Today we have a trend in accessing funds from friends and other interested parties via the internet in the concept of crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is where your friends are the capital. You state your project and ask for their financial help in achieving your project goals. I recently ventured into the crowfunding world and found three main companies that provide this service, Kickstarter, Indiegogo and a more recent addition – Kapipal.
Each company has a different style to their pages but essentially they all provide a great atmosphere and way to approach funders and helpful hints as to what you as an entity should provide on your project page. A video explaining your project along with pictures highlighting different aspects of your project are key and highly recommended.
Each platform hosts a myriad of campaigns – from art projects to helping families offset medical bills. You can search by person, area of interest, location, associated partners. In using these platforms there are fees associated, here is a general breakdown.
KICKSTARTER: Kickstarter is famous for their policy of ALL OR NOTHING. For example: If you ask for $100.00 and your donations reach $100.00 you get the funds (minus a 4% fee). If you only reach $99.00 or less than the amount requested, you receive nothing. This is an interesting plug – that you get all or nothing.
Here is recent Kickstarter campaign for an art project based in Cleveland called Geek A Week by local artist Len Peralta. This campaign has 26 days to go.
INDIGOGO: Indiegogo has alittle different approach in the funding. If you reach the amount you request from your funders, Indigogo’s fee is 4%. If you do not reach your minimum, you get to keep the donated funds but the fee jumps to 9%.
Here is a recent Indigogo campaign (with 80 Funders thus far) that deals with Health Issues. “Constance Pokorny Medical Relief Fund” centers around helping a young woman offset her medical bills after being hit in a car accident. This campaign has 26 days left as well.
KAPIPAL: Kapipal is free. However there is a fee associate with the way the funds are processed via paypal. Paypal takes 2.9% plus $0.30 per transaction. This platform is the least expensive in fees. However, the downside is you cannot anticipate outside traffic looking at your project for there is no ‘search’ option on the page. Often times I will search for art project in the Cleveland area to give to. This would not be possible on Kapipal.
Here is a campaign helping a local teacher (Melissa Becerra) to volunteer in Tanzania at the Rift Valley Children’s Village Orphanage. (Sometimes though – person to person is the best way to fundraise. A benefit concert to support Melissa’s trip to Tanzania is being held October 7th, 4:00pm at Plymouth Church. Free will offering and dessert reception to follow.)
I decided to try the crowdfunding sea and went with Kapipal. I launched a fund for a short film project called: Honor Society. On the site I have a short video and then a breakdown of where the funds will go and why we need them. It’s a fascinating time and age to be able to contact collaborators so quickly and in such detail with the internet.
Do you have a project on any of these sites? Let us know in the comments section your thoughts and insights into using these platforms. Which one would you choose?
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