“Really enjoyed the session, Jo was really engaging, which is especially hard online. I felt a lot of confidence in her knowledge.”
“Well paced, friendly, encouraging and took time to listen. Knows her subject well.”
“A real thorough training from start to finish in giving a real understanding in crowdfunding”
“Jo Breeze was really approachable and knowledgeable about her field and actively delivering the type of projects she described. That’s the best kind of teacher.”
“I really liked Jo. She knew her stuff and moved through the course at a good pace.”
“Jo’s enthusiasm kept the session lively and it went forward at about the right pace.”
“Jo was upbeat throughout both sessions – showing respect for each member of the group throughout.”
“Jo covered everything I could think of – and was very willing to go the extra mile in terms of adding detail at any point where it was requested.”
Course via Arts Fundraising & Philanthropy
I would not consider doing this again without you. The consistency of the advice and the support was so valuable. Some of my preconceptions about what are the most important elements of a campaign were wrong – being told [what to focus on] flicked a switch in my head and enabled me to take a wider view of the campaign. Without your help I don’t think we would have achieved our goal as I would have been focused on the wrong things.
Josh Breslaw
The level of planning required to get rewards set up, line up stakeholders and do communications strategies is so crucial to a successful campaign, and that was really reinforced by working with Jo. We realised a crowdfunding campaign is about bringing all your stakeholders on a journey: from identifying who your audience is and what they want to support, to our very first campaign planning session where we harnessed the enthusiasm of our staff and volunteers, to creating advocates and donors across a range of areas.
As a result of our campaign, we have created a community of advocates who are excited about the Museum’s collection and future plans. The success of the crowdfunding campaign also inspired our trustees into becoming committed advocates, confident in asking for donations from friends, family and colleagues. Asking for help can be one of the most powerful tools.
Katherine McAlpine, Director
Jo is absolutely incredible. If you are considering doing any form of crowdfunding, you need Jo by your side. period! She is not only incredibly lovely to work with, but also has a way of breaking mammoth-size tasks into small manageable steps that anyone can follow. Thanks to Jo’s help I have not only reached my goal but exceeded it by 34%! I am so grateful to Jo and simply can’t recommend her enough.
Maya Youssef
I got 150% return on my investment; you’re lovely and very good at what you do. Most of our backers were not friends nor family of mine and I am sure that without your help I would’ve never reached any of them, so to put it simply the campaign would’ve failed without you. I would’ve never thought about approaching LatAm businesses if you hadn’t suggested it and even if you had I’d been too scared to approach them without you almost literally holding my hand through it. Connecting with them was one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done. Thank you.
Ana Torre
It was just so good to have someone with experience and that I trusted immediately to ask questions, run my ideas past and help me to refine them. On our call every week I took at least one big thing away. Things like how to approach the stretch goal. And it gave me the impetus to just keep going. As well as keeping me sane, your support 100% helped optimise the campaign, and the decisions you helped me make meant we had more backers and ££. Having it overfunded by 50% hopefully validates the product/market fit and gives us some money to over print and really get the business off to a flying start.
Sophie Cross
I was happy with the project story and materials I’d created but feared we wouldn’t get it in front of enough pairs of eyes! An experienced consultant to help strategise and then create effective assets is very valuable. In my case celebrity/influencer endorsement didn’t translate to many backers; with a niche product like mine you need to communicate on a deeper level with the ‘true fans’. It’s not a volume game. The most useful thing I learned was the frequency and variety of ways one needs to talk about the campaign in the different stages – and the most significant outcome was simply that it got over the line and we were able to manufacture our run of DVDs. It was a straightforward goal and we succeeded!
