By Anita Gallagher / Training Lead at HIPGive
This spring, as well as completing our flagship campaign #GOMujeres, we also ran the second edition of #LenguasVivas, a campaign focussed on the revitalización of indigenous languages in Chiapas and the Yucatán Peninsula.
The results were eye-catching: during April 2024, eleven nonprofits and grassroots initiatives raised over $20,590 USD in direct contributions from 390 different individuals, mostly in their communities. When combined with the matching funds and other unique incentives as part of the campaign design by HIPGive, with the generous support of Kellogg Foundation, they will receive over $86,987 USD in total to invest in projects such as:
- Developing educational resources for schools teaching in Tsetsal, Tsotsil and Cho’ol in Chiapas
- Normalizing Mayan language and culture through animation classes for children in Tixhualactún, Yucatán
- Supporting Mayab musicians and songwriters in the Mayan speaking zone of Quintana Roo
$1,870 USD and 35 individual donors, on average, might not sound like an overwhelming success. However, context matters. Four of the participating groups are 100% grassroots initiative and a further two are nonprofits on paper, but operate at local community level. For such leaders, working tirelessly in their local community on shoestring budgets and often obtained by self-financing, these amounts are transformative, even before the additional funds unlocked in matching funds and incentives. As Didier Chan, leader of Lengua y Cultura Maya Yucateca, pointed out, “It’s difficult to receive donations when we’re not a registered nonprofit. This is why #LenguasVivas is valuable: it makes it easier for us to mobilize support for our projects and move forward, so that our languages and culture stay strong.”
Even for the other small but consolidated organizations, the impact of #LenguasVivas has been profound. Flor de Jesús from the Centro de Derechos de las Mujeres in Chiapas described their campaign as, “Creating a new experience from the unknown, striving to make the dreams and goals of communities visible, and forming a large family through donations.”
Combined with its first edition in 2023, #LenguasVivas campaign proves that crowdfunding is both a practical and effective fundraising strategy that levels the playing field: talented, passionate grassroots leaders are reaping enormous benefits not only in terms of funding, but in community building, skills and confidence.
Finally, it’s worth asking, then, what is the secret to this success? As crowdfunding has proliferated in recent years, so too have the theories questioning, indeed undermining, its role as part of nonprofits’ broader fundraising strategies.
From our perspective at HIPGive, it’s clear that the devil is in the design. Attention to detail in the setup of our collective campaigns is crucial to setting up grassroots leaders and established nonprofits for success. Key elements of #LenguasVivas included:
- Our signature “step by step” crowdfunding training. By offering in-person courses in each state, followed up by intermediate level topical sessions, we built both participant buy-in and technical skills. We introduced video storytelling as a new component, given the importance of digital content in inspiring generosity.
- A lively peer-to-peer community. Grassroots leaders are busy multitaskers. We used a Whats App group to stay in touch and offer timely advice, but any similar platform can unite leaders and generate unparalleled peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and mutual encouragement.
- A group of committed fiscal sponsors. This was crucial to accessibility, ensuring legal status was not a barrier to participation. Thanks to funding to cover the administrative costs incurred, we also avoid expensive overheads for participating organizations.
- Easy ways to give. By encouraging donations from as little as $50 mxn, providing a range of payment options from debit and credit cards, paypal and even convenience store cash payments, nonprofits’ were confident in their messaging. The ability to provide automatic tax deductible receipts, lessening the administrative burden, was also a game changer for some participants.
- Incredible incentives. When it comes to creating urgency and encouraging campaign leaders to go all out, nothing beats matching funds. More than 91% of all contributions were made on the two matching funds days, and the “Most HIPGivers” also played a key role in incentivising inclusive messaging to encourage people to give, no matter the amount.
There’s more than meets the eye to successful crowdfunding campaigns. Yet, if #LenguasVivas shows us anything, it’s that with the right support, encouragement and a well-aligned incentives, even the smallest of community initiatives can achieve their goals and grow their community of support.
Thank you to our allies in #LenguasVivas
#LenguasVivas was made possible thanks to the generous support of WKKF Foundation, to whom we owe our thanks. We also recognise Dakshina, Friends of Global Voices, Mejen T’aano’ob Pequeñas Voces and the other fiscal sponsors whose participation enabled small, grassroots organizations to take part in the campaign. Finally, we thank Maaya Kaambal and the local allies in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mérida and Felipe Carrillo Puerto for their cultural guidance and expertise.
Join us to boost the fundraising capacities of small nonprofits!
If you are interested in helping grassroots organizations build their skills in digital communications and online fundraising, get in touch. Together we can design and deliver a new collective campaign to benefit a particular group of nonprofits based on a common theme or geographic region.
