Crowdfunding has a large number of species and subspecies, which are described in various sources. A person who begins to be interested in this topic is faced with the chaos of materials and cannot form a general idea of the concept. This material will provide information based on crowdfunding, which will allow you to consider its main types and analyze current development trends.
What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is a mechanism for attracting financing aimed at supporting a business, selling a product, holding events, etc. There are three models for the type of remuneration for a sponsor:
- non-reward donation;
- Kickstarter model - receiving non-financial rewards;
- crowdinvesting - financial reward.
Crowdfunding will avoid the participation of exchanges, funds and banks in the process of obtaining financing. This procedure has been greatly simplified and has become more democratic. Of particular importance is the personal interest of the sponsor.
What is a crowdfunding platform?
A crowdfunding platform is a platform used to host and promote relevant projects on the Internet. It is a specialized service for posting ideas. The platform provides legal and financial aspects. In addition, it will facilitate the interaction of participants and help in promotion.
Features of crowdfunding platforms
It is worth noting the three main roles of the participants on the site. They are the author of the project, curator and sponsor. Crowdfunding platform allows you to curate any organization that is interested in supporting the project. This includes the provision of technical equipment, facilities, equipment and sponsorship of an advertising campaign. From the site, the authors represented project managers.
Crowdfunding platforms include a project creation system. It contains data on the amount and time of the project, its description, the availability of rewards, a presentation in video format, as well as information about the author and linking to a bank account. It is worth noting that various payment systems are integrated into the site, which depends on the specific service.
Most resources have a social component. This means that you can access the site using an account in a certain social network, and information about friends who are also registered on the site is also automatically indicated. The user has the opportunity to monitor the activity of other participants, as well as receive notifications about projects created or financed by them. Crowdfunding platform allows you to communicate with the author of the project you like.
First sites
The first European crowdfunding platform was created by the French and is called Ulule. It began its existence in 2010 and currently has about 5,000 successful projects. The main office of the company is in Paris. There are also representative offices in Spain and Germany. In general, in France there are about two dozen crowdfunding platforms. Most of them in the USA - more than thirty.
Some of the existing sites are thematic. For example, in the UK you can take advantage of a platform that allows you to finance a horse’s performance in competitions. There is also crowdfunding for students who are looking for funds and grants to sponsor their university studies. Users can find crowdfunding platforms that focus only on the fashion or music industry.
Crowdfunding platforms in Russia
To date, 14 platforms are actively working in Russia. Eight of them are classic crowdfunding, five are charitable platforms, and one is crowdfunding. For the first time, crowdfunding platform in Russia was founded in 2007 and had the name Kroogi.
An example of such funding can be called the creation of the animation "Three Melodies" by Harry Bardin. The project was made possible thanks to the Planeta.ru crowdfunding site.
The most popular Russian crowdfunding platforms: “Electronic charity box”, “With a thread through the world” and “Tugeza”. It is worth noting that they do not finance large projects, which then gain popularity and income. This is due to the lack of interesting products and the reluctance to finance projects incomprehensible to them.
In Russia, a crowdfunding platform will become popular only if it will present products at the production stage before selling. That is, people are more profitable to pay for a product that they can get immediately after release. It is worth noting that the platforms “My Teacher” and Planeta.ru are also promising. The last site is very popular, so you should pay special attention to it.
Crowdfunding platform "Planet"
Planet crowdfunding platform was launched in 2011 as a test version. Financing of this type was tested on the BI-2 group. Thus, they managed to collect about 1.2 million rubles that were used to release the Spirit album. This project was not a charity, but a prepayment for the disks that the participants received without intermediaries.
This crowdfunding platform eliminates the interaction between the authors of projects and their audience. This also leads to significant savings in money and effort. Recently, there has been an increase in the number of users, as well as an expansion in the scale of financing.
Crowdfunding sites in Ukraine
Crowdfunding platforms in Ukraine, unlike other services, are aimed at supporting society and cultural processes. Since the state does not provide assistance in changing the cultural environment, those interested in this have independently taken up this matter. The platform of social innovations "Great Idea" was launched in 2009. Three years later, she launched the Spіlnokosht crowdfunding platform on her website. Social changes in this case are financed by the forces of not indifferent people.
It is worth noting that crowdfunding platform is a good service that allows you to implement a huge number of useful projects. Thus, it is possible to provide support in the production of products, improvement of social status and the introduction of innovative technologies.