What is Crowdfunding?

It all started in the U.S. in the 90’s. This method of collecting money helped Marillion to head out on the concert tour in the USA in 1997. What helped them and their friends to meet outside of Europe were the possibilities given by the idea of crowdfunding and a little bit of work and desire. But what is it all about?

The Idea of Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding is the idea of financing projects and other innovative notions by donors who want to get involved. There is a fine line between fundraising for charity (for example) and crowdfunding. Even though it might seem similar at first sight, it is slightly different. What varies those two methods is the fact that when it comes to crowdfunding, people who back the given project not only want to invest their money, but also to get involved and be a part of the idea itself. While fundraising in its classic way is selfless, people who share their money via the means of crowdfunding are getting something in exchange for a contribution and desire to help. There are few ways to make your backers satisfied with helping you to bring your idea to a real life. One of those approaches is giving them a trading profit of your project or making them a shareholder of your business, yet another one is sending an early bird-type award to the bakers. This idea of expressing gratitude is like killing two birds using one stone, because not only it’s the way of thanking for support, but also – of spreading your product out.

How to Find the Backers?

First of all, you have to do your best to create the idea that others will follow. It isn’t possible to find donors if the project isn’t good enough. If this point is checked, you can start looking for people who may back your work. You don’t have to seek them on the street because there are few social fundraising platforms that may help you to start your crowdfunding campaign. Portals such as Kickstarter, Indigogo. GoFundMe, GoGetFunding, and Peerbackers are helping thousands of inventors, designers, scientists and other creative people to find a backer who will strike a blow for their idea. If you have a brilliant notion, half a battle is already behind you and all you have to do to start the campaign is to choose a platform from the list above (or any other of this kind) and to set up a project. Et voila!

Read more on our ultimate guide to starting the perfect Kickstarter campaign.

Looking at what Marillion’s fans did to bring their favorite British band to the U.S., it is possible to accomplish even the biggest dream. This way of raising funds may be one of the best when it comes to collecting the money needed for launching your project.

Image Credits: By Lrheath (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 3.0