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Definition Elements
What is crowdfunding?
Une campagne de financement participatif, souvent appelé crowdfunding, consiste à faire appel à un grand nombre de personnes pour financer son projet, en échange de contreparties, qu’elles soient de l’ordre du symbole, du matériel ou de l’expérience.
Fundraising is a process through which you bring your audiences to contribute directly and financially to your media project, whether in a membership or service logic. Beyond having access to an editorial product, participatory funding methods allow readers to take a stand, assert their support, and commit to a project.
We can distinguish between two types of fundraising: campaigns with rewards and donation collection.
- The rewards-based campaign: it allows you to (pre)sell one or more editorial products/services: launching a media outlet, preselling an issue or a diversification product, etc.) in exchange for rewards created by the project creator. In this case, the dimension is service-oriented.
- Fundraising: it allows you to collect financial contributions to carry out a project. You receive one-time or monthly donations with no rewards in return. These campaigns may pursue a communication objective around a media project, and are in this case centered on the notion of support (donation logic). Audiences donate because they believe in the cause championed by the media. It's worth noting that donations are driven by a sense of community: the fundraising campaign offers no particular rewards in exchange. Additionally, donations are tax-deductible, with donors able to deduct 66% of the donation amount from their taxes.
Frequently asked questions
Where should I organize my fundraiser?
A campaign can be carried out directly on your website or on dedicated platforms such as KissKissBankBank, Ulule or Kickstarter. This choice depends on the resources (financial and human) and time you have available, as well as the strategy you wish to implement.
You can choose to launch your media on an external platform and run subscription campaigns directly on your website, like La Disparition or La Déferlante; integrate a support page on your website like Vert or create a dedicated page like StreetPress or Pays.
When should you launch your fundraiser?
- When you've built your first community : a campaign doesn't let you create a community. What it does do is engage your audience and community at a specific time. To launch your campaign, you need to have already built an initial audience (social media, email list, etc.) and have some early "fan" feedback. To move from an audience to a community, we recommend Maxime Leroy's column on our site. If you're launching your media, make sure to set up a pre-acquisition campaign beforehand.
- When anticipation is high: whether it's for the launch of your media outlet or a dedicated editorial product, you need to build momentum and generate maximum interest before you launch.
- Based on your audience's resources: whenever possible, launch your campaign when contributors receive their paycheck — at the very beginning or end of the month. Keep in mind that the campaign won't grow linearly; for example, if an important contributor or a public figure shares it with their network, you'll likely see a spike in participation.
- Based on your audience's habits: also adapt to the habits of the audiences you're targeting: will they be on vacation at that time? Will they be looking for holiday gifts? Start from the audience you're addressing.
How long does a collection take?
A campaign typically lasts between 30 and 40 days. Imagine that a campaign takes the shape of a
Note that the shorter the campaign, the more dynamic it is. Below two weeks of campaigning, it is difficult to communicate effectively and build loyalty. Above that, campaign fatigue sets in and potential contributors who tend to procrastinate will tell themselves they have time to do it later. The goal is to avoid a triple inertia: that of the project creator, the contributors, and the platform.
What objective(s) to pursue?
It is important to set financial and strategic objectives to achieve within a limited timeframe, targeting specific audiences. Keep in mind that a campaign also serves to increase media visibility: it opens a sequence of communication. Remember to define clear objectives to reach and set a budget for your campaign (cost/time spent/returns/investments).
Why launch a campaign?
The benefits of running a fundraiser are many! Strategic, financial, marketing… a fundraiser allows you to:
- Diversify your sources of financing;
- Find simple and fast financing;
- Expand your target audience and/or strengthen your connection with your community ;
- Test your project with the public and validate (or invalidate) a concept;
- Communicate by building your community on social networks.
Get started with a campaign
For subscription-based models or single-issue sales, a funding campaign can help launch a media outlet. Like La Déferlante, a feminist magazine launched in 2020 and supported by Médianes studio.
With this campaign, La Déferlante pre-sold 10,000 copies, 3,500 of which on subscription.
Why is it interesting?
La Déferlante has been able to mobilize its initial community and reach numerous media partners. The logic of pre-order campaigns is now at the heart of its model, at the release of each issue of the quarterly. In 2023, La Déferlante had more than 25,000 newsletter subscribers, nearly 8,000 magazine subscribers, and an average of 10,000 copies sold in bookstores per issue.
Note: on the occasion of La Déferlante's publishing house launch at the beginning of 2023, a pre-order campaign was set up again, this time on its website.
Run a campaign by number/vertical/editorial topic
In the case of a print magazine or journal, create a campaign for each issue, special edition, new editorial product, or vertical development (audio, publishing, etc.)
Practical case with Socialter
Socialter is a bimonthly print magazine of radical critiques and alternatives, launched in 2013, which occasionally publishes special print issues. Its economic model is notably based on the sale of subscriptions and single issues. Before distributing them to newsstands and bookstores, Socialter finances its special issues through pre-sales via a crowdfunding campaign and to launch communication.
Why is it interesting?
Socialter thus mobilizes its community base while also acquiring new readers depending on the special issue's theme and the community of the personality or personalities highlighted. Here too, the act of funding appears as a militant and committed gesture tied to possible membership in a community.
