Crowdfunding People helping people.

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This start-up business model that inspires creative, innovative ideas can potentially disrupt industries as consumers become more empowered than ever before.

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CROWDFUNDING allows people from around the world to

fund projects by raising small amounts of money from a large group of people… (10)

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and it’s starting to take off. and it’s starting to

TAKE OFF

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In 2013 was raised.

By 2014 was raised.(5)

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In 2015, the crowdfunding industry is expected to double, raising

for individuals around the world hoping to raise money from friends, family and, in many cases, complete strangers.(5)

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Kickstarter is a global crowdfunding platform whose mission is to help bring creative projects to life.(1)

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“ Bad stuff gets made in the system… You get constrained funding so that one out of every thousand people can get a shot… That’s what we want to break apart. ” - Perry Chen, Co-Founder of Kickstarter (9)

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Crowdfunding can offer non-profits and smaller organizations the same reach as multi-billion dollar corporations. (11)

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The Pebble Watch was rejected by institutional investors…

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…But embraced by consumers through Kickstarter.

This watch has raised over

from

people from around the world. (9)

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Even researchers are beginning to capitalize on crowdfunding.

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For example…

Dr. Jennifer D. Calkins and Dr. Jennifer M. Gee raised nearly $5,000 from Kickstarter to finance their research on quail. (8)

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These campaigns empower ‘the people’ to fund science – a paradigm shift, since science has traditionally been supported by governments, endowments or other institutions.

“ ”

- Brian Meece, founder of RocketHub (6)

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People are even crowdfunding their education.

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For example…

Natalie Pattillo, who will be attending Columbia, raised $3,150 in six weeks from her GoFundMe campaign. (3)

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In fact, on Kickstarter alone, there are 15 different categories with thousands of amazing projects.

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Art

Fashion

Music

Comics

Film & Video

Photography

Crafts

Food

Publishing

Dance

Games

Technology

Desgin

Journalism

Theater

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These include:

(7)

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Here’s 3 reasons why crowdfunding is good and here to stay:

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1 Crowdfunding democratizes finance. (4)

Before crowdfunding, the relationships with angel investors , start-up founders and banks determined whether a project would be funded. Now, the public decides and projects succeed based on merit alone.

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2 Less personal investment is required. (2)

Crowdfunding minimizes the cost and time of the fundraising process. Entrepreneurs are now able to spend more time on developing the business.

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3 Many more ideas get funded. (2)

The entire world is now able to fund initiatives and consequently, complex, niche ideas will get funded. Individuals not constrained to small payback windows can develop projects with high creativity.

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Works Cited 1. Chen, P., Strickler, Y., & Adler, C. (2013, May 9). Who is Kickstarter for? Retrieved June 12, 2015, from

https://www.kickstarter.com/blog/who-is-kickstarter-for

2. Dupree, S. (2013). Stanford Graduate School of Business. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.gsb.stanford.edu/ces/crowdfunding-101

3. Farzan, A. (2015, April 28). Ivy League students are asking strangers to help pay the thousands they owe in tuition. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.businessinsider.com/columbia-students-crowdfunding-tuition-2015-4#ixzz3b8wi7bSK

4. Gilpin, L. (2014, April 30). The rise of crowdfunding: 10 things to know. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.techrepublic.com/article/the-rise-of-crowdfunding-10-things-to-know/

5. Global Crowdfunding Market to Reach $34.4B in 2015, Predicts Massolution's 2015CF Industry Report. (2015, April 7). Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.crowdsourcing.org/editorial/global-crowdfunding-market-to-reach-344b-in-2015-predicts-massolutions-2015cf-industry-report/45376

6. Gray, R. (2015, January 2). Crowdfunded science: Harnessing the wisdom of the crowd, or selling out? Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/jan/02/crowdfunded-science-scientists-fund-research

7. Kickstarter. (n.d.). Retrieved June 12, 2015, from https://www.kickstarter.com/discover?ref=nav

8. Lin, T. (2011, July 11). Scientists Turn to Crowds on the Web to Finance Their Projects. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/12/science/12crowd.html?pagewanted=all

9. Malik, O. (2012, May 22). Kickstarted: My conversation with Kickstarter co-founder Perry Chen. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from https://gigaom.com/2012/05/22/kickstarter-founder-perry-chen-intervie/

10. Prive, T. (2012, November 27). What Is Crowdfunding And How Does It Benefit The Economy. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyaprive/2012/11/27/what-is-crowdfunding-and-how-does-it-benefit-the-economy/

11. Sharma, R. (2014, August 20). Stop Pouring Ice on Clicktivism. Retrieved June 12, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ritusharma/stop-pouring-ice-on-click_b_5692555.html