By JESSICA WRIXON
October 9, 2014
When it comes to raising money, there are many different ways to get others to fund a creative project. Some people might participate in boot drives, where you stand on the side of the road with a bucket for drivers to put change in, or some people might raise money by having a sale of some sort. In this digital age, the best way to raise money is by crowdfunding on the Internet.
Crowdfunding, or raising money for a project or cause online provides endless opportunities to raise a significant amount of money. Some popular crowdfunding sites such as Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and Kickstarter, have proven extremely successful. Kickstarter, which had around 40 projects reach one million dollars, comes with the highest success rate, beating out Indiegogo, which had around three projects reach one million dollars and GoFundMe, which has the least success rate, provides many notable success stories on the Web site, whether it be any sort of charity or even extra support for a family in need.
Robert Vaughn, a filmmaking graduate and aspiring director from Montclair State University, created an Indiegogo fundraiser to raise money to successfully fund his senior thesis film.
“I used Indiegogo for my thesis film in college because unlike Kickstarter, which was the other ‘big-bad’ fundraising Web site at the time, you are able to keep a certain percentage of what you made, regardless of if you met your goal or not,” said Vaughn.
“My Indiegogo campaign turned out to be really successful and I ended up getting around $1,000. It was insane because I didn’t think I’d get that much,” said Vaughn. “With the campaign and the money I had already spent combined, I was able spread the word on my project and finish my thesis, which turned out great.”
The Internet helps fundraising by linking people to the cause on social media sites or having someone just ask for help. According to Fundable.com, social media plays such a crucial component for success when it comes to crowdfunding that every magnitude increase of Facebook friends (10 friends, 100 friends, to 1000 friends), the probable outcome becomes more successful, increasing donations drastically (9 percent, 20 percent, to 40 percent).
Crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo, GoFundMe, and Kickstarter, experience success through social media sharing. The ALS ice bucket challenge, which didn’t start out as a crowdfunding charity, went explosively viral throughout social media and gave the phrase crowdfunding a whole new meaning.
“I wanted to participate in the ALS ice bucket challenge in order to do what I could to spread awareness for the cause,” said Rachel Saslaw, a marketing graduate from Pennsylvania State University. “A lot of my friends posted videos on Facebook where they requested their nominated friends to dump a bucket of ice water on their heads or donate to the ALS Association.”
Although Saslaw took a different approach to the ice bucket challenge by requesting her nominated friends to strictly donate in order to pass the message along, she recalls the immense flocking of attention that the bucket challenge brought to the ALS Association.
“It was really hard to avoid the cause because everyone was talking and posting about it. The ice bucket challenge was really all the ALS Association needed because it was falling short of recognition and national support,” said Saslaw.
“I feel like the Internet created a lot of buzz for the ALS Association because it was constantly brought up on social media sites and many news outlets.”
Your column was chock full of information! It covered just about everything there is to know about crowdfunding. I really like how you gave examples of multiple sites instead of focusing on just one. What I would maybe like to know more about is how the sites work exactly, and what one has to do in order to start one. Are there any specific qualifications, or can anyone do it? Good job!