Tag: crowdfunding sites

crowdfunding sites

Crowdfunding Sites for Charity and Cause Fundraisers

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Crowdfunding sites suit all kind of fundraiser these days, including fundraising for charity or cause. However, the point to be noted here is the specialization of these crowdfunding sites. There are crowdfunding sites which work for various genres of fundraising, also there are sites which work only for a particular kind of fundraising. The specialized crowdfunding sites have an obvious edge over the commoners, in convergence of work, but the common crowdfunding sites make it up in other fields like pricing and ease of access.

This blog discusses some of the prominent crowdfunding site in the field of fundraising for a charity or cause.

Crowdfunding sites to be considered by Non-Profits:

  1. FirstGiving

This is a pioneer crowdfunding site which not only helps the non-profits to raise funds for their cause but also, encourages and enables individuals to raise funds for their cause. Tools are provided through which funds can be raised in simple ways on this platform to assist individuals and from peer to peer fundraising events for non-profits. Processing charges of 7.5% apply which is inclusive of all.

  1. MyEfunder

Not one of the specialized crowdfunding sites but in no way less than any of those, MyEfunder provides the all tools and features to make fundraising for a cause a success, both for individuals and Non-Profits. The website is really easy to understand and use, and provides ample of options to sort donation types. With a fundraising fees which is not too much on the pocket of the fundraiser and donors, makes it quite a favourable one.

  1. FundRazr

A fundraising platform which has the trust of PayPal as it being the co-founder. It facilitates campaigning for a cause on the social media circuit through FundRazr pages. These pages can be established by individuals, groups, or even non-profits. The mode of donations could be anything ranging from credit cards, debit cards or even via PayPal.

  1. JustGive

One of the most widely used crowdfunding sites worldwide, JustGive is the home to 1.8 million charities, which find success in reaching their goal on the site. A minimal 4.5% processing fees on each donations is their way of earning, but it is at par with the standard rates. Another feature of this platform which impresses is that it allows downloading transaction details in various formats.

 

It is not only the features and pricing of crowdfunding sites which have a positive impact, but also the blogs of these crowdfunding sites. These blogs provide information about the recent trends and news in the field of fundraising. Hence, referring and researching about crowdfunding sites before starting a fundraiser is always a wise decision.

Crowdfunding Sites

Fundraising for Individuals paced by crowdfunding sites

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The need for fundraising for an individual can arise at any point of time in life, hence clearing the air about a successful fundraising is important. The idea of crowdfunding sites in this context should also be imbibed along with the concept of fundraising for individuals.

Fundraising for individuals comprise of various reasons for raising funds for the needs of a helpless individual. These reasons could be of a variety of kinds like raising funds for payment of school or college fees, funds for treatment of illness, funds for establishing a set up for a handicapped person to earn his living etc.

Everybody is well aware of the role crowdfunding sites offer in the field of funding projects. Interestingly there are crowdfunding sites which assist to the needs of fundraising for any cause be it individual or any other kind. This articles discusses the impact of crowdfunding sites when fundraising for an individual. As we traverse through this article we come to know that this impact is more of a positive nature.

Accelerating individual Fundraising through crowdfunding sites

The market of crowdfunding sites could be easily scanned through the internet to find the correct kind of site for fundraising for an individual. MyEfunder is one of those crowdfunding sites which help raising funds for an individual.

However, suitable crowdfunding sites are not the first prerequisite of individual fundraising, the first requirement is the reason for the fundraising for which the individual is raising funds. It has to be something concrete, something that the person is really in need of, and not some superficial one.

A fundraising event is the next thing to watch out in the process. It can be of a wide variety depending upon various factors such as location, need of the individual, capabilities and thought process of the individual etc. A fundraising event can be anything ranging from a simple collection box to a fun fair, however in case of an individual, options are limited as the organiser is an individual.

Involvement of crowdfunding sites adds another dimension to the process of fundraising for an individual. It helps overcome the limitations of individual fundraising by propagating the individual cause through a wider area of funders. Crowdfunding sites like MyEfunder facilitate listing individual causes on their platforms thereby garnering funds for them from every nook and corner.

These crowdfunding sites list the events organised by the individual for the collection of funds, hence the event should be such that it would attract the funders at the very first look. It could be a physical challenge, a creative one or may be an act of simple sacrifice. Reaching to the masses is the objective of crowd funding sites; for this purpose they should be chosen in a wise manner. The act of choosing involves the inspection of the previous track record of crowdfunding sites for similar kind of fundraising as yours.

