So
what exactly do we mean by crowdfunding? In the spirit of crowdsourcing it
seems only right that we should use Wikipedia’s definition:
Crowdfunding describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their resources... to support efforts initiated by other people or organisations
You
could be forgiven for thinking this is what charities have been doing for years
through, for instance, their community fundraising teams. And it’s these
obvious connections with existing expertise that make it such an interesting
prospect for charities.
But
despite the persistent hype there are still unanswered questions about the
potential for charities and how best to realise it. For every success story
there are thousands more failures. As this fundraiser demonstrates on the
Indiegogo blog “My campaign has been up for weeks, yet to date has only raised
$20 despite the campaign having received national publicity.” Of course, you
could argue that these failures are inevitable and that we should be using their
failure to learn. One thing we do know is that successful campaigns start with
word of mouth and focus on telling a great story that engages a broad audience.
Again, similar to what community fundraisers have been doing for years.
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