CougStarter Student Fundraiser Handbook

CougStarter is a crowdfunding program that allows Washington State University

student organizations and groups at every campus to share their visions, ideas, and
plans – and for generous WSU donors to help bring them to life.

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Focused on programs and projects that enrich the WSU student experience, create
opportunities to give back to our communities, and foster personal and
professional development, CougStarter allows the WSU family to support students
through giving, advocacy, and active engagement.

cougstarter.wsu.edu
Table of Contents

Section Page Number

CougStarter Student Fundraiser Expectations 3
• CougStarter Roles 3
• Crowdfunding Requirements at WSU 4
• CougStarter Crowdfunding Student Agreement 5
• Goal Setting with the WSU Foundation 5
• Benefits and Incentives for Fundraising with 6
CougStarter
CougStarter Crowdfunding Checklist for Student Fundraisers 7
• Phases of Crowdfunding (3 Phases) 7
• Planning Checklist by Crowdfunding Phase 7 – 10
References for Past CougStarter Project Pages 11
• Resources for ScaleFunder (platform) 11
Glossary of Terms 12

Key Additional Planning Resource

Please email wsuf.cougstarter@wsu.edu if you need an additional copy of the following
documents:
❑ CougStarter Social Media Toolkit.docx (Word Document for customization)
❑ CougStarter Social Media Examples.pdf (Review social media examples for best
practices, concepts, and to spark creativity)
❑ RNL UserManual_Crowdfunding.pdf (ScaleFunder platform guide to use when
completing campaign pages)

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CougStarter Student Fundraiser Expectations

We are excited to help you develop professional fundraising and campaign planning skills
with our peer-to-peer crowdfunding program, CougStarter, here at Washington State
University. This is a highly visible platform to fundraise on and as such, you are expected to
conduct yourselves and your campaign in a professional manner as governed by these
policies, as well as the conduct expected of a WSU student by the University.

CougStarter Roles
(Primary) Project Lead: the primary person with the fundraising group who is accountable
for deliverables and follow-through of the group. The main person to interface with the
CougStarter Team.
Project Co-Leads (also “leads”): co-leads who will support and who can fulfill the
accountability required of the primary leader in times of absence. Co-Leads are also
responsible for deliverables and follow-through.
Project Champions: all beneficiaries of the funds raised; the key to growing your success
is when all project champions participate actively and persistently in amplifying your story
and sharing why giving will make a positive impact.
These three roles above make up the entire “Project Team”. It is strongly recommended that all
team members collaborate on one comprehensive email list that Project Lead/Co-Leads can
email invite to register at cougstarter.wsu.edu/YOURPROJECT as an exclusive insider and
ambassador for your project. Emails for individuals are the most common emails pulled
together for this purpose. If appropriate, these emails can be for organizations or companies
that you have a personal contact to. These are not random emails to “spam”.
Ambassador: outside supporters of the project who are willing to give and/or willing to
share online or directly with their peers about your project while you are fundraising. This
can be anyone in your community who you think has an interest in helping you and your
project fundraise. These ambassadors are especially effective when they are registered on
the cougstarter.wsu.edu platform to your project where they can regularly hear from you
about your progress via updates you create and send. All student Project Champions must
register as an ambassador.
CougStarter Team: a subset of the WSU Foundation Annual Giving Office in the WSU
Foundation responsible for program structure and day-to-day operations.
CougStarter Digital Fundraising Coordinator (a.k.a. Student Manager and Trainer): the
student lead introduced to the Project Leader and Co-Leads who will serve as the
immediate guide and technical expert during your journey as student fundraisers.