Andy Dunn, filmmaker
Your campaign strategy and guidance made me feel so secure, your documents were so user-oriented and clear, the pace (while hectic) was clearly laid out and enabled me to run a team to whom both I and the workload was new: you made it feel for all of us like the mountain was a manageable one to climb. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU. As a non-synchronised & part-time team, we needed to find a way to be consistent and make an impact with the campaign, without overloading anyone and while also not wasting the fundraising opportunity. Your documents and guidance were invaluable, the templates really helped visualise what was in the main a lot of anxious overthinking on my part, and your overview of the structure of each week of the campaign was just – well, amazing.
Matilda James, Citizens of the World Choir
The most useful thing we learned was how to drive those algorithms! We got everyone sharing and liking and retweeting at the same time – our first announcement on Twitter got over 250,000 reach and earned us nearly 3,000 new visits to our profile. We learned not to be shy about our influencers’ support (including getting a boost from some high profile names with significant followings) and with that first burst of attention we became no 2 in our cohort and in the top line of the Aviva page all month, which I think helped us get noticed for the Lord Mayor’s extra Back to Business funding of 5K. It has been a real confidence-builder to smash our target AND gain extra funding. We are really happy with the result, and we can see how key preparation and timing is, as well as how many people we all know when we come together!
Tess Berry-Hart, Citizens of the World Choir
The most significant outcome of our campaign was probably the new contacts we cultivated. We wouldn’t have made it without Jo’s help; to begin with we weren’t sure about the schedule, the tone, or how to ask people for money without begging, but she provided clear, concise information that helped us time it and pitch it right.
Helen Turner, E-Werk Luckenwalde
Jo’s pointers on key things to do and when were really useful – without her help we could well have got lots wrong as we hadn’t done it before and didn’t have time to learn the hard way. Her documentation and initial support were clear and helpful, and guided us through setting targets and what type of campaign to go with. We hit all our stretch targets and more, and the campaign showed us the clear evidence of customer loyalty we were hoping for.
Alan Bearman, Sidmouth Folk Festival
As a result of our campaign, we supported the work of three female composers and have been able to secure future performances for these works and therefore more work for ourselves. That in turn has led to other composers being able to secure funding to write more music to programme alongside these new pieces. Without Jo’s comprehensive and clear support, we wouldn’t have raised the required amount. Without a shadow of a doubt. I think we’d have had to cancel our project. Which would have been devastating for us and our professional reputation.
Juice Vocal Ensemble, Voices of Venus
When I started thinking about a crowdfunding campaign it seemed incredibly overwhelming. I wasn’t sure where to start, if it really was the best option for me and how much I would need to raise. But when I launched, I smashed it in six days! The budget spreadsheet Jo provided really was eye opening – to be able to play around with it, work out shipping and fees and not get stung. I also used the campaign as market research and a way to test different price points, so now I know exactly what I should be charging in phase 2. Without Jo’s help I would have very likely aimed too low or not run a campaign at all.
Zoe Lacey, The Golden Letter
Professional, quick and efficient, though I think many creatives would struggle to pay for it. I really enjoyed the punchy narrative, fast turnaround and energised pro-active approach. I like that. If anything, she made a slight dither in me bite the bullet and go for it, and now we’re a few thousand ahead in our funding campaign because of it. So thank you Jo! Running the campaign myself was hugely labour-intensive, and draining at times. It does help generate success and create interest, and it will also help with funding applications. I don’t know if I would do ‘all or nothing’ again or if I would set the target much lower. But we do need these funds and more for the production. Theatre is a money pit, at times. But the honesty of the project clearly resonated. I found it incredibly moving to see so much support, and the final day was quite emotional. It felt like a HUGE achievement and a real journey and it has actually informed the future marketing and steer of the play.
Karen Bartholomew, Giving Up Marty
I don’t think I would have had the courage to do it alone, so without Jo I wouldn’t have raised the money and got all the brilliant contacts, press and radio features! I was worried about how to plan it and how to reach the right people, but after raising the money I needed there are also so many people who now know about Lyrical Light, and have got in touch offering help and support for the workshops. I’d definitely recommend Jo to others – she is uniquely knowledgeable, helpful and supportive.