The main aspect of the fundraising is the deep emotion attached with the cause, other things are secondary.

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Inclusion of Crowdfunding sites while Fundraising Projects

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Crowdfunding of projects is a big hit amongst both, profit and non-profit organizations seeking funds for their projects. An important aspect of crowdfunding is the birth of an idea for fundraising; to implement it is another ordeal. Various crowdfunding sites have emerged in recent years to implement the ideas for facilitating the injection of funds to the project.  However, a point to be noted is that these crowdfunding sites work in different manner for kinds of fundraising projects.

The modern times have seen manifold increase in the type of fundraising projects ranging from school fundraising projects to business fundraising projects. The steps to be followed for implementing the fundraising ideas for all might differ slightly, but one thing is for sure, that throughout the process if they are connected to crowdfunding sites,things would definitely fall in place.

Let’s have a look at the common procedure followed while fundraising for projects, apart from enrolling on crowdfunding sites:

Identify the purpose

Getting a clear picture of the motive behind implementing a fundraising idea is the first thing which must be done. If the purpose is gathered clearly, then making a path to reach it is the only step left.

The idea for fundraising

Especially, deemed for fundraising projects of school, individual or charity, an idea for a fundraising event could be anything ranging from a tea stall to ball dance. However, profit project fundraisers, could also build temporary stalls for community survey and give information about the new things they are going to bring for the society.

Be crisp on the Estimate

Yes, budgeting is very much important for any fundraising project to take flight. An estimate helps you to spend proper amount on things of priority, for e.g. inclusion of crowdfunding sites is important, but your budget might tell you which of the crowdfunding sites is best suited for you.

Attaching crowdfunding sites to your project

After selecting the fundraising idea and estimating the budget, approaching crowdfunding sites like Myefunder.com for generating funds for your site is always a plus point. They help in wide spreading the idea of your project and garnering attention of the crowd, thereby generating funds for your cause or venture.

Implementation of the idea

Implementing the idea includes choosing a leader to avoid confusion, setting up staff for different sections of marketing, sales and service and finally letting the show begin after a few sessions of practice. Moreover, personnel from crowdfunding sites could also help you in implementation.

Being Grateful

A “thank you” is the phrase which lightens up the heaviest of souls. Thanks-giving to all those who helped making your project a success is the best way to finish a fundraising project including the crowdfunding sites, so that the next time you meet them it would be with a smile,both on their faces and their hearts.

An idea for funding projects might be the progeny of a single brain, but its successful implementation is a result of healthy team work and inclusion of crowdfunding sites.

Happy fundraising for your project!!!

5 Major Advantages of Online Fundraising

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5 Major Advantages of Online Fundraising

Crowd funding is a new way of online fundraising which can help entrepreneurs find investors easily, and find a proper platform where they can publicize their creative ideas in order to get lots of investors interested to put money into their projects. Efficient and cost-effective, crowdfunding platforms can go a long way to help you in getting your funds. It offers the 5 major advantages to any entrepreneur.

You can raise funds easily

It is quite difficult to raise the initial capital for any venture. But whether you have a business, a film, a social cause or even a personal cause to raise money for, you will find crowdfunding sites to be extremely useful. These save the time and effort needed to talk with bank authorities, apply for loans and inform about your business idea. If you are turned down by traditional lending organizations, these platforms can be a great alternative way to raise funds.

You can avoid risks

As a startup without enough business knowledge, putting your own money in the line can be an extremely risky proposition. However, crowd funding helps you avoid the risk of investing your personal funds. Even if the project fails, you will not land up with a financial emergency. You can even test risky business ideas with crowdfunding.

You can use the platforms for marketing

Crowdfunding platforms prove to be one of the best ways to raise money. Other than helping you with fundraising, it can also assist you with marketing. You can get vital marketing tips and ideas from experienced investors on crowdfunding sites, get them connect you with valuable business contacts and also get feedbacks from them about whether or not you need to fine-tune your business model in order to make it more successful.

You can promote your offerings before launch

There is also the advantage of being able to promote your products and services before actually launching them, and finding out whether they are actually able to generate some interest in potential consumers. You can also get valuable suggestions on improvement from online users on crowdfunding platforms and tweak your offerings to make them more suitable for consumers.

