Crowdfunding; the Win-Win Senario

So what is crowdfunding, you might ask? The idea is simple, but it’s power is far-reaching. Essentially, the internet is being used as a tool to allow people who have similar ideas to get together in a way that they never have been able to before. But with this newfound power to bring people together, comes the power to create positive change. Now we are seeing the implications of crowdfunding; When a truely great idea pops up, people are willing to support it. Crowdfunding a way to achieve large financial funding via small donations by posting your idea on the internet- if everyone who believes in the cause gives just a little bit of money, than huge, seemingly unthinkable goals can be achieved.

Take for example the popular crowdfunding site - Kickstarter. They tag their services, saying “Kickstarter is a funding platform for creative projects.” This company is widely popular, and has funded over 90,000 projects since it’s conception. An astounding 38,285 projects have been deemed successful, and this number continues to grow. Kickstarter allows anyone to start a project and ask for funding. These projects are typically accompanied by a short video created by the project’s team, and spotlight’s their idea. Anyone can donate any amount to any of these causes, but it is typical for the project starters to offer some kind of a bonus for people who donate different amounts. (i.e. rewards for spending more)

So why does something like crowdfunding work? By skipping over the “middle man,” it allows backers to directly support their cause. This new idea seems to create win-win scenarios, where the amount of money cut out by the middle man is minimized. After all, who likes to “support a cause” and find out that any portion of their money is not actually going to the cause at all? This attractive new model can be (and is) used for anything from art projects to films and music, to technological and scientific research!

3 awesome kickstarters:

AirQualityEgg - a sensor system designed to allow anyone to collect very high resolution readings of NO2 and CO concentrations outside of their home. These two gases are the most indicative elements related to urban air pollution that are sense-able by inexpensive, DIY sensors.

3Doodler - The world’s first pen that can draw/print in 3D in realtime.

Oculus Rift - Oculus Rift is a new virtual reality (VR) headset designed specifically for video games that will change the way you think about gaming forever.

Who profits most?

Currently, the largest area of interest within crowdfunding are consumer electronics and video games. But needless to say, there are other great ideas and causes which are being taken up! For example, there’s tons of websites available where you can help crowdfund scientific research. Another example is the micro-lending based site KIVA, which allows you to loan your money to a cause and get paid back in full.

Implications.

It all comes down to the idea of cognitive surplus, a term coined by Clay Shirky. It’s the idea that everyone has free time in their life- but more specifically, free time that could be used productively but instead is being used to lets say, play on some iphone app. If somehow all the unproductive time of everybody in society could be aggregated into a huge resource, this is what is referred to by the term cognitive surplus. Typically, we say that cognitive surplus is an untapped potential to implement positive change- but crowdfunding is a way to get ideas heard, thoughts shared, and things done. Crowdfunding has become a call to action. As members of society, I believe we all have a responsibility to inspire positive change in this world. And while we aren’t obligated to do all the work that must be done, neither should we refrain from it.

In short, i think crowdfunding should be adopted by everyone- and if it was, who knows what could be accomplished?

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