Theatre fundraising campaign

Theatres Trust is working with Crowdfunder on a campaign to raise money for theatres across the UK.

Following the success of the Save Our Venues campaign with Music Venues Trust, Crowdfunder approached us with the idea of running something similar for theatres.

A key benefit of the Crowdfunding platform is that it allows you to offer rewards (e.g. a backstage tour, merchandise) to your supporter base in return for donations. You can also encourage supporters to make their own fundraising pages to contribute to your cause and your theatre may even be eligible for additional match-funding.

Each participating theatre has its own dedicated crowdfunding page, but also benefits from being part of a wider campaign, giving it more exposure. Each theatre sets its own target, timeframe and decides  what it is raising money for. 

Save Our Theatres is supported by a national press and social media campaign, with Theatres Trust and Crowdfunder helping theatres to get the most out of the opportunity. Crowdfunder will also provide free coaching and fundraising advice to help you tap into your networks and work with your crowd to raise the money you need. 

It can run alongside any existing fundraising campaigns you have – the best way to do this will be decided in the set-up stage. Money raised offline, for example from trusts, can be added to your Crowdfunding total.

Crowdfunder has waived all its fees and is covering transaction fees for theatres who have been impacted by Covid-19. Crowdfunder covers its costs from voluntary ‘tips’ on top of donations rather than taking a percentage from the donation or charging admin costs. So 100% of what you raise will go to you to spend on what you need it for the most. 

The initial set-up has been designed to be as simple as possible so it won’t take too much time as we realise many organisations are operating with greatly reduced teams. Crowdfunder has kindly created a template project for you to follow - register your theatre with Crowdfunder. It is important to set up your campaign using this link so it will show on the overall campaign page.

Crowdfunder hosted a webinar about the campaign - rewatch it here. You can also do a free interactive course to learn more about Crowdfunder. We also have a toolkit that makes it easy to run a campaign.

If you have any other questions, please contact Justine Harvey justine.harvey@theatrestrust.org.uk