Crowdfunding is a way of raising money to finance projects and businesses. It enables fundraisers to collect money from a large number of people via online platforms.
Crowdfunding is most often used by startup companies or growing businesses as a way of accessing alternative funds. It is an innovative way of sourcing funding for new projects, businesses or ideas. It is however increasingly used by campaigners, musicians, artists and civic society at large, to raise money for a variety of projects, from music recording to a community buying a local pub.
It is a way of cultivating a community around your offering. By using the power of the online community, you can gain usefuf insights and access to new customers and/or supporters.
... It is an innovative way of sourcing funding for new projects
Crowdfunding platforms are websites that enable interaction between fundraisers and the crowd. Financial pledges can be made and collected through the crowdfunding platform. Fundraisers are usually charged a fee by crowdfunding platforms if the fundraising campaign has been successful. In return, crowdfunding platforms are expected to provide a secure and easy to use service.
In our case – Viva-Vox.Org – we don’t charge Campaigns any fees at all. The service is offered for free. We do ask Campaign supporters to cover Stripe Connect payment processing charges. This are 2.99% + £0.20 per donation. By doing so, supporters guarantee that the exact money they wanted to offer, reaches the campaign.
We also ask Campaign supporters to donate to us, so that them and us (Viva-Vox.Org) can keep this as a free service for the campaigner. This is not compulsory, but their support is key to maintain this service free for Campaigners.
1Viva-Vox.Org offfers Rewards-based crowdfunding
2 And Donations-based crowdfunding
3Â Viva-Vox campaigns can have both
Many platforms operate an all-or-nothing funding model. This means that if you reach your target you get the money and if you don’t, everybody gets their money back – no hard feelings and no financial loss.
With Viva-Vox.Org, all the money given to you by your supporters, is yours. This is because we do not keep any of the funds. Instead, these are automatically processed by Stripe Connect, so Viva-Vox.Org never handles the funds.
There are various types of crowdfunding. We operate two types and these are available to every campaign on our site. They are:
- Rewards-based crowdfunding
Individuals donate to a project or business with expectations of receiving in return a non-financial reward, such as goods or services, at a later stage in exchange of their contribution. - Donation-based crowdfunding
Individuals donate small amounts to meet the larger funding aim of a specific charitable project while receiving no financial or material return.