The Basics of Crowdfunding

Every day we see people trying to raise money for causes. Whether it’s for natural disaster relief, raising money for a school, or even helping the poor. Everyone knows this is fundraising, but wouldn’t it be more efficient to have this take place over a network of people on the internet? Crowdfunding is a type of fundraising that almost always occurs over the cloud. It’s efficient and can be even more effective than actually physically asking for donations.

Crowdfunding is used every day for all sorts of purposes. It’s used to maybe help promote a new product, to help the needy, or even to support political campaigns. People use websites like GoFundMe.com to raise money. Websites like GoFundMe.com show multiple things you can support by pledging money to support a huge range of causes.

Fundraising with crowdfunding instead of just normal door to door fundraising is more beneficial in many ways. You can reach more people over the internet than you could than physically asking for donations. Also, it takes far less time. Instead of having to work for every single donation, you can simply advertise your cause and leave it to the people to donate the money.

There have been news stories about people using crowdfunding to help other people out. Karen Klein, the bullied bus monitor, was getting bullied badly, and eventually people decided to help her out. Using various crowdfunding websites people raised all together around $100,000 so she could go on a vacation!

Lots of businesses use crowdfunding to help gain funding for their products without having to give up any equity on their company. Instead of having investors who either want a royalty on the units sold, some share of equity in the business, or they even may have a contingency in order for them to be willing to give money to the business. By using crowdfunding, lots of businesses can get the money they need to develop or get their product out there. Instead of offering equity, they can offer discounts or even a free product depending on the amount you give. It is a simple way for both businesses and the people giving the money to both benefit from the product that is being developed.

There are tons of crowdfunding programs that raise money for organizations, like a school. Raising money for schools is important for obvious reasons. Schools are a huge part of society and without them life would be far different. Using fundraising with crowdfunding, it is usually hassle-free for people to help out things they care about.

Actually raising money from crowdfunding can be difficult at times however. In order to keep new funds coming in and to get people interested, you have to prove that what you are doing is worthwhile. You have to show people that what you are trying to accomplish and that the goal you are reaching is both realistic and necessary, else, why should people care or even help you out? Another downside of crowdfunding over the internet is that it’s hard to show people what you are doing. When you are physically trying to get funds, you can demonstrate and explain what you are doing all the way. However, over the internet that can be far more difficult. It is still doable if you are willing to work hard enough.

All in all though, crowdfunding is a great way to raise money for a product, cause, or even for an organization you want to support. It is a way to get whatever you want to showcase to a wide number of people using the internet. It isn’t going to be the easiest thing you have ever done, but it is an awesome way to spread your cause to a wide number of people to get the funding you need.