You do not have to offer stocks or ownership

With online fundraising platforms, there is no need for you to offer remunerations to your contributors in terms of money, equity or any special privilege. In exchange for funding, you may offer free tickets for concerts, t-shirts or mugs, discounted services etc.

Keywords: Crowd funding, crowdfunding platforms, crowdfunding sites, online fundraising, crowd source funding, ways to raise money

How to Market Your Crowdfunding Campaign

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4 Things to Consider Before Creating any Crowdfunding Marketing Pitch

The ongoing recession has made it more difficult for people to get the funds needed for setting up their startup businesses. This has also made crowdfunding more popular, and startup owners and even people with financing requirements for projects of all shapes and sizes are turning more and more towards this type of funding. However, not every crowd funding marketing pitch is successful and this is exactly the reason why you need to consider these 4 things before making a pitch.

Think about the business idea

First of all, you need to have a proper idea about the business plan that you intend to make a pitch for. Your business idea and model should be attractive enough for investors, and interest them enough to put their money into your venture. Analyze whether or not you have such a business model. You should also be clear about the kind of profits or rewards that you will be able to offer to your backers on crowdfunding platform in exchange for the investment.

Be clear about the capital

You should also have a clear conception about the kind of capital that you need. On crowdfunding sites, do not ask for less than the total amount of funds that you require for starting your project or venture. Make a list of the expenses that you will need to make, and work out an investment amount that will help your business to start comfortably. Make a pitch for that kind of funds on the crowd funding websites.

Consider the platforms

There are lots of crowdfunding sites on the internet, but not all of them accept all types of project. You need a crowdfunding platform that will accept the type of project you need to gather funds for. It is a good idea to research on the internet and know about various crowd source funding sites and find out which ones accept your type of business project.

Have proper marketing tools in place

Finally, you should also have the right marketing tools in place for your crowd source funding pitch. Once you create the images, videos and posts for your marketing pitch, show them to your friends and family members, even to outsiders, and ask whether they look up to the mark. If the feedbacks are negative, you should try and make them look as professional as possible. With amateurish creations, you cannot go too far with your crowdfunding campaigns.

Keywords: crowdfunding, crowd funding, crowdfunding platform, crowdfunding sites, crowd source funding

Top Crowdfunding Sites for Raising Capital

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5 Unique Crowd Funding Websites to Use for Gathering Finances

Are you considering opening up a business that requires taking a small business loan, you need to think about acquiring crowdfunding as a possible way of gathering investment capital for your venture. Those who know what is crowdfunding and how powerful it is come back to it again and again and exploit its power for online fundraising. This is actually a way of gathering funds from a large pool of contributors who might or might not be into professional investment of ventures. It makes use of the internet in order to gathers funds from lots of small investors. It works as a profitable strategy for business when you are unable to get enough venture capital or loans from traditional banks. The following are 5 unique crowdfunding sites that can be used for easy fund generation.

Prosper.com

This is one of the best crowdfunding platforms which offer personal loans as a substitute for investment capital options, credit card debt and bank loans. As a borrower, you can avail a fixed rate of interest. You may even get a short term, unsecured loan which can be paid back in the form of equated monthly payments. If you are fed up with asking for loans from traditional lending organizations, you may try this for a change.

Kiva.org

It is one of the specialized crowdfunding sites which make use of a global network of microfinance organizations that collaborate with self-organized teams which are ready to lend as little sums of money as 25 USD to poor borrowers from across the globe. Alongside funding projects, it is also a global community comprising of individuals who come together in order to pool their finances and help the poor people across the world.

RockThePost.com

This is another of the best crowdfunding platforms that is loved a lot by entrepreneurs, and used by them for online fundraising. Other than entrepreneurs, it also helps creative people, professionals and creators of projects to get in touch with investors and generate capital that can help them to set up an idea, project or business and grow the same. This business social network attempts to close the gap between potential investors and entrepreneurs and helps the latter to get money to get their projects started. The platform can also help entrepreneurs to get ideas and tips on getting their ventures started and make them successful.

StartSomeGood.com

People who know what is crowdfunding and its capability, love to make use of this project crowd funding website which is used by borrowers in order to raise the money that is important for using as capital. This site can be used to raise capital that is needed for financing diverse types of projects.

