funding journalism: Welcome to The Crowdfunding Wiki!

Unfortunately, Wikipedia decided to delete this article (originally added in 2006 by sull)

Instead of playing that game, I switched to pbworks to archive this article and have interested people co-edit.

All thanks to the crowd, and as of the 28th June, 2009, crowdfunding is back and alive on wikipedia.

Please request to get permission to edit this page/site.

Crowdfunding, inspired by crowdsourcing , describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money together, usually via the Internet, in order to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowdfunding occurs for any variety of purposes, from disaster relief to citizen journalism to artists seeking support from fans, to political campaigns.

Overview

Crowdfunding can replace the need for specialized grant applications or other more formal and traditional fundraising techniques with that of a more casual, yet powerful, approach based on crowd participation. Examples of the basis of Crowdfunding can be seen in Cooperatives (co-ops) around the world. However, the Internet can provide new streamlined approaches to quickly imitating the co-op model for low-level and/or sudden needs (ie. disaster relief, travel expenses, legal fees and so on.). It is this reason that a term be used to encompass the act of informally generating and distributing funds, usually online, by groups of people for specific social, personal, entertainment or other purposes.

Crowdfunding, like Crowdsourcing , is very much related to online communities and social networks. The crowd can already exist as a community but they can also suddenly form from disparate groups around the world who all happen to share an interest in funding a person, project, event, campaign etcetera. The Internet allows for information to flow around the world, increasing awareness. A Crowdfunded network can assemble and disassemble at any time. This is the primary difference to traditional co-ops.

Influence of the crowd is another factor. Crowd psychology sometimes can play a part in the success or failure of crowdfunding efforts. Likewise, forms of Reciprocity (cultural anthropology) is related to the mindset of people who participate in crowdfunding efforts.

The fundamental priciples of crowdfunding are embodied by the Kapipalist Manifesto, written by the Kapipal founder Alberto Falossi.

Examples

Artemis Eternal - Upcoming sci-fi short film being produced independently by Jessica Mae Stover. The user is invited, in a cross-platform web experience, to donate (from $1 to $100) and join "The Wingmen" (whose members hail from students to homemakers to NASA employees and filmmakers) and help to fundraise the project. Filming for the movie is intended to start in 2009.
A Swarm of Angels is a Cinema 2.0 project to utilize a swarm of subscribers (Angels) to help fund, make, contribute, and distribute a £.1 million feature film , using the Internet and all digital technologies. It aims to recruit earlier development community members with the right expertise into paid project members, film crew, and production staff.

ActBlue is a Federal PAC that enables anyone — individuals, local groups, and national organizations — to fundraise for the Democratic candidates of their choice. Previously, only the most well-funded and technologically-savvy groups have employed these powerful fundraising methods. But with ActBlue, groups and individuals need only choose their candidates and make their solicitations. By providing all the technical, financial, and compliance systems, ActBlue enables every progressive organization and individual to make the most of their networks - rapidly raising otherwise untapped millions for Democrats in the closest races.
Akamusic is a community site that gives artists the possibility of having an album or a single produced by producer internet users.
It is free for artists and producers. Producers buy 5-€ shares of a potential production. When the goal is reached, each producer receives a collector's CD and the profits are split as follows: 40% for the artist, 40% for the producers, and 20% for Akamusic.
ArtistShare is a service for musicians to fund their projects outside the normal recording industry. It utilizes micropayments , to allow the general public to directly finance, and in some cases gain access to extra material from an artist. In 2004, Maria Schneider , became the first artist to win a Grammy , with an album distributed exclusively over the Internet. Distributed through ArtistShare she received four nominations for her album Concert in the Garden and won Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album.