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Crowdfunding Requirements at WSU
A. You Are the Fundraiser: Although the WSU Foundation will provide a great deal of
support and facilitation, the success of this campaign depends on you, your team, and
your comfort in asking for donations. The Foundation will not be able to “fill the gap”
(fulfill a fundraiser) if the student organization or student group are not able to meet
their goals. Project Teams are expected to solicit their networks for gifts. Project Leads
and Co-Leads are expected to motivate their teams to actively crowdfund over the
course of the campaign.
B. Personal Donor Information: The WSU Foundation or affiliates of University
Advancement cannot provide any personal donor contact or giving information for
students to use or solicit from. Students need to rely on personal and community
networks.
C. Communication: The CougStarter Team will be accessible by email unless noted
otherwise. Expect to be monitoring your email for communications from us on a daily
basis. Failure to respond to emails in a timely manner (48 business hours) can place
your project under review if communication deteriorates to a critical level.
D. Gift Acceptance and Fees: Gifts can only be made via credit and debit card through
cougstarter.wsu.edu when the campaign is active between Oct. 26 through Nov. 16.
cougstarter.wsu.edu lists the payment cards accepted. Gifts or deposits directly to the
account outside of CougStarter will not be counted in campaign totals and are not
guaranteed to be tax receipted or transferred to the appropriate spending account
unless made through the WSU Foundation. Requests for exception to feed outside gifts
into your page totals will be immediately denied so please plan accordingly. All gifts will
be assessed the WSU Foundation standard 5% gift fee, no exceptions. The Foundation will
assess the fee before the funds are transferred for deposit into the account being utilized for
the project.
E. Tracking and Using Funds: The CougStarter Team will liaise with the project’s area
finance to ensure appropriate transfer and tracking of funds. The funds will not be
useable until transferred into your appropriate spending account for the project.
Students will not manage the transfers, the WSU Foundation will manage this with the
appropriate budget offices.
F. Donor Perks: Currently, CougStarter is not structured to support perks given to donors
in the forms of experiences, goods, or services in return for making a charitable
donation. CougStarter projects with published perks will be removed by administrators
and pages will be re-published only at the discretion of the Director of Development,
Annual Giving and upon conduct review with the project leads.
G. ScaleFunder Off-limits Functions for Project Pages: receipt, allocation, appeal,
related fields in ScaleFunder will be managed only by the platform administrator.
H. One Semester Moratorium: The Project Team agrees to not apply for the next
CougStarter open sessions which at this time are annually active in the fall and may
expand to spring and fall, TBD. One of our objectives with this program is to diversify
featured projects term-over-term.

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CougStarter Crowdfunding Student Agreement
As Lead and Co-Leads,
1. I have read the CougStarter Handbook and understand the requirements.
2. I understand that if our project does not follow the guidelines included in the
CougStarter Handbook that it could be suspended or closed.
3. I will take advantage of the training opportunities provided to me by the
CougStarter Team.
4. Our project fundraising team currently has a lead and 1-3 co-leads and will maintain
a clear project lead throughout the entire duration of the campaign regardless of
membership changes.
5. My group advisor is aware that our organization or group is going to be assisting
and helping our crowdfunding effort.
6. I will represent Washington State University and the WSU Foundation with the
utmost integrity before, during, and following the campaign.
7. I will represent my fellow students respectfully and professionally.
8. Our organization will invest the funds raised for their intended purposes and I will
see this through.
9. All student project champions will sign up to become a registered ambassador on
ScaleFunder. The amount of registered student ambassadors will determine the
initial goal for the campaign*.
*The CougStarter team has the right to adjust CougStarter goals based on active
ambassadors, fundraising experience, size of possible donor base, and other
factors.

By accepting an offer to join CougStarter as a crowdfunding project at Washington

State University, all members of the fundraising group agrees to abide by the
requirements and standards for professionalism and success as outlined during the
selection process and in this Handbook. Failure to do so will likely result in poor
results for fundraising and donor experience, and serious conduct issues may result
in suspension or closure of the campaign.

All decisions to temporarily or permanently deactivate a project’s fundraising page

will include at minimum a communication to the group’s advisor and the business
area that supports the group’s finances. The Director of Development, Annual Giving
is the primary contact where CougStarter conduct is concerned.

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GOAL SETTING WITH THE WSU FOUNDATION

Realistic Dollar
# of Registerer Goal
Student $100
Ambassadors* Stretch:
12.5%-15%

Goals will be set before the campaign is launched based on the number of registered
student ambassadors and can only be adjusted by the CougStarter team.

Benefits and Incentives for Fundraising with CougStarter

✓ Tailored and strategic goal-setting.

✓ Personalized consulting and training to build your crowdfunding page.
✓ Individualized coaching from the CougStarter Team from start to finish and follow-
through.
✓ Tax-deductible gift credit to the donor and electronic receipting by the WSU Foundation.
✓ Financial management of transferring funds raised through the online giving portal to
the appropriate spending account.
✓ Free general advertising, promotion, and stewardship of CougStarter by the Annual
Giving Office to WSU alumni, donors, and friends before, during, and after the
campaign.
✓ Facilitated access at zero cost to record personalized ThankView videos to donors,
expressing impact and gratitude for their gifts.
✓ Initial promotion on the WSU Foundation Facebook/Twitter when your campaign goes
live.

When YOUR efforts for your project reach…

❑ 70% of your dollar goal: the CougStarter Team will promote your project page on
our WSU Foundation Instagram and Twitter accounts, as well as boost those posts
at $25 per platform.
o Student leads will be encouraged to provide content for these posts

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 ❑ Optional: If your group has exciting information or news you may request for the
Foundation to promote it on your behalf. This can be done by emailing
wsuf.cougstarter@wsu.edu

CougStarter Crowdfunding Checklist for Student

Fundraisers

Crowdfunding Planning Phase

•Timeline: Application Acceptance to Launch (Sept. 14 - Oct. 21)
•Critical planning phase before going active with crowdfunding gifts

Crowdfunding Active Giving Phase

•Timeline: Oct. 26 through Nov. 16 on cougstarter.wsu.edu
•Accepting gifts online during this phase

Crowdfunding Follow-Through Phase

•Timeline: Nov. 17 to the date the funds raised are spent
•Thanking donors and sharing about the impact of their gifts to
YOU

Crowdfunding Planning Phase: begins immediately upon the group’s selection and could
be a window of 2-4 weeks based on the time of the group’s application and selection. The
CougStarter team will coach how to scale the size and approach of the project in effort to
ensure the project can be launched on time. The entire team (the fundraisers and the
CougStarter Team) will move forward with the same initial dollar goal and a stretch goal
should the initial goal be reached. Expect to spend ~8 hours a week combined among
Lead and Co-Leads during this phase.

After Acceptance
Making the Ask and Motivating Fundraisers & Ambassadors
❑ Leads and Co-Leads develop, plan, and host a brief training session internally with
Project Champions to review the campaign. All Leads inspire and challenge Project
Champions to compile an email address list for family, friends, and peers. This list

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 can be built on throughout the campaign, but it is highly encouraged to complete
the list prior to launch.
❑ Leads initiate the creation of a Crowdfunding Content Plan (see CougStarter Toolkit)
❑ Leads and Co-Leads guide a discussion with Project Champions about motivation
and celebration: brainstorm and agree on ways to motivate and celebrate progress
toward your goal on a weekly basis. It is recommended that this session is hosted early
near the campaign launch date and motivation is regularly monitored weekly or more by
Leads.
❑ Suggestion: set up a chat channel on Microsoft Teams, Facebook, or #SLACK
(or other) to regularly engage your project team internally.
❑ Leads and Project Champions invite friends, family, peers, neighbors, that one
person you know on Facebook who likes grassroots causes, the people who love
you and care about you, etc. to sign up to be an ambassador for your cause through
your ScaleFunder page because your cause is that AWESOME! And so are you!
Asking multiple times or using different team members to make the ask is common,
effective, and should be coordinated within your team. It’s not what you ask for, it’s
how you ask for it.
❑ Leads and Project Champions set goal to ask minimum of 10 people (friends, family,
peers) to plan to make their gift within the first 24 hours on Oct 26.
❑ Project Team agrees to an inspirational goal for # of people to ask for entire
campaign.
ScaleFunder Page Build
❑ Leads test your login information to ScaleFunder from the CougStarter Team.
❑ Ensure co-leads all have access to build and edit your page.
❑ Review page for photo dimensions, text character limits, and the feature of
levels.
❑ Leads gather assets for the ScaleFunder page (2-3 carousel photos, case statement
for support, levels).
❑ Leads upload assets and text. Delegate a second person to copy-edit for spelling
and grammar.
❑ Leads prepare and schedule an email in ScaleFunder to invite ambassadors using
your compiled email address list (see Crowdfunding Content Plan in Toolkit)
❑ Leads prepare and schedule update emails in ScaleFunder (or preferred
communication channel) to registered ambassadors about your excitement for the
campaign launch and with a reminder to them to give & share.

Coaching from the WSU Foundation

❑ Leading up to the launch date, the CougStarter committee will host an optional
coaching session for student groups. Student leads will be responsible for
scheduling coaching sessions if they are needed in addition to onboarding training.

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Oct. 12 – Oct. 21 | FINAL APPROVAL PERIOD FOR LAUNCH
❑ Leads: one last push to invite ambassadors and prepare donors to make their gifts.
❑ Leads: one last review of the campaign page by the Project Lead before launch.
❑ Leads: one quick review of the FAQ by the Project Lead/Co-Leads to help support
good customer service for donors and ambassadors cougstarter.wsu.edu/about
❑ Leads: patiently await the CougStarter team’s “Ready to Launch” email assuring
we’re ready to start accepting gifts at midnight Oct. 26.
Crowdfunding Active Giving Phase: this is the phase in which your online crowdfunding
page will be “active” on our platform at cougstarter.wsu.edu meaning we can accept gifts
from Mastercard or Visa and those results and donors will post to your page in real-time.
All of your planning and page building has culminated in this live launch period where you
get to actively fundraise by telling your story and driving donors to your project page to
make their gifts & share. Expect to spend ~7/8 hours a week as Project Leads/Co-Leads. Set
a goal for student ambassadors to invest about 2 hours each per week sharing about the
project and directly asking for gifts.

Week One – Starting Midnight Oct 26 – Nov 2

❑ Project Leads, Co-Leads, and Project Champions: Dig into the couch cushions,
yesterday’s jeans, skip the latte today, etc. and then “Make Your Very Own Gift”
through cougstarter.wsu.edu.
❑ Try to beat your teammates to making the first gift at midnight Oct. 26.
❑ Project Leads read and share with project team the Weekly In-Flight Report #1 sent
to leads via email from CougStarter Team by end of day Oct 28, Friday.
❑ Project Champions continue deploying your Crowdfunding Content Plan. If new or
unexpected news comes to light, share it with donors via social media to build
excitement.
❑ Project Leads inspire and challenge your Project Champions to continue to share,
post, and ask for gifts.
Week Two – Nov 3 – Nov 9
❑ Project Leads read and share with project team the Weekly In-Flight Report #2 sent
to leads via email from CougStarter Team by end of day Oct. 4, Friday.
❑ Feature any major milestones on social media (raising half of the funds, less than ½
of the time remains, etc).
❑ Project Leads continue deploying and implementing your Crowdfunding Content
Plan.
❑ Project Leads inspire and challenge your Project Champions to continue to share,
post, and ask for gifts.
FINAL WEEK: Week Three – Nov 10 – 16 (midnight)
❑ Project Leads read and share with project team the Weekly In-Flight Report #3 sent
to leads via email from CougStarter Team by end of day Oct. 11, Friday.
❑ Highlight the amount time left and funds needed to be raised to highlight urgency.

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 ❑ The last week of the campaign can be the most critical because last minute
donations are often made.
❑ Project Leads inspire and challenge your Project Champions to continue to share,
post, and ask for gifts.
❑ Campaign Recap, steward, and beyond report Oct. 18.

Crowdfunding Follow-Through Phase: this is it! Just over three weeks of your hard work
and persistence in fundraising has paid off! During this period, you will patiently await the
deposit of funds while communicating out gratitude and the impact of gifts made during
the campaign. Expect time commitment to vary by each member of the team and for the
process to endure over the course of 2-5 months as you share the experience of what the
gifts have done for you. The Project Lead is expected to hold the group accountable for all
steps of follow-through. The ability to follow-through will affect the group’s ability to participate
in CougStarter again in the future.
❑ Project Leads report out publically after Nov. 16 what you have raised in total.
❑ Project Leads and/or Project Champions begin thanking donors via your link to
ThankView in effort for the CougStarter team to deliver these promptly to your
donors and complete your recording no later than two weeks after the campaign
ends. The CougStarter Team will upload and send the video on your behalf, your
role will be to record the message.
❑ Project Leads convene with your group on a plan to communicate again when you
are able to utilize the funds

Your CougStarter Lifelines

❑ CougStarter Lab – Office Hours Available upon request
o  wsuf.cougstarter@wsu.edu to schedule
❑  wsuf.cougstarter@wsu.edu if STUCK
❑  wsuf.cougstarter@wsu.edu for technical support of ScaleFunder

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References for Past CougStarter Project Pages

cougstarter.wsu.edu/project/16379

cougstarter.wsu.edu/project/16378

cougstarter.wsu.edu/project/16375

Resources for ScaleFunder (crowdfunding platform)

Located in the same master document email.
❑ ScaleFunder Crowdfunding Project Manager Checklist.pdf
❑ ScaleFunder User Manual Crowdfunding Collaborators.pdf

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Glossary of Terms

Project Roles (see page 3)

WSU Advancement: the system wide University division responsible for leadership and
implementation of fundraising efforts in support of the University’s mission and
philanthropic priorities.
WSU Foundation: a separate entity of WSU that exists solely for the benefit of WSU and
serves as the preferred conduit for private gifts to all areas of the University
WSU Annual Giving Office (AGO): The Annual Giving Office (AGO) within University
Advancement and located at the WSU Foundation is responsible for the management and
coordination of regular fundraising appeals for annual gifts from alumni, friends, parents,
students, and University employees.

Campaign: A wide reaching fund-raising effort that has an established cause and goal.
Campaign Goal: An identified and fixed dollar amount for your campaign. CougStarter
focuses on dollar goals instead of participation goals for number of gifts or donors.
Donation/gift: A donation is a gift to a charity with an intended goal to benefit a specific
cause. A donation for the purposes of CougStarter is a monetary gift.
Donor: Any person or organization that donates their money to your campaign.
ScaleFunder: the current and chosen online crowdfunding platform for the WSU
Foundation.
Solicitation: The process of asking someone for a donation.

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