How to Crowdfund a National Library Like a Queen
by Jídé Salawu
Though popularly perceived as the act of gathering support for someone in dire need, crowdfunding is a serious business. It is a discipline, in fact, requiring a well-conceived idea with written narratives directed at a target audience, a demographic of potential donors. This is especially so if you live in a country like Nigeria, whose economy relies heavily on Western handouts, grants, and the largesse and spending of mega-rich capitalists. The economy is perpetually in shambles and policies are typically structured around loans from foreign bodies. These conditions supply a concrete reason to beg, for rich and poor alike.
For the politician whose lives and those of their families rely on the public treasury, this logic is even more compelling. And if you are a political queen bee, mother of the postcolony—that is, the first lady of a state or of the nation—demanding the financial support of the people will work well for your image and as a way to gather public approval and sympathy for your husband, especially when an election is just around the corner. But first you must find a convincing project in a dilapidated sector. Education, shall we say. But this must be narrowed down to a striking and dramatic focus. Let us say, the national library.
The library is a noble and intellectual cause commanding universal support. The library is the heartbeat of a nation; a worthy metaphor for the condition of the country. If the nation’s library is visibly deteriorating, then your intervention becomes that much more credible. You must treat the issue of the library like a sick patient whom you have come to cure.
Keep us breathing fire!
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