Run subscription campaigns
Whether on an external platform or directly on the media outlet's website, presale campaigns can be organized several times a year at key subscription moments (year-end holidays, new issue releases, anniversaries, or renewal dates).
Practical case with Countries
The magazine Pays, co-founded and supported by Médianes, offers event-based subscription campaigns, in addition to single-issue and bookstore sales. A way to reach a new community with each issue, to make every release an event-driven experience, while also providing concrete funding for printing and producing the issue.
A visual review of issue 4 dedicated to Mayotte, released in December 2022 with a campaign on KissKissBankBank, a launch page on the magazine's website and actions on social media and via email, plus a press relations campaign.
For its issue 5, dedicated to the Ardennes, we developed Pays our own pre-sale campaign, directly on the magazine's website. A way to create a unique and personalized experience, and to invest time in a marketing and technical environment that can now be mobilized for each campaign.
Run an awareness and customer acquisition campaign
A general-interest ecology media outlet, Vert launched in 2020 as a newsletter and relies on a donation-based economic model. In May 2022, two years after its launch, the Médianes studio helped Vert launch its first event-based fundraising campaign around the presidential election, centered on the idea of supporting the media. Readers donate because they believe in the cause championed by Vert: the environment.
Result? 32,000€ out of the 20,000€ target, or 160% of the goal. In one month, there were as many donors as in the first two years of Vert.
Why is it interesting?
Beyond the financial interest, a campaign is a major communication opportunity to reach new audiences, build brand awareness, strengthen loyalty among existing readers, and convert your readership into donors.
It's worth noting that Vert, supported by the Médianes studio, ran a fundraising campaign in spring 2023 that allowed it to test the membership model with its community, through a messaging campaign focused on regular donations. The milestone of 2,600 regular donors (members) was reached by the end of May 2023, representing 130% of the initial target (1,500).
Finance editorial content
The campaign for the ecology-focused newsletter Vert on KissKissBankBank launched in late 2022 offered a reward (posters) to ultimately build a "poster library". This crowdfunding campaign, the first of its kind for Vert, allowed it to raise over €52,000 against a target of €9,000.
Note that Vert derives another portion of its revenue from event fundraising campaigns, grants, B2B services and subscriptions (businesses, schools, etc).
Why is it interesting?
Based on a donation model, Vert proposed with this pre-sale campaign to finance a physical editorial product. A way to have a small piece of the media at home, and to become its best ambassador.
It's worth noting that a fundraising campaign can also finance a non-material editorial product with no rewards. This was the case with StreetPress in winter 2021 around the launch of FAF, a newsletter to combat far-right extremism. The campaign, supported by the Médianes studio, raised €75,000 against a target of €48,000.
Calling on its audiences to fund its media
An urban culture and investigative media outlet, StreetPress has been developing an editorial and economic model based on voluntary reader participation for 3 years. More than 6,000 people have already contributed — making donations an essential part of their revenue model. In 2022, donations accounted for 23% of the media's revenue (€138,000)
In November 2022, StreetPress, working with the Médianes studio, launched a fundraising campaign and called on its readers for support to fund its value proposition: "€80,000 to fund a media outlet on a pay-what-you-want basis". Each message was built around a key argument (the benefit of donating). At the same time, the media outlet published content (FAQ video, manifesto article) to explain its approach.
Result? Over 100,000€ collected, or 125% of the initial target.
Test your project and fund an issue zero
It's often overlooked, but a fundraising campaign is like a test with your potential audience. Alpha, beta test, and launch campaign—on our site, we tell you about those media outlets that managed to launch well prepared.
Like the newsletter media Brief.me, you can use crowdfunding as a way to launch and beta-test your project. In 2014, the media convinced more than 800 people to co-create the editorial product alongside them. In 2022, Brief.me has several newsletters (General, Economics, Science) and 12,000 subscribers.
In December 2021, Brief.me launched another funding and beta-testing campaign to create its new newsletter dedicated to science news.
How to launch your campaign?
We recommend referring to our dedicated practical guide on the subject. Steps to take, case studies, educational resources… You'll have everything you need to get started with the actual implementation of your fundraising campaign.
To go further
A few resources to explore the topic of crowdfunding
About giving
- Interview with Agnès Rousseaux, director of Politis in Reporterre.
- Podcast Chemins (Médianes): How do you launch a media outlet based on donations? Interview with Hervé Kempf, founder of Reporterre.
On presale campaigns
- Margaux Vulliet, Médianes, experience feedback from the launch of La Déferlante.
- Margaux Vulliet, Médianes, Crowdfunding: "A successful campaign starts with a viable and well-developed project".
On testing logic
- Margaux Vulliet, Médianes, Testing your project: beta-testing, the example of Brief.me
- Margaux Vulliet, Médianes, Testing your project: engaging your community, the example of Others
On audience and community engagement
- Maxime Leroy for Médianes, Moving from an audience to a community
- Nieman Lab, Audience engagement ≠ community engagement
- Podcast Chemins (Médianes): Understanding the concept of community, Interview with Manon Boquen, founder of Pays
On converting and retaining audiences
- American Press Institute, 31 effective subscriber retention ideas to steal (in English)
- American Press Institute, 9 subscriber retention strategies (in English).
