Crowdfunding

Here’s the scenario – I came across a pack of dogs, all the same breed it appeared, and later discovered after getting them to the vet that indeed they were related, sharing the same mother who was part of the pack. The vet went on to say that this has become a growing problem, folks abandoning dogs and the dogs reproducing afterward, having no other recourse for anything else as they are living on the street.

I wanted to do something about this but felt alone and rather powerless. I had heard of something called crowdfunding, an online mechanism that allows one to present a case or problem or need – in this case, preventing excessive wild, canine reproduction – and ask others to do join in and support you. Within 2 weeks I raised $55,000 in support of a novel effort by a local non-profit to solve this issue in our community at a grass-roots level.

What I just presented you, dear reader, is crowdfunding at work. This mechanism has been so popular that people now use crowdfunding sites for all sorts of things. In fact, the newest group, venture capitalists, are raising hundreds of millions of dollars online! Rather astounding stuff, but who are the main players exactly in this industry?

Kickstarter

Regarded as one of the best-known crowdfunding sites, Kickstarter’s claim to fame has been launching some crazy, popular tech games and consoles that are now very profitable companies. Kickstarter is especially cool because rewards for funders are available depending at the level you participate with. This is an all-or-nothing platform, which means the project doesn’t get off the ground unless it is 100% funded.

Indiegogo

Like Kickstarter in many respects, Indiegogo is not an all-or-nothing model. It has what is known as flexible funding worked in and the site works best for projects where any bit can help. Think of this as if only 80% of the funding arrived the project could still reach its potential regardless. Indiegogo has a heavy partnership with retailers, and strikes deals with companies like Brookstone and Amazon which helps them bring products to market.

GoFundMe

If the tech/gadget sphere isn’t your thing, GoFundMe is an advocacy-based platform, connecting folks with causes or hardships, a real emotion-tugging affair. The subjects that get posted can be heartbreaking, fair warning. Personal tragedies, death, but also newlyweds who are scraping together money to start a family lift the spirits as well. When the terrible shooting in the Orlando nightclub occurred a handful of years ago roughly $5 million was raised on this platform to support the families. Lots of good deeds on this site.

Crowd Supply

Every realm online requires space for the freaky and uncommon. Off-the-beaten path projects or super uber-geeky stuff is what you’ll find on Crowd Supply. Honestly, you can just arrive to the site and look around for fun. The wealth of crazy initiatives is otherworldly, and you couldn’t make up half the stuff you see here.

Plenty more where that came from, but these are the major crowdfunding players to date. If you have an idea in 2019 odds are someone will give you cash to develop it.