Shining a spotlight on Jes Bailey crowdfunding champion and founder, CEO of Crowdfund 360 who help social good organisations realise their crowdfunding dreams.
Who are you and what do you do?
Hi, I’m Jes a crowdfunding consultant that helps social good organisations run successful crowdfunding campaigns. Crowdfunding platforms provide very little help themselves and the success rate of reaching your funding goal is lower than 25% in the UK.
So, I set up Crowdfund 360 to develop the strategy that organisations can follow to succeed. We guide them on that process and assist them with everything from storytelling, building a crowd, video scripting, email and social media marketing and PR.
I’m always proud that 83% of our clients go on to make the amount of funding they want. This year, we celebrated helping more than 50 inspirational organisations raise £2,327,131 to make the world a better place!
Why only work with social change organisations?
I’ve never worked for one of those big greedy corporate corporations. I’ve only worked for charities, small or family-run businesses or start-ups – I just don’t agree with making the rich man richer.
I also believe that everyone deserves a chance to bring their dreams to life and that money shouldn’t hold them back.
For me, people power and collaboration are the only ways forward and therefore I only choose to work with people who believe that too.
What campaigns have really stood out to you?
What a question! I’ve loved all of them – otherwise, I wouldn’t have decided to work on them but if you’re making me choose, here are three close to my heart:
Support sustainable fishing with light-emitting devices that attach to nets to attract the fish fishermen mean to catch and repel the ones they don’t. We got a lot of press coverage with this one which was a lot of fun and the team were creative in their marketing and loved bouncing ideas around. Later, I discovered that Nadia, the co-founder and COO is also an Echo member which was a lovely surprise. It’s a small world!
One of 7 refugee charity campaigns we have supported. This one helped to launch a Happy Baby Community for refugee mums and babies to have a safe, happy and healthy place to grow. I loved this because we had about 8 people working on the campaign which meant everything got done – it was truly a team effort.
Stylish biodegradable apparel for a sustainable fashion future. Hannah was alone on this campaign so really relied on us to be her sounding board and to help her with all the stresses of crowdfunding. It was a great campaign to work on because it was one of those that I just knew was going to work (and be easy in my mind) but she needed that confidence pushed onto her!
What attracted you to join Echo?
Crowdfunding needs a lot more than just money to work and I believe the same is true with every project, passion and goal. Echo can help with that and I love the skill swap element. It’s a great way to share skills and passions whilst valuing everyone’s talents equally.
What useful skills and services have you given on Echo?
I give a lot of social media reviews and recommendations. I did this for Mareike and Chris King and I still make an effort to check in on them from time to time.
I also help people build communities and figure out target markets – I did this for a Helen and her marshmallow Smores business – it was such a fun task.
And obviously, I give crowdfunding advice. Sometimes crowdfunding isn’t the best option and I give alternative funding ideas to focus on. Other times, I can see that their campaign could become a great crowdfunding project.
One example is Tamara and her ‘Ridley Road Market’: The Book campaign. I gave her advice on how to raise the most funding and I’m so happy to see she successfully raised £14,042 with 211 supporters in 32 days. Her photography book is now published and on sale.
I also ran my 6 steps to crowdfunding success workshop in February for Echo where I shared lots of tips and tricks with a lovely group of Echo members at Plexal at Here East.
What’s been your favourite Echo experience?
I think helping Tamara out with her photo project because she had done a lot of work so I could review and recommend things and she actually implemented them and I saw a lot of progression in her project. That makes me happy.
What advice would you give to someone just joining Echo?
Offer a lot – you never know what people want and take up random offers you may otherwise not even think of – what have you got to lose!
I went to see West Ham vs Newcastle and I’ve had a Swedish massage. I would never have done either of those things normally – but both were great experiences!
What are you offering on the marketplace?
I’m offering 1hr Crowdfunding advice for anyone looking to run, or already running a crowdfunding campaign, social media review and recommendations for businesses and charities, and advice on how to grow your audience .
Finally, what’s your favourite East London hidden gem?
I really like Kahaila – it’s a social enterprise cafe on Brick Lane that does a great coffee, even better cake and they’re doing great things. If you’re in the area, it’s definitely worth a visit.
You can find more about Jes & Crowdfund 360:
