Salting the Mine/Priming the Pump

[stryck.livejournal.com]

When I was a teenager, the youth group I belonged to did a "bucket shake" each year. We would stand at a traffic light and gather donations from cars that stopped there. You may have seen these yourself. I've seen High School bands, local volunteer firefighter organizations, and Scouting units do these as well. The youth group donated the funds to the food pantry in the area.

When we started, I recall my dad adding some change to the buckets from his own pocket. Also, he would periodically check the level of the donations in each bucket and remove some if it got to be "too much".

Psychologically, people would be more likely to donate if there was already change there, he explained. Also, if we're overflowing with funds, they won't donate because we're doing well enough without their help. It didn't matter how much was actually in each bucket. Few people would want to go first, and few would feel it necessary to add to a large pile.

A common problem when crowdfunding or seeking feedback online is how to get participation. The psychology wouldn't change, even if the venue has. Would getting a friend to start a discussion engender more comments, perhaps? If there are already comments, it seems likely to me that more people would comment back. Starting a discussion requires getting the ball rolling. Keeping it rolling seems to be easier for most people, at least until comments reach a certain point, such as a third page here on Livejournal. Then, discussion ebbs, probably because people don't want to expend the effort to read through all that's been posted so far.

Money is harder to quantify in this manner online. How could you "prime the pump" when seeking funding for a project? How do you get past the natural resistance of your audience against going first?

Comments

[wyld-dandelyon.livejournal.com]

I wonder if a fundraising goal of some sort (the thermometer model, or the red-yellow-green model Duotrope does) helps to "salt the hat"?