Make no mistake about it: No matter how noble your cause, asking people for money is hard.
Sally Taylor, who ran a nonprofit, was used to making in-person asks for money from a small group of people she knew. Asking a crowd was a whole other story.
The fact that her parents are the musicians, James Taylor and Carly Simon, made it even more difficult. With wealthy family members, some people questioned whether Taylor had the right to ask for money beyond her inner circle. The attacks made her feel vulnerable. But, crowdfunding is more than just the money it helps you raise, it builds a community of supporters who not only believe in what you’re doing, but are willing to help you spread the word about your cause.
Taylor wants to put an end to all the strife in the world and she wanted to use more than one aspect of creativity to do so. As the inspiration for her project, she used the fable about six blind men who come across an elephant. Because each blind man is touching a different part of the elephant, each has a very different idea of what an elephant is. The elephant’s leg was thought to be a pillar, the tail a rope, the trunk a tree branch, the ear a hand fan, the belly a wall, and the tusk a spear. A king comes across the arguing men. The wise king has them collaborate and communicate to understand the larger nature of the animal.
Taylor created her own “elephant” by collecting 22 photographs of different aspects of the same thing. She asked musicians to each write a song about one photograph. The song was interpreted by a dancer, the dance by a poet, the poem by a painter, the painting by a perfumer, the perfume by a sculptor. You get the idea: All the senses were represented. In all, 130 artists from 23 countries contributed. Some are well known, such as musician Jimmy Buffett, film director Wes Craven, music producer and performer John Forte, dancer Patrick Corbin, prize-winning author and screenwriter Susan Minot, and, of course, members of her family.
The project is called Consenses: A multidiciplianry adventure in the pursuit of peace and global tolerance. Now it’s time to take Consenses on the road to demonstrate how art can change the world by teaching equality of perception and to build a community of people who believe in this philosophy and want to share it with others. Money raised will be used to build an exhibit and take it on tour, build an interactive global website, and develop a curriculum for schools.
As a nonprofit fundraiser, Taylor had put together events that were over in a day. Crowdfunding requires constant asking over a prolonged period of time. This was emotionally exhausting and out of her wheelhouse. With the help of Ariel Hyatt, Cyber PR, a social media crowdfunding expert and author of the soon to be released book Crowdstart -- On Fans, Fears and Crowdfunding: A Step-by-Step Guide to Kickstart Your Dream, Taylor grew her social media following and got past her reluctance to ask people she barely knew -- or didn’t know at all -- for money. After all, this was for a very good cause.
Taylor’s crowdfunding campaign has raised $100,000, two-thirds of the money she needs. Even though the crowdfunding campaign is over, there is still time to donate.
What fears do you have overcome before undertaking a crowdfunding campaign?