Rachel Mason, Lyrical Light
We couldn’t have achieved the level of success we had without Jo’s input. Without her help we would have missed several very important subjects – we didn’t know how much effort and attention to detail would be required to make it work. Her understanding and creative suggestions were incredibly useful. With her help, experience, good humour and insight, we hit the target and everyone involved was very very pleased with their rewards.
Dub Colossus, Dr Strangedub (or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Dub The Bomb)
I don’t think I would have succeeded without Jo’s guidance. When I started out, I was terrified that I would come close to raising the money, but not quite manage it, then lose everything days before the project was due to start. Jo helped me to plan the campaign carefully in advance, scheduling everything carefully to maximise its impact. I hadn’t realised how crucial the timing of the launch is, and how essential it would be to get as many pledges as possible in the first 24 hours. This worked really well for me – the campaign got a lot of exposure on Kickstarter and as a result, lots of pledges came in from people outside of my networks, as well as from my own colleagues, friends, and family. In the end, I not only recorded my CD, but managed to raise enough money to get a better quality recording. Investing in professional guidance was the best decision I made – the campaign success far exceeded my expectations.
Stef Conner, Riddle Songs
“Very good workshop… thoroughly helped me to understand something that I knew very little about… and much more dynamic than most one-day workshops.”
“The tutor was great – very knowledgeable and helpful. I feel more confident in starting my crowdfunding campaign.”
“All the content was useful. The exercises with the other attendees were surprisingly beneficial. A difficult task was presented in a very engaging and well-structured way by the tutor.”
“The course was excellent – very informative, clear with lots of ideas.”
“Absolutely brilliant course – the tutor really enthused me and did a great job of explaining everything.”
“Everything covered was useful! The organisation was fantastic, good use of slides and interesting.”
Course via FEU Training
From our point of view, there’s no point creating something without someone to create it for. Our Kickstarter campaign has not only allowed us to finance our next project but enabled us to create stronger, and more personal relationships with our audience. We couldn’t… and wouldn’t have tried… to do this without Jo’s help. Her ability to explain the often complex process of crowdfunding (well it bewildered us anyway!) in a straightforward manner was vital, her knowledge of the process and timings involved over four intense weeks was central to its success, and we had the constant feeling she was looking over our shoulders ready with advice, encouragement and a friendly push when needed. It’s been a great pleasure working with her and we’d recommend her to anyone thinking about their own crowdfunding campaign.
Tim Whelan, Transglobal Underground
Jo was unfazed by our total lack of experience and very short lead time. She steered us expertly through the Kickstarter process, and was reassuringly unflappable throughout. We really appreciated her efficiency, her encyclopaedic knowledge of crowdfunding and her fair and transparent fee structure.
Lucy Greeves, Turned Red Earth
I just wanted to say how glad I am I enlisted Jo’s help – I know I would’ve backed out of this by now otherwise! I have such an aversion to discussing money with anyone that this would’ve been impossible…
Susannah Bolton, fine artist
Jo is immensely talented and wise, and an absolute pleasure to work with. She gave an excellent talk to my post-grads and inspired some of them to try crowdfunding. Speak to her first if you’re thinking about a crowdfunding project.
Eleanor Mottram, lecturer, MA Arts Management, Middlesex University
Jo gave a talk on crowdfunding to our networking group. She was so brilliant, she knows the market place so well, and even if you don’t know anything about crowdfunding Jo is so engaging you won’t fail to learn from her. In fact I loved her talk so much that I think she would make an excellent TED talker. Would highly recommend her for anyone wanting to learn all about crowdfunding from an expert.
Shona Chambers – manager, Space@61
Jo wrote my crowdfunding campaign after gathering all the info she could about our project. It was wonderful to have her perspective on both funding and marketing. The crowdfund itself worked as its own form of advertising for the project, and resulted in a live performance on the BBC, and a residency at Snape Maltings, in addition to the opera festival for which we were fundraising. Jo helped me to set realistic goals, and kept in touch throughout the process. It was a lot of work, and I couldn’t have achieved such successful results without her.
