Crowdrise, a crowdfunding platform for charities co-founded by actor and philanthropist Edward Norton, holds an annual Giving Tower event in the lead up to Giving Tuesday, which this year falls on Dec. 2. Any donation to one of the 1,500 charities that use Crowdrise helps to build the Tower up a bit further.
In past years, Crowdrise has used a 30-foot tall physical tower to represent total donations, but this year it wanted to do something on a much grander scale. It brought in Toronto/L.A. agency Secret Location to come up with a new way to conceptualize the Giving Tower with a lot more wow factor.
The team came up with a 3D virtual reality experience where contributors help to build a tower in a fictional city made up of landmarks from all over the world. The goal is to build the Giving Tower taller than the Pyramids of Giza, the Eiffel Tower and even the Burj Khalifa (at 2,700 feet) by the end of Tuesday. Each brick represents 25 donations.
Secret Location creative director Stefan Grambart says the experience is designed to create a sense of scale that you can’t get from a 2D animation or a live video.
“When you watch a video or you see a counter go up on a website, that number doesn’t have a tangible space to live in, it’s just a flat graphic, it’s just a number,” he says. “What the 3D space and virtual sense of presence give you is a way to interact with that figure in a way that feels more real to us as human beings.”
Grambart and Secret Location have worked on various other 3D projects before, mostly for film and TV series like Sleepy Hollow and Blacklist. He said using landmarks as benchmarks for the Giving Tower not only helps establish its epic size, it serves to remind donors of what they can accomplish when they commit to something they’re passionate about. “When you see the pyramids of Giza, it’s impressive. The impression you get is that it was human beings that made these things, and it’s astounding what we’re capable of.”
Contributors can access the 3D experience, and make donations, through a mobile app or on the web. It’s being promoted through a partnership with Mashable and with United Airlines, which is offering bonus miles for contributors.
Each brick in the tower represents 25 donations
When the tower reaches certain heights, it will unlock 3D video content viewers can watch in the app, which showcases the initiatives some of Crowdrise’s affiliated charities are working on around the world. The first unlocked video shows a panorama of aid efforts in Nepal after the April 2015 earthquake.
Crowdrise director of marketing Gary Wohlfeill says when Edward Norton and his fellow co-founders started the company, their goal was to get away from thousand-dollar-plate charity dinners, and give everyday donors something fun and memorable to participate in.
“The idea being that if you have fun fundraising — and it’s not a burden, and you’re not being guilted into it — then you’ll do it more often and raise more money for the causes you’re passionate about,” he says. “[The Giving Tower] is that idea brought to life — let’s make something that is engaging, and notable, and crazy, that people will tell 10 friends about, because that will mean more dollars and more impact will come out of it.”
Crowdrise’s platform is used by charities both large and small to run Kickstarter-like donation drives. Users range from local grassroots organizations to multi-million-dollar charities like the Red Cross and March of Dimes.
The platform accepts Canadian donations, but doesn’t yet work with Canadian charities due to tax restrictions. However Wohlfeill says the organization is planning its first international expansion next year, and its first stop will be Canada.
