to the project backers. We used local language in communication to reach out to the target audience. We organized a project launch ceremony in partnership with the host institution. Three outstanding donors received plaques. Other project supporters received certificates of recognition. Foreign project backers received their certificates by email or WhatsApp. Crowdfunding campaign findings were presented at the Parasitology and Public Health Society of Nigeria (PPSN) 2021 Conference in Abuja.
Monetary support
The 45-day campaign period ended with a tremendous success, reaching 117% of the initial goal. The initial target was USD 9,485 and we received USD 11,122. Bulk of the donations was generated in-person from the three robust champions, the 440-strong Congress of the Academic Staff, ASUU-KUST, Management of the host institution, and the Accountant General of the Federation, Alhaji Ahmed Idris.
Non-monetary support
We received moral and political support from all categories of stakeholders, including people from traditional, political and religious institutions, as well as family, friends and colleagues. We were overwhelmed by the support from the academic staff and the Management of KUST Wudil, the host institution, the technical support from the Ministries of Health and Environment, Kano State.
Of special note is the support from the members of our Schistosomiasis Research Team.