BeerBankroll is building a community managed brewing company where members will make many of the business decisions. It only costs $50 per year to become a member and be a part of something special.
Business Card Build-Off (part of A Million High Fives) is America's largest crowdfunded project designed with the mission of equipping those in need with the technology to be heard and providing supplies and needed items to charities and shelters across the country.
Cameesa is the first site breaking into 'Crowdfunding Fashion,' where it encourages participation in the clothing creation process. Members decide which designs to print on T-shirts by supporting them financially. Once a design is 100% funded, the members who supported the design, get a special edition of the t-shirt and earn everytime it is sold.
Catwalk Genius allows fashion fans to invest in a professional designer's next collection in return for perks and an equal share of the profits.
chipin.com , (chipin.com) Another service for creating pledge drives and campaigns to raise and distribute funds. Similar to fundable.org but the main difference is that chipin.com does not currently require a time limit to reach the target amount.
City Budget Watchdog is a project from the Public Press that aims to fund five independent journalists to cover the San Francisco city government to produce important reports not covered by the mainstream media.
"The Cosmonaut" (originally in spanish: elcosmonauta.es) "El Cosmonauta" (The Cosmonaut) is a feature film project by the spanish indie platform "Riot Cinema Collective". Is a sci-fi film in which anyone, from 2 Euros, becomes "producer", obtaining credit recognizement, a welcome gift pack and entering the raffle of an authentic soviet-era cosmonaut suit to be used in the film. Also, the project is licensed under Creative Commons' Attribution-Sharealike, so anybody can edit, remix, copy and freely distribute all the film materials, including all the scenes, which the creators have promised to publish in unedited HD.
CreateaFund (http://www.createafund.com) allows both individuals and organizations to collect money online. The site tightly integrates with services like PayPal and Facebook to ensure a cohesive donor experience from start-to-finish. Fund creators get customizable 'Donation Pages' where donors can keep tabs on a fund's progress, leave comments and invite others.
firstgiving.com (firstgiving.com) A service that allows fundraisers to create online person-to-person fundraising pages for any US non-profit. The funds are directly transferred to the non-profit which differentiates firstgiving from other services.
Formosa Medical Travel is a niche oriented medical tourism facilitator dedicated to bringing uninsured Americans to Taiwan for medical care. They are currently seeking corwdfunding to finance their next expansion.

fundavlog fundavlog was an experimental project that attempted to sustain and/or incubate videoblog related projects and events by growing a Crowdfunded Network offering configurable 'payment pages' with simple funding functionality. Reciprocity and Transparency were critical in order to build a trusted attention network of people who are interested in the videoblog culture. Users deposit money into the fundavlog bank which they then can use to fund various types of entries submited by other users. The project blog was where the term 'crowdfunding' was coined (http://archive.crowdfunding.com/community/index.php?op=ViewArticle&articleId=9).

fundable.org (fundable.org) A service allowing for the creation and management of fundable "group action" pages where pledges can be accepted. If a campaign does not reach its goal within a set time (14 or 25 days), then all pledges are negated and no money distributed.

greedyorneedy.com (http://www.greedyorneedy.com/) Greedy or Needy (formerly Robin Hood Fund) is committed to fulfill as many everyday wishes for as many everyday people as possible. Anyone can submit a wish, and through the wisdom of crowds, wishes are fulfilled. Wishes are divided into two categories with one wish from heartfelt need and one wish from simple greed getting fulfilled. "The Robinhood Fund is different because we allow the crowd – not elite individuals such as a board – to decide which wishes should be granted." This is a Cambrian House project.

Have Money Will Vlog (HaveMoneyWillVlog.com ,)is a project that involves a group of volunteers that act as advocates for vlog proposals. The advocates promote projects they believe in to potential donors, whether they are friends and family or reaching out to those who subscribe to their blogs and related mailing lists etc. It's a very intimate affair that relies on Crowdfunding to reach the pledge drive's goals. The first few projects have all been successful.

i am verity (iamverity.com) Fans can become a "future owner today" by helping to raise $80,000 for recording costs and charity benefits. In essence, the artist is asking people to buy an album before it exists... so that it can exist. Also, 5.3% of money earned will be used to help others succeed (vague). Another 5.3% of everything earned goes to "People Opposing Woman Abuse's" work in South Africa. Once the target of 5000 albums is sold, The hope is to increase the percentage put towards these charities and make a difference in South Africa.

