We love crowdfunding for many reasons:
- It allows you to know if the community is interested in a particular project before it becomes a reality, sometimes avoiding unnecessary investments.
- It gives a voice to small initiatives that can be presented to a large online audience.
- Any project, no matter how ambitious, can become a reality by joining the small or large contributions of the masses.
- Anyone can be a campaign creator or a patron. Crowdfunding is already a real alternative to traditional bank financing, and the strength of this phenomenon is growing exponentially.
There are many crowdfunding platforms; we have selected some of the most important ones both nationally and internationally, as well as those oriented towards creative or social projects.
It is the most important crowdfunding platform currently operating on the web; a place from which (and still) highly projected technological projects have emerged. Comics, fashion, music, film, crafts, food, games, etc. The goal of this platform is to bring funding needs closer to users willing to support a project. However, the rules do not allow funding companies (only projects) or charity works. It is a widely followed platform, so if a project succeeds, it can earn a good amount and exponentially multiply its goal.
According to blog.sage.es, in 2012 they earned 14 million dollars in commissions for their services (5% on projects that reach their goals), and 2,241,475 people invested a total capital of 319,786,629 dollars—not bad at all!
On this platform, millions of dollars are distributed every week among different projects of all categories: music, fashion, education, art, and also video and web. There is no selection process, so any idea can be funded. They operate in more than 225 countries and work in 5 languages. They stand out for their attentive customer service, committing to respond to any questions in less than 24 hours.
In general, Indiegogo charges a 4% commission (when the goal is reached). For non-profit social projects, they offer a 25% discount.
They proclaim themselves as the first crowdfunding platform in Spain with more than 220,000 registered users. They have raised over 3 million euros since 2010. They have various categories such as music, science, sports, etc.
How does lanzanos.es finance itself?
Normal projects: 5% of funds raised through donations.
Solidarity projects: 1% of funds raised through donations.
Although it has fewer projects underway and less powerful numbers, it is national and has very interesting projects. Worth taking a look.
A crowdfunding platform for projects by artists, designers, creators, etc.
You have 40 days to collect the money. Verkami takes 5% of the funds raised. They offer personalized advice for each project by experts from cultural industries and have the largest European community of culture lovers. This combination makes a difference and causes Verkami projects to have a success rate above 70%.
Goteo is an initiative that promotes open source and free knowledge in various social, cultural, and economic areas.
A place where a lot of talent is concentrated in the form of social, technological, design, solidarity projects, and much more. Managed by the Fundación Fuentes Abiertas, Goteo is expanding beyond the web and has physical presence in many regions thanks to “nodes” that offer projects close support to guide and help promote them.
Their success in numbers: more than 2 million euros in almost three years, more than 400 projects have passed through this platform.
