The Who, What, Why, and How of Fundraising in the Metaverse

Learn about the builders in web3 who are raising money through the metaverse.

It’s no secret that DeFi democratized financial tools in totally new ways. But DeFi isn’t the only side of web3 that can help you financially; the metaverse can be a great tool to help you on your fundraising journey.

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Fundraising events in the real world are so common that we just turned the word into a noun (“fundraiser”).

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So if events are the norm, why not have a fundraiser in the metaverse? Let’s cover how you can best use virtual events for fundraising on behalf of a project, brand, or organization. 

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Why Fundraising in the Metaverse Works

In the world of fundraising, it is a major challenge to create and maintain an emotional connection between donors and the person or organization behind the cause. At RLTY, we think metaverse events provide the right tools and infrastructure to help organizations form more intimate relationships with donors.

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While videos and pictures can tell a powerful story, the metaverse offers a more immersive experience that allows attendees to feel and interact in a way static pages cannot accomplish. Not only is it more effective, but it’s also less expensive than real-life event fundraising. 

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Live events also provide trust and credibility to the organization. How many stories have you heard about online fundraising scams where people donate to a fraudulent website or organization? This has made people hesitant about donating money online, but a metaverse event helps build donors' trust. 

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Ultimately, people are spontaneous, and creating a fleeting environment that encourages them to donate while it’s going on helps push them in the right direction. Static web pages can’t have the same effect because they can’t trigger the same emotions.

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Tools for Metaverse Event Fundraising

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Fundraising in the metaverse comes with some inherent benefits. Just by nature of signing in, event attendees come with digital wallets attached, making it easy to process financial transactions. Crypto transfers are also (relatively) instant compared to live events, where people might still be writing those ancient paper checks.

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Below are some examples of ways to incorporate fundraising into a digital event. 

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NFT Sales

NFTs are an excellent tool for metaverse events. NFTs can be displayed easily and sold in various ways, giving donors instant gratification and something to take home from the event. See our event with World of Women and The Fabricant as an example.

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Event ticket sales

Ticket sales are one the oldest fundraising tools in the book.

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With web3-enabled digital events, ticket sales benefit both the organization and ticket buyers. Organizations generate revenue and tickey buyers can collect badges and prizes for attending. 

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Donation/Crowdfunding Tools

You can seamlessly integrate crowdfunding into any digital event. Developers can quickly build donation booths inside the virtual venue, allowing attendees to donate on the spot.

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Not sure how to do develop donation booths for your virtual events? Contact us.

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Auctions

Auctions are another fundraiser classic that easily adapts to metaverse worlds. The auctioneer could even be on a live-streamed video inside the event to give attendees a more realistic feel. 

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Who should be exploring metaverse event fundraising?

Don’t see yourself in our list below? Don’t worry; this is by no means a comprehensive list of everyone who should be fundraising with digital events. Instead, we wanted to give five examples of who would use the metaverse in different ways with different types of fundraising events.

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Nonprofits

Nonprofit organizations depend on a forming an emotional connection between their cause and community of supporters. The metaverse (and more broadly the blockchain) provides incredible opportunities to immerse attendees into unique experiences they could never enjoy from mere reading materials.

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In many cases, supporters of nonprofits cannot go in person to the causes they donate to.

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A VR/AR experience may be even more useful than a traditional fundraiser event. Imagine watching a live stream or walking through a disaster relief zone just days after an earthquake or hurricane. 

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Student-led organizations

Student organizations are often significantly underfunded. Hosting an auction or ticketed event would be an easy way to showcase what they have to offer while reaching a wider audience than is available to them at their schools. 

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Artists

The metaverse is an ideal place to showcase different artworks. Whether it’s music, painting, theater, cinema, or digital art, artists can utilize all the fundraising tools we detailed above to showcase and sell their work. Custom spaces can even be built to showcase art like below

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Startups

Startups and all small businesses can use the metaverse to bring their investors together like never before. They can present updates, new product features, or just have networking events at a significantly lower cost than in real life. 

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Athletes Struggling Financially

Athletes are a use case similar to artists in some ways, but we wanted to mention them to show a more creative way to utilize metaverse events.

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Imagine an athlete training for the Olympics in a country without adequate resources or an athlete in an individual sport with incredible talent but struggling to make ends meet.

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They don’t have too many options to interact with potential fans. Athletes can plan a metaverse event to showcase their talent and interact with fans from all over the world in a more immersive way than possible through social media. 

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Types of Metaverse Fundraising Events

If you’ve been following us, you probably already have some ideas about why types of digital events can serve as fundraisers. If you are a new reader, check out this article on metaverse events for more details.

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Below is another short list of events we think would work perfectly for fundraising. 

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Streaming live events

Live streaming and watch parties are a great way to better engage attendees during a metaverse event. Here are some examples of live stream integrations that would be perfect for fundraisers:

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• Exclusive interviews 
• Guest speakers
• Concerts
• Watch parties for other live events

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Virtual Gala

A formal party involving digital fashion can be super entertaining. If you haven’t seen a digital fashion event before, check out the recap of our fashion event with the Fabricant and World of Women..

Auction

No need for much explanation here; auctions are fundraising classics. Sotheby’s even has their own metaverse auction operation. 

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Games

Games within the metaverse are another way to entertain and engage your guests. Here are some examples we’ve seen work well:

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• Scavenger hunt
• Trivia
• Karaoke

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