Cevanne, 1000 Songs
When we put a call-out on our social media for a capable project manager, lots of people clamoured to recommend Jo, so we had high hopes she’d be able to turn things around for us, as two co-authors struggling to turn out a dense book in our spare time from different cities. As soon as she laid her hands on our project she really changed the game for us – previous disorganised loose ends were deftly tied, and what had felt impossible suddenly became neatly ticked off a very satisfying to do list, complete with coloured stickers. It’s not an exaggeration to say that we would never have been able to finish the project without Jo’s skilful approach – she’s a superhero!
Molly Smith & Juno Mac – activists with SWARM, authors of Revolting Prostitutes published October 2018
To be honest, as complete dunces in the arcane world of modern media campaigns we had absolutely no idea what to do and what might be possible to achieve with our Kickstarter fundraiser. Jo encouraged us and led us by the hand every step of the way, ticked every box and dotted every i, and helped us to achieve success beyond our wildest expectations. 100% funded within 48 hours and over 200% by the end. I’d unhesitatingly recommend her to anybody: you’d be in the safest pair of hands.
Ian Anderson, fRoots magazine
I don’t think we would have reached our Kickstarter goal without Jo being on the team. I was about to go it alone when someone suggested I contact her as she’s run successful campaigns and might have advice. She kindly sent me an incredibly helpful email listing all the things to set in place before I launched. I hadn’t thought of half of them. She was on the team! She totally got the tone of the campaign, her communication was playful and professional and she understood exactly what support we needed from her, delivering above and beyond throughout. I’m working out what other projects I can bring her on board with and am looking forward to working with her again.
Hazel Anderson, Likely Story: Almost Always Muddy
Jo was crucial to our goal being reached… [the campaign] was enjoyable and enabled by a fantastic team of which Jo was a key and critical member, and one of the best decisions I made was to to bring her on board. She worked with the team behind the film to create a press and marketing plan for the campaign, to structure and launch the Kickstarter, write the copy, clearly define the rewards and the reward release schedule, build out budgets and forecasts, contact organisations to spread the word – in our case folk clubs, folk music organisations, morris organisations and other key folk contacts – manage social media through the campaign, write and send press releases, and promote the events we organised nationwide to bring the campaign to a local level. Our campaign succeeded in its goal to raise initial funding for our film – now complete and premiering at London Film Festival – and we achieved the prestigious Project Of The Day which boosted our campaign significantly.
Paul Williams, Burning Bridges: The Ballad of Shirley Collins
Working with Jo was key to the success of our campaign. From the very beginning she was on hand for any question, supporting us using the Kickstarter software platform, guiding our choice of rewards, and helping us select the frequency of updates for our target audience. Every suggestion she made was presented in a clear and informative way and she was flexible in her approach, happily adapting to the rare occasion we wanted to go in a slightly different direction. She made sure we understood why the choices we were making were best for our campaign, and approached everything we did with genuine enthusiasm.
Amanda Leon-Joyce, Irreverent Dance: Europe’s first gender-neutral community dance studio
Without Jo I wouldn’t have got my Patreon off the ground, and I certainly wouldn’t have been able to gather a group of interested Patreons so quickly! Jo has been fantastic – helping me hone messaging, writing copy, working out how best to encourage people to support my project. And behind the scenes she’s been taking some of the load with admin and research that is going to help me build traffic and promote my work. She’s fantastic and I would thoroughly recommend working with her.
Girl on the Net: Creating audio erotica
Jo’s great, I definitely recommend her. She worked for me for a while as a virtual PA and crowdfunding manager, I was sorry to lose her. I never felt any discomfort around discussing sex work with her, she occurred to me as a good ally and her politics seem sound. She’s also cheerful, efficient and well organised.
Pandora/Blake: Creating a better world
