Career Fridays All Things Funding: Crowd Funding, Scholarships, and Grants

Crowdfunding � What’s the deal with the crowd stuff?

�  Crowdfunding �  Crowdsourcing

� Why is this currently one of the most viable ways to

fund or source projects?

�  Is this only a passing fad?

Crowdfunding for Everyone �  RocketHub – Art, Science, Business, Social Cause based

projects �  GoFundMe – this one you can also use for personal non

creative projects and situations �  Indiegogo – started out as tech, web and app

development, indie gaming. Now pretty much anything �  ArtistShare – Music �  PledgeMusic - Music �  Fundable – Businesses, Startups �  Fundly – Charitable and cause based funding. Non-

profits, mission trips, etc. �  Louder – Social and cause based campaigns for media

space, marketing and advertising �  Mobcaster – TV �  Weeve – Nonprofits �  Spot.us – community funded journalism

Other Crowdfunding Platforms �  http://www.newjelly.com/ �  http://startsomegood.com/ �  http://www.pozible.com/ �  http://www.causes.com/ �  http://www.pledgemusic.com/ �  https://www.sellaband.com/ �  http://www.artisteconnect.com/ �  https://www.oocto.com/ �  http://www.feedthemuse.net/ �  http://www.tunefund.com/ �  http://www.artistshare.com/v4/ �  http://www.hitrecord.org/

Which Crowdfunding Site is Right?

� What kind of projects does the site support and promote?

� How many users have profiles? � What is the success rate of funding? �  Is it all or nothing or keep it all? � How does the site get paid? How do you

get paid? � How easy is the site to use and how

connect is it? � How long or short can a campaign be?

5 Important Crowdfunding Principles

� From Victoria Wescott’s Ted Talk 1.  Make Something Awesome 2.  Sell Directly To Your Audience 3.  Don’t Ask For Charity 4.  Follow Through 5.  You might get tips

Crowdsourcing.org

Kickstarter

� $904 million pledged to date

� From 5.2 million people

� 1.5 million repeat backers

� Successfully funding over 52,500 projects

Kickstarter’s Rules �  Funding for projects only. �  Projects must fit Kickstarter’s categories

� Art, Comics, Dance, Design, Fashion, Film, Food, Games, Music, Photography, Publishing, Technology, and Theater.

�  Projects, projects, projects. �  Prohibited uses: No charity or cause funding.

�  Prohibited content. There are some things just NOT

allowed on Kickstarter.

Join  Kickstarter  

Develop  your  project  scope  and  story  

Set  a  Funding  Goal  

Set  a  Funding  Deadline  

Create  Reward  and  Pledge  Tiers  

Create  a  video  to  tell  your  story  

Facts �  10% of projects finish having never received a

single pledge �  1 in 4 prospective projects are rejected �  56% Failure rate �  However, 82% of projects that raised more

than 20% of their goal were successfully funded. Thus, this acts as a tipping point

�  Warp and Weft example

The Money �  How much money do I ask for? �  How much do your really need? What makes sense for your project? �  You can always raise more than your goal, but never less. �  Average Goal on Kickstarter: $4,500. More than half of the projects on

Kickstarter are in the $1000 to $5000 range. �  Statistically projects are overfunded by around 130%, which would actually

make that $4,500 project = $6,100 �  The really interesting equation:

�  Average Backers: 86 x Average Pledge Amount: $71 = $6,106

�  What was the average funding amount of a project? �  Can you scope or segment your project?

Who is Funding Your Project?

� Your Friends � Your Family � Your Fans � Your Internet

Project Updates

� How are you accountable to complete the project?

� What should you do if things don’t go as

planned?

Curated Pages

www.kickstarter.com/columbiacollegechicago

Other Things to Think About � Crowdfunding is an alternative to

traditional revenue streams – what can you combine it with?

� Saturated or shall we say “crowded” marketplace

� Perfect Pitch �  It’s a hustle