MyEFunder.com

Where crowdfunding for businesses is concerned, this is an ideal one for startups. It offers new entrepreneurs with a platform that can help them to attract potential investors as well as issue stocks in their own firms. The rules of this platform need a minimum of one accredited investor to invest in the firm, who has to also specify the initial value of the stock.

Keyword: crowdfunding, what is crowdfunding, crowd funding, crowdfunding sites, crowdfunding platforms, online fundraising

How to Ensure Success of Your Crowdfunding Videos

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How to Ensure Success of Your Crowdfunding Videos?

If you are considering starting a crowdfunding campaign, it is important to create a nice video. It is widely known that campaigns with videos make a better impact among potential investors than those which do not come with videos. As per Indiegogo, campaigns consisting of videos have a 122% greater success rate than those that do not use any videos. With a good video, you can enhance the success rate of your campaign by a large measure. The following tips will ensure the success of your crowdsourcing videos.

Create a good storyline

You need to create a proper storyline which is sensible and has a definite beginning, middle and end. It is important to do efficient preproduction and plan every scene. It is a good idea to check quite a few crowdfunding videos before you begin to shoot your own video. Check those videos which are on the similar lines as your own crowdsourcing project campaign video.

Make it simple

It is a sensible idea to make a simple video for crowdfunding sites, without too much of technical complexities. This will keep your expenses down, and also make your work understandable for potential investors. Explain the business plan you have, the problem that you are facing in gathering funds and how you intend to reward your backers.

Demonstrate your prototype

If you are creating a product campaign, it is a better idea to showcase a working prototype of your item. Demonstrate it from various angles, to give your backers a proper idea of the item that you wish to launch in the market.

Get feedbacks from friends and close ones

Show the first cut of your video to a group of friends or even people who do not have much knowledge about your venture. Find out whether they understand the video clearly, and make out all that you have to say. Based on the feedbacks, you have to add some scenes or even delete a few before launching it on the crowdfunding sites.

Use an interesting thumbnail

The thumbnail for your crowdsourcing video should be an attractive one, so that visitors feel inclined to click on it and see the entire video. Use an interesting image that makes visitors feel the interest to take some minutes from their time and see the video. You need to follow the photography rules while choosing the image. The thumbnail needs to be from a right angle, and fully clear. Check a few video thumbnail images on sites like Indiegogo to get an idea.

Keywords: crowdfunding, Indiegogo, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding sites

Top 3 Ways Crowdfunding Helps Entrepreneurs

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3 Main Ways Crowdfunding Helps Entrepreneurs

Crowdfunding is an alternative method of financing that many entrepreneurs of small businesses are opting for. It has helped many small business owners to get funds for their ventures. It is a type of crowdsourcing which is assisting entrepreneurs in bypassing traditional ways of funding and getting investment capital more easily from people known to them and even outright strangers. Know about 3 main ways in which this type of funding proves to be assistive to new entrepreneurs.

It helps use crowd resources

The major benefit of crowdfunding is that it can help you to build wealth from your venture without using your own resources. No one can run a business all alone. In the initial stages, you are likely to lack the skills and experience that is needed in order to set up a business and make it grow. With the help of crowdsourcing, you can tap into the resources of others who believe in your venture. You can get funds in the form of tiny equity investments from lots of backers. You can even get established entrepreneurs to help you with professional advice and probably also turn into your customers.

You can get proper market feedback

There is also the scope for you to get proper feedback from potential backers and customers on crowdfunding sites as well as get the amount capital that is needed for starting your venture. You can also get feedbacks and suggestions from backers about any adjustments that you need to do prior to spending bucks on manufacturing, operations and promotions. You can receive proper feedback from the market by doing a test launch, and avoid unnecessary wastage of resources. There is the scope to get assistive suggestions and feedbacks on improving your product or service from crowdfunding platforms and make it more suitable for your customers. You can indulge in bulk production once you get completely satisfactory responses.

You can get valuable contacts

There is also the chance for you to gain valuable contacts through socializing on the crowdfunding platforms. You can get a first-hand experience of how to market your service or products. With the help of good business contacts, you can find great teams to support you, more investors and better marketing skills. With crowdfunding sites, you can also get an idea of how many people are interested in your business. Even before the launch of your product, you can generate awareness about your offerings without spending on glitzy ad campaigns.

