If you are not familiar with Crowdfunding, it is a method to raise capital through crowdsourcing and microfinancing. If you have a fantastic idea and want to release the product, but blocked the idea without enough finance. Crowdfunding will help you to raise money from the public. Many research firms predict crowdfunding becomes a 300 billion dollar industry by 2025. People will invest their money in a new creative project or to make a new product or to a new music album. For example, the smartwatch company Pebble’s founder Eric Migicovsky launched a Kickstarter campaign in 2012 to fund his smartwatch company and he raised the amount within hours through crowdfunding.
There are different types of crowdfunding. In the reward-based crowdfunding, people contribute small amounts to projects in return for some kind of reward (example, Kickstarter). In the donation-based crowdfunding, a large number of contributors is donating a small amount into a project (example, Gofundme). Another type is peer-to-peer lending, it is an online lending service that matches lenders with borrowers (example, Lendingclub). Some crowdfunding platforms are for some specific projects. Mosaic crowdfunds for solar energy products. Mosaic works with leading solar companies across the nation to offer to finance for solar energy systems, batteries, and home improvements. Circleup and Ourcrowd provide investors to invest in startups. Realty Mogul and Crowdstreet are some real estate crowdfunding.
Let’s check some of the crowdfunding websites and what they are offering.
Kickstarter
(https://www.kickstarter.com/)
Kickstarter is for creative projects, it helps artists, musicians, filmmakers, designers, and other creators find the resources and support they need to visualize their ideas. With Kickstarter, anyone can create games, films and the technology that you are in need of. Through this, people work together to make those dreams to reality. Top countries offering funds are United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Germany, and France.
Donatekindly
(https://donatekindly.org/)
Donatekindly is best for schools. Their customizable donation forms can easily embed in any CMS or website. You can add easy to use donation forms anywhere on your website with a few lines of code. Donate Kindly centralizes all your donation and supporter information in one place so you can keep track of your online fundraising without having to switch between systems.
Indiegogo
(https://www.indiegogo.com/)
Indiegogo says “Dream it, fund it, make it, ship it”. You can acquire starter capital by tapping into Indiegogo’s global network of early adopters. After your crowdfunding campaign, you can continue raising money and building your community with InDemand. You can also sell your product on major e-commerce platforms through dedicated retail partners, including Amazon and Newegg.
There are some specific crowdfunding platforms for special needs.
Crowdfunder
(https://www.crowdfunder.com/)
Crowdfunder is a platform where entrepreneurs and investors meet. To invest a deal through Crowdfunder, you need to be an Accredited Investor. To be an Accredited Investor, you must meet certain criteria as defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Lending Club
(https://www.lendingclub.com/)
Lending Club is good for personal loans. First, check your rate at Lending Club. You can add a Co-Borrower to start a joint application. After qualifying, you will get multiple loan offers. You can choose one that works best for you. Once your loan is approved and backed by investors, your money is sent to your bank account within four business days.
Fundrise
(https://fundrise.com/)
In Fundrise you can invest your money in a portfolio filled with dozens of real estate projects.
There are a number of fundraising platforms like Gofundme, Crowdrise, Rockethub, Fundable, Fundly, etc. There are some specific fundraising platforms for non-profits Double the donation and for religion Givesendgo for the Christian religion. The fundraising platforms help you to make a great looking page, links to add social networks, and email facility to send fundraising campaigns. Every campaign includes a feature to securely accept and process the donations through their payment partner.
