Be The Funder & Be Part of the Good

Here at Spring Giving, we are presented with interesting ways in which technology can be coupled with giving and philanthropy. One of the platforms that has gripped the world at this time is crowdfunding.

I first came across crowdfunding when some friends of mine, who run their own Independent film production company, posted some “strange” links on Facebook. I became curious by the regular posts they were putting up and clicked the link, only to find a gateway to a world that I thought never existed.

The website was IndieGoGo, a platform that encourages people to fund creative and social projects. The way this is carried out is people post their projects with milestones of what needs to be done with a certain amount of funding and anybody can then donate a desired amount towards that project.

It was very refreshing to see that this was very user friendly, presenting donors with the project outline, deadlines and goals – its something I felt would give the donor security to know exactly what their donation had been used for.

Since working with the BigSocietyNetwork and specifically SpringGiving, more and more of these crowdfunding platforms have come to light – such as Sponsume, Kiva, along with Spacehive and PleaseFund.Us, who are part of our Nexters programme.

It’s great to see these platform becoming more popular as a means of giving. Taking Spacehive as an example, a platform that helps communities fund projects to impact social change in their area – it’s a brilliant way to engage local people in bettering their communities.

This is the fabulous thing about crowdfunding; you feel like you are part of the solution, which as I mentioned in a previous blog, creates more incentive to give, on two levels: it creates interest in the project for the giver and it is also fun to know you have been a part of making something good happen.

With one of my hobbies being film, I have also noticed a massive influx of crowdfunding campaigns in the creative industry, not just the charity sector. This is especially in Film, Video Games and Music – an example of this buzz around crowdfunding is mentioned in this video on how crowdfunding is effecting the independent games industry, the video is by Internet web series, ExtraCredits.

Crowdfunding seems to be a way for people to engage, come together and be a part of the certain change in their desired project.

A truly engaging source for doing good and allowing people to come together to do that.

 “Sometimes a small thing you do can mean everything in another person’s life” – Winston Churchill

Daniel Isebor

Daniel is no stranger to the idea of the Big Society. Having stood for councillor in the 2010 local government election, one of his major promises on the door was to try and empower residents to work together to better their communities. He is now a Project & Events co-ordinator at Big Society Network. Assisting the team with the day to day running of projects and providing general event support.  He also co-ordinates the organisations Databases, Inquiries and Social Networking.