I Believe in You, the first participative financing platform dedicated exclusively to French sports, and INSEEC have joined forces to offer MSc students a large-scale tutored project on the Paris, Bordeaux, Lyon and Chambéry campuses. The project? Accompany an athlete/team/club of your choice in the realization of a participative financing campaign on ibelieveinyou.fr in order to help him/her reach his/her sports goal. A high impact tutored project for our students and especially for the athletes who benefited from the commitment and expertise of our students to help them realize their hopes and dreams!
Because sport brings emotion and skills
The French sports world is currently facing a major problem: finding the necessary resources to finance sports commitments. Between travel expenses for training courses or competitions, the costs of the latter, the purchase of new equipment or the construction of new infrastructures, the bill for a sports season can quickly reach a peak.
While some athletes, teams or clubs benefit from the financial support of sponsors or various grants, the majority struggle to raise the funds necessary to achieve their goals. The Covid-19 crisis has only reinforced these difficulties. Many companies, themselves in bad shape, had to terminate their sponsorship contracts, leaving the athletes unprepared.
Within the framework of this tutored project, it was thus a question of giving a new impetus to those who find themselves blocked in their sporting dream because of a lack of financial means. For our students, this tutored project is a godsend because not only does it allow them to mobilize their skills learned in class to communicate on the crowdfunding campaigns that have been set up, but it also provides a real sense of usefulness since it brings a positive change in the careers of the athletes accompanied.
Sortir de leur zone de confort, dépasser leurs limites, c’est aussi l’objectif de notre projet mené avec I Believe In You France pour toutes nos promotions de M1
Julian DUPRAZ
Directeur du Pôle Sport – INSEEC
Getting out of their comfort zone, going beyond their limits, this is also the objective of our project with I Believe In You France for all our M1 classes
Julian DUPRAZ
Director of the Sport Department – INSEEC
A first year of crowdfunding campaigns
To guide them throughout this year, the students were able to count on the support of their coaches and the I Believe in You teams. The tutored project starts with a comprehensive online guide that explains step-by-step how to build and run a successful crowdfunding campaign. The students were also accompanied in the search for the different athletes/teams/clubs. Three axes had to guide the project: the idea, the financial objective and the duration of the campaign.
Students have previously formed groups of two to four students. Afterwards, they had to come up with ten tracks of athletes/clubs to accompany per group. Once this first selection is made, they must refine their list to five, make contact with them and return five solid project sheets. In order to secure the success of their campaign, students must select the best project with the most motivated athlete, ready to invest in them. They also review with the athlete what the fundraising campaign will cover. Indeed, the campaign alone cannot fund all the needs of the athlete. This can be used to fund the cost of travel and accommodation for an athlete to a championship in Australia for example, and a sponsor can fund the equipment needed for the sporting events there.
Once the selection is complete, the students and the athlete work together on the content of the project (text, photos, video, counterparts) and build the communication plan of the campaign. This step is essential, especially on the question of the duration of the campaign. For example, students learn that the shorter a crowdfunding campaign is, the more impact it can have. This creates a sense of urgency among potential donors who feel more invested in the project. They also learn to play on emotion and storytelling, two essential elements of an effective communication strategy: the athlete’s life must be put forward, his doubts, his hopes… in order to reach a maximum of people.
When the campaign is officially launched on the ibelieveinyou.fr website, the students and the athlete pilot it together for 30 to 50 days to reach the set fundraising goal. At a minimum, the goal is 2000 Є for a solo athlete and 4000 Є for a club/team. Each group solicits its network, mobilizes social networks and the media (press coverage on BFM TV or Ouest-France for example), more traditional communication channels or even companies to be able to reach the objective.
The I Believe in You system works on the following principle: the funds raised are only paid to the athlete if the fundraising campaign reaches 100% of its set goal. The website’s teams confirm that this system has already proved its worth as it “ creates an emergency effect among donors and speeds up the final sprint “. Once the fund is closed, the students discuss the success of the campaign with the athlete and send the rewards to the various donors.
The I Believe in You tutorial project is finally the subject of a group oral with presentation and analysis of the experience with the athlete. The students present the project as well as the actions implemented to promote the crowdfunding campaign, the difficulties encountered and a constructive criticism on the success or failure of the campaign, the most important part of the defense.
Une expérience humaine enrichissante et de belles compétences approfondies pour le futur !
Noémie LESAGE
Étudiante en MSc1 Management Social & RH
An enriching human experience and great skills for the future!
Noémie LESAGE
Student in MSc1 Social & HR Management