Keywords: crowdfunding, crowdsourcing, crowdfunding sites, crowdfunding platforms

How is Crowdfunding Better from Traditional Funding?

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How is Crowdfunding Better from Traditional Funding?

Crowdfunding has turned into one of the main ways of online fundraising. These days, this type of fundraising is not limited anymore only to specific products. It also includes raising money for films, music bands, books, games and many community ventures. Crowdfunding platforms offer a terrific platform to people who need to generate funds, and also provide them with ideas to market their venture. It can help them to let others know about their venture or product even before it is made. This type of funding is better from traditional funding in a number of ways:

Easier to find investors

With the help of crowd funding sites, you will find it comparatively easier to find investors for your business. In comparison, traditional funding needs a lot of effort and time and you have to persuade the investors and make them see the benefits of investing in your product or venture.

Scope of better networking

Crowdfunding platforms also offer a bigger platform for entrepreneurs to network with individuals and market their items or venture, or find investment for the same. With regular funding platforms, you can only get to network with a small number of individuals. As crowdfunding is a method of online fundraising, you can harness the power and scope of the World Wide Web to network with more people.

You can get better market information and feedbacks

Given the fact that you are able to introduce your item to lots of people simultaneously through crowd funding sites, you get the scope to acquire worthwhile feedback and info about the market. You do not have to research extensively about the market, as you can get feedbacks almost instantly. With traditional options for funding, there is no such information, feedback or scope for easier market research.

You can get funds more easily

On crowdfunding sites, you can find investors to be usually inspired by some innovative idea that they like and see profitability in. Naturally, you can easily draw funds in case you have a worthwhile or lucrative business idea. But traditional investors are generally motivated by the practicality of the idea, expansion, potential for making profits and revenue generation.

You can get better business control

With crowdfunding sites, you are able to retain the control of your business in your own hands. Investors will not force their own decisions over you, unlike in traditional funding where investors may attempt to override your plans and take control from your hands.

Keywords: crowdfunding, online fundraising, crowdfunding platforms, crowd funding sites, crowdfunding sites

Kickstarter

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What is Kickstarter – How Does It Help Entrepreneurs?

It is said that big dreams come at a cost, and if you are an entrepreneur you must have realized that too well by now. Getting your dream projects off the ground is not easy, unless you have proper funding for the same. Crowdfunding is a relatively new way of gathering funds for projects that require high amount of investment. One of the best and biggest websites for crowdfunding, Kickstarter offers excellent help on creating successful campaigns.

What is Kick Starter?

Kickstarter is actually one of the biggest and most popular crowdfunding sites. It was launched in the US in the year 2009 and is now also available in the UK. It has around 381 m USD in pledges and boasts of a 43.5% rate of success. This is a rewards-based platform without any investors. It only has donors or backers. Financial donations to various projects are awarded here with things like tees, movie credits and more. Advanced copies of games are also sometimes handed over to backers.

Main Features of Kick Starter

In Kickstarter, projects are submitted to be approved. As much as 75% of the projects are found to be accepted. The time for turnaround is around a couple of days. It also comes with a unique “All or Nothing Pledging” system in which entrepreneurs do not receive the funds if they do not reach their objectives.

The projects that are submitted need to fit into any of the thirteen creative categories specified on the website. This is one of those crowdfunding sites which are only dedicated to projects. It demands a plan for manufacturing and needs a prototype.

All the awards are restricted to single items, which can be in the price range of 1 – 5,000 pounds as far as UK projects are concerned. On an average, most of the successful projects in the US raise 10,000 USD. An average of 71 USD is pledged per person.

Is Kick Starter the Only Crowd-Funding Site?

Where crowdfunding sites go, Kickstarter is certainly one of the biggest. However, it is not the only one. You can find similar sites such as Indiegogo and RocketHub which have also become global. However, Kickstarter is one of the sites with the maximum media exposure – something that Indiegogo and RocketHub do not have. This helps entrepreneurs and start-ups to get backers and donors easily for their projects. There have been some landmark campaigns on this site, which include Tim Schafer’s Double Fine that have seen as much as 3 million USD to be pledged. There was also the Pebble e-Paper Watch campaign where a staggering sum of 10 million USD has been pledged.

Keywords: Kickstarter, Crowdfunding, crowdfunding sites, Indiegogo, RocketHub