IndieGoGo is an online social marketplace connecting filmmakers and fans to make independent film happen. The platform provides filmmakers the tools for project funding, recruiting, and promotion, while enabling the audience to discover and connect directly with filmmakers and the causes they support. Since launching at Sundance 08, filmmakers have successfully raised thousands of dollars with DIWO (Do-it-with-others) funding.
Kapipal (kapipal.com) enables anyone — individuals and organizations — to easily create a crowdfunding page. Kapipal has no constraints, and it allows to crowdfund any project. Users can start a classic public fundraising project, but they can exploit crowdfunding in their private life too: for example, they can create a collection for a wedding registry or a birthday. Kapipal is integrated with Facebook, Twitter, and other social media: users can quickly ask their friends to spread the word or to contribute. Kapipal emphasizes the role of friends: the name "Kapipal" is a combination of "Capital" and "Pal".
laraghfinance.com (laraghfinance.com) A company that raises funding for businesses using the crowd funding concept, private placements are no longer only accessible for high net worth individuals and big institutions. A large group of small investors can together come up with the total capital a company need to execute its business plans.

PledgeBank (pledgebank.com) while not exclusively for funding has often been used to make money online for various projects and charities. For example a person might pledge, "I will give $1000 to... zarada na internetu if 50 others will also pledge atleast $50."
ProjectFranchise (www.projectfranchise.org) is a group set out to 'Make Fantasy Sports a Reality' by charging $10 for each premium member, plus sponsorships, they seek to raise enough money to buy a minor league sports franchise and let the community vote on all major team decisions. The fans will have a say in everything from team name, mascot and logo to player personnel and game strategy to what is served in the concession stands.

SellaBand (sellaband.com) is a service for musicians and bands to promote their work in an effort to gain "believers" who will help to fund the production and distribution of an album. Believers must raise $50k in order to graduate the artists into contractual agreements. Believers can earn money back from ad revenue used in tandem with giving away the music for free online at sellaband's site.
Senzoo is a web widget that displays a custom message to site visitors, asking them to donate. Site owners are encouraged to explain their allocation of funds to build donor trust. Three payment options can be configured (PayPal, Google Checkout, Amazon Flexible Payments Service) making it easier to donate, and the notification window can be customized by style and display frequency.
Spot.Us is a site that allows independent journalists to crowdfund their freelance wages to produce news.
twollars.com - Twollars is a currency of appreciation for Twitter. Twollars are designed to reward positive actions. You can give Twollars when someone helps you by tweeting useful information, sharing a tip, writing an inspiring Tweet or if you are just feeling generous. Besides giving them to people, you can benefit good causes on Twitter by sending them Twollars. Tweet your Twollars to a good cause.
Tangent - Tangent is a new video series that shows you how everything in the universe is related and reciprocal. We’re going to show you how. All these rivers and oceans are connected, you know.
Tangent is also crowd-funded, meaning our production budget is partially paid for by our viewers.

The idea evolved from many previous crowd-funding projects. It was conceived out of need, and the thought that through the energy, commitment, and investment of many, great things can be achieved. The concept is simple and low risk – through micro-funding, Creative Commons licensing, and shared IP ownership – online video can find the financial support it needs to be taken to the next level.
Trampoline Systems is the first technology venture to raise equity capital by crowdfunding. The London-based social analytics developer is raising £1 million from up to 100 investors with a minimum stake of £10,000. The Financial Times newspaper published a feature on Trampoline's initiative in July 2009.
www .myshowmustgoon .com : A service that allows show-producers to find funds. The users choose the shows they prefer and can invest on this project. Then, they can promote their shows with special tools (exclusive videos, etc...). At the end of the exploitation, they are given their part of the financial result.

See Also

External Links

Crowdfunding.com, was pointing to this wiki. As of June 2009, the domain has been sold and now is used by @crowdfunding on twitter. Originally was a blog by sull in 2006 where the the term "crowdfunding" was coined/defined during the development of a videoblogging community project called fundavlog.
The Kapipalist Manifesto - The key principles of the Crowdfunding model.
zero.newassignment.net - A collaboration among NewAssignment.Net, Wired, and those who choose to participate. The project is "an attempt to bring journalists together with people in the public who can help cover a story". They have included "Crowdfunding" as a topic of interest that will be researched and written about.

Articles