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

2. 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?

3. 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. Nonprofits, mission trips, etc.
Louder – Social and cause based campaigns for media
space, marketing and advertising
Mobcaster – TV
Weeve – Nonprofits
Spot.us – community funded journalism

4. 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/

5. 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?

6. 5 Important Crowdfunding Principles
› From
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Victoria Wescott’s Ted Talk
Make Something Awesome
Sell Directly To Your Audience
Don’t Ask For Charity
Follow Through
You might get tips

7. Crowdsourcing.org

8. Kickstarter
› $904
million pledged to date
› From
› 1.5
5.2 million people
million repeat backers
› Successfully
funding over 52,500 projects

9. 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.

10. 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

11. 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

14. 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?

15. Who is Funding Your Project?
› Your
Friends
› Your Family
› Your Fans
› Your Internet

16. Project Updates
› How
are you accountable to complete the
project?
› What
should you do if things don’t go as
planned?

17. Curated Pages
www.kickstarter.com/
columbiacollegechicago

18. 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