So this is the end of the 2018 phase of the unofficial fundraising experiment for the Rustin Golden Knights Marching Band.
On January 14, we began the power-down of 122 Steem Power. Last May, when we launched the experiment, that would have been worth about $244, but due to declining STEEM prices, it's now worth about $40. It remains to be seen what it will be worth at the end of the 13 week power-down, when I convert to USD and write the check to the band boosters.
The experiment will continue through the 2019 marching band season, after which time I will remove all delegations and power down all remaining Steem Power from this account.
Thank you very much for your support
In concluding this phase of the experiment, the first and most important thing that I'd like to say is Thank You to the people who supported this fundraising effort. Thank you very much for your votes and comments during the year. We received a number of supportive comments and other feedback, and your contributions and feedback are sincerely appreciated.
Lessons Learned
Our goal for the year was to raise enough funds to reimburse the band boosters organization for the cost of one student's travel to Florida, where the band marched in Disney's Magic Kingdom and in the Citrus parade. Unfortunately, (barring a nearly impossible turn-around in STEEM prices) we came nowhere close to achieving that goal. In this post, I'll note some lessons learned for future organizations that might attempt fundraising on the Steem blockchain.
1.) Make sure you have a sufficiently long time frame.
The falling price of STEEM was demotivating and impossible for us to overcome in the 8 months since May. If you believe in the Steem blockchain, then you believe that the price will eventually go up again, but - as the saying goes - the market can stay irrational for longer than you can stay solvent. During this experiment over a relatively short time period, falling prices wiped out the majority of our gains.
2.) Regular posting is hard, but critical
I had many posts in mind to compose over the course of these 8 months that I just didn't find time to do. Sporadic posting makes it very difficult to stay engaged with your audience, so if you're going to undertake a fundraising effort like this, it is very important to post fairly frequently. Personally, I failed to accomplish this.
3.) Mixed review of fundition.io
I love the idea of fundraising through fundition.io. I was less impressed with the actual experience. Part of that is due to my personal failure to keep up with regular posting, but I also thought that the web site was non-intuitive and kludgey (For example, I could make the account's reported rewards change just by pressing my browser's reload button). I abandoned that site relatively quickly.
If you're going to launch a fundraising initiative, definitely check out fundition.io, but maybe don't expect too much.
4.) Group participation is necessary
I had hoped for more participation from band students and parents. I thought that this was a great opportunity to introduce my community to Steem's tremendous potential and also to support the arts and education in my community - a classic "win-win" scenario.
Unfortunately, however, I'm probably too much of an introvert to maximize an initiative of this type. I thought the idea would sell itself, but even a good idea needs to be promoted. And promotion is not my personal forte.
If you are going to launch a blockchain fundraising initiative in your community, give serious thought to how you're going to promote it among the real-world people who you are counting on for support.
Conclusion
So once again, thank you very much for your support during the 2018 marching band season, and please keep following us through 2019. I hope the lessons in this post may also be helpful for other organizations' Steem fundraising efforts.
Rewards from this post and all future posts in 2019 will be donated to the Rustin Golden Knights Marching Band Boosters organization in early 2020 (after fulfilling relevant tax obligations).
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