Crowdfunding remains a top buzzword, but is there substance to the style? Ryan Bromley and Kevin Waudbyoutline how crowdfunding has evolved, and how charities can engage.
Can crowdfunding help charities fund their programmes? It’s a question more and more people are asking. Across the Atlantic crowdfunding sites Kickstarter and Indiegogo are growing bigger and faster each year. 2012 saw a $210m (221 per cent) increase in funds pledged on Kickstarter and a 20 per cent increase in the average amount campaigns raised on Indiegogo. And the UK is establishing itself as a leading force in Europe with 44 crowdfunding platforms, almost a quarter of the European total.
Each year more people are ‘crowdfunding’ and the concept is evolving along the way. The $1.3m raised to rescue the lab of inventor Nicola Tesla, or $703,833 to send a bullied school bus attendant on holiday have kept crowdfunding in the news. It’s these vast sums of money handed out by ordinary members of the public that excites the charity sector.
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