May 29, 2012 | By:

Alternative Methods for Entrepreneurs: Crowd Funding

If you’ve heard of Kickstarter, you have a passing idea of what “crowd funding” is. For the uninitiated: “crowd funding” is when an individual or organization raises funds for a project by accepting micropayments from a multitude of people online. This can range from an author who gets people interested enough in his novel to spend money (perhaps with the promise of autographed copies) to major start-up businesses getting funding from would-be investors.

Here’s how crowd funding usually works: a company (or person, or charity) sets up an account on a crowd funding site and posts as much information as they can about their project, including a target goal, the minimum amount needed to carry out the project. They offer perks to people who pledge different amounts of money, which may be a product, credit, partial ownership, or dozens of other possibilities. Individual users see the project’s information and decide to pledge their own money. If the project reaches its goal, it moves forward! If not, the investors or donors aren’t charged.

Many businesses are finding success with this model, whether they’re trying to fund a single project for consumers or building a whole new start-up! Here are eight crowd funding sites we’re especially fond of for inspiration, business ideas, and more.

1. Kickstarter
If not the first crowd funding site, Kickstarter is the largest and best-known. With a focus on creative projects, you can find music, novels, plays, movies, video games, and more all underway. Many of these projects have seen wild success, such as a Pebble watch for iPod (Raised $10,266,845.00 in pledges) and a video game called Double Fine Adventure raised $3.3 million in 8 hours!

2. Sellaband
Music plays a huge part of daily life at Ilfusion, and Sellaband is a platform for independent musicians to acquire funding to make their music, and for fans to buy that music outside of the traditional music industry. Note: the site is international and operates in Euros!

3. RocketHub
If Kickstarter’s focus is creative works, RocketHub tends to attract more science, technical, and research projects. In addition to the traditional crowdsourcing setup, RocketHub has a “LaunchPad” where creatives can find new opportunities to work on cool projects.

4. Spot.us
Journalism is irrevocably changing as new technology developments, and citizen journalists are everywhere. Spot.us allows people to fund investigative projects developed by independent journalists. Topics range from the political to the practical, from Homeland Security research to discovering the true price of groceries.

5. 8-Bit Funding
If you visit Ilfusion’s Fort Worth headquarters in the West 7th district, one of the first things you’ll see is our custom video game arcade booth, featuring tons of awesome, classic games. 8-Bit Funding is all about video game development and other contributions to the industry, which is one near and dear to Texas.

UPDATE: Now called GoGetFunding.

6. GrowVC
Many of the projects on these other sites are developed by an individual, or a couple of people working together. GrowVC takes the idea to a larger scale, aimed at funding entire start-up businesses rather than individual ideas. With locations in New York City, the UK, and Hong Kong, GrowVC is decidedly international in scope.

7. Fundable
Like GrowVC, Fundable is focused entirely on helping start-ups find their funding. But there’s a twist, one that has become possible thanks in part to the JOBS act: funders can stick to the usual route, submitting funds and gaining a reward in exchange, or they can choose to earn equity shares in the newly-formed company instead.

8. CrowdRise
It’s really awesome to see independent people getting together and making amazing things…but one of the best parts about crowdsourcing is the ability for people to donate money to specific projects for the betterment of their communities, or for the whole world for that matter! CrowdRise is one such site, and it’s a great place to help out.

Whether you’re trying to get funding for your project or you’ve already met your goal, we can help you get the word out about it. Click here for info on our PR services!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Categorized in: ,

Featured Articles

February 1, 2018 | By: Ilfusion Team

How To Start an SEO Campaign in 6 Steps

Starting a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign can be tricky for any digital marketer. How do you begin? What is the most important element to implement? How do you know if it’s working? Don’t be overwhelmed, though. Starting an SEO... view more

September 26, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

5 Signs You Need to Hire a Marketing Agency

Marketing is a crucial part of your business strategy. It’s what keeps the gears turning and the driving force of your company’s sales. For small businesses, marketing is important in getting the word out there that your company exists and... view more

September 21, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

Key Advantages of Video Marketing for Your Growing Business

There has been a rise in the use of mobile devices to access the internet, and there are no signs of it slowing down anytime soon. In this era where most people thrive on living on the go, video marketing... view more

September 13, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

5 Things You Need to Know: Image Optimization for SEO

If you’re a company whose content strategy relies on images, or if your business blog is image-heavy, it’s high time for you to think about optimizing your images for SEO — if you haven’t done so already. While there isn’t... view more

August 2, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

Tips on How to Choose the Best Keywords for Your Website

When you have an SEO or PPC campaign, it all starts with one basic element: keyword research. Keywords are the driving force that enable web crawlers and indexers to find your page through the throngs of websites in the world-wide... view more

July 26, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

Top 3 Search Ranking Factors You Should Know About

Landing on the first page of Google’s search engine results is one of the ultimate marketing goals of many website owners. While Google is keeping mum on what exactly gets you to the top of their SERPs, there are factors... view more

June 28, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

The Importance of Social Media in SEO

Nowadays, social media has inarguably become an indispensable tool in any marketing strategy. SEO, of course, is also one of those tools that have evolved with the many trends and changes that has occurred through time. This leads marketers to... view more

April 27, 2017 | By: Ilfusion Team

5 Ways to Dominate Google’s Search Results in 2017

Here’s how to place your website at the top of search engine results. Creating a website that doesn’t rank well in Google’s search engine results page (SERP) doesn’t translate well to your overall business effort. In recent years, Google has... view more

July 2, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

Let’s talk about “The Fold”

We hear it a lot; client feedback that is focused on what content is and is not “above the fold”. To be perfectly honest, this old newspaper term can be a cause of frustration when it comes to good user... view more

June 3, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

The Turbit

This crazy ol’ world of ours is spinning faster and faster everyday. Not literally, as we would all be slung to our spacey-doom. I mean figuratively we are all moving more quickly and filling every moment with some bit of... view more

May 6, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

How Your Website Can Survive Mobilegeddon

Think your website is mobile friendly? Think again. Google’s new functionality changes have created a frantic need for websites to be optimized for mobile. Mobilegeddon is upon us, and your website could be at risk. See infographic below.

April 23, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

Website Cost: A Day at the Ballpark

A question that I get on a regular basis (read: every day) is, “How much will my new website cost?”. To which I typically say something like, “Well, that varies based on the amount of work that’s required to complete... view more

April 7, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

Are you a Webspammer?

SEO practices are very different today than how they were even just a few years ago. The number one key to ranking well in search engines today is to create unique quality content. First post it on your website or... view more

March 25, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

Social Media Happenings

Ilfusion loves to bring you news on the newest social media functions and trends. Recently, there have been three major happenings in the social media world. Meerkat, a new app that has risen to fame due to the 2015 music... view more

March 12, 2015 | By: Ilfusion Team

The Big Picture

Whether you’re laser-focused on a specific project, or taking a comprehensive approach to your marketing efforts, one aspect doesn’t change: always look at the big picture. Companies often shop at least a few agencies when they’re considering engagement with an... view more