Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Crowdfunding Sought by Syria Weapons Blogger

Blogger Who Traced Flow of Arms to Syria Through YouTube Seeks Crowdfunding

By ROBERT MACKEY
An appeal for support from the British blogger Eliot Higgins, who traces the flow of arms to Syria through YouTube on his Brown Moses blog.
The British blogger Eliot Higgins, who has played an important role in tracing the flow of arms to Syrian rebels through close analysis of video clips posted on YouTube from his living room in England, began an appeal for financial support from readers this week.
In a statement explaining his campaign on the crowdfunding Web site Indiegogo, Mr. Higgins explained that he hoped “to turn the Brown Moses Blog from a part-time hobby to a full-time job.” Late last month, Mr. Higgins had informed his readers that he might have to stop blogging about Syria if he accepted a full-time job.

Instead of accepting the position, Mr. Higgins told The Lede in a recent Skype interview, he has decided to seek support from readers. Although he remains acutely aware of the need to support his family, Mr. Higgins said, “I feel like it’s almost a duty to keep doing it now — if I stop doing it, there’s not going to be anyone to take up the slack.”
Mr. Higgins, who told The Lede that he had no professional experience in journalism and had been working for the previous decade “in various administration and financial roles,” has recently welcomed a series of reporters to his work space, a table in his living room. There, surrounded by his daughter’s toys, he sits down in spare moments to scour video clips on 500 YouTube channels for clues about what sort of weapons are being used in Syria.
A Dutch television report showing the British blogger Eliot Higgins at work.
As Matt Weaver, The Guardian’s Middle East live-blogger, reported:
Higgins initially operated on chatrooms and comment threads under the pseudonym Brown Moses. His online avatar – taken from one of Francis Bacon’s paintings of a screaming pope – was often the first to appear in the comments section on the Guardian’s daily Middle East live blog.
Each day he would do verbal battle below the line with online trolls, conspiracy theorists and fellow Arab spring obsessives. The name Brown Moses, taken from a Frank Zappa song, has led to confusion about his identity.
In a long interview with NOS, the Dutch state broadcaster, Mr. Higgins explained how his curiosity about what was happening in Syria led him to explore the available video evidence for himself.
A Dutch television interview with Eliot Higgins, the Brown Moses blogger.
The blogger’s description of his work on the crowdfunding site is accompanied by a video statement and testimonials from a roster of reporters and rights workers who have found the blog to be an invaluable source of information and analysis.
Among the journalists who have used video unearthed by Mr. Higgins is my colleague C. J. Chivers, who cited the Brown Moses blog when he reported in February that “Saudi Arabia has financed a large purchase of infantry weapons from Croatia and quietly funneled them to antigovernment fighters in Syria in a drive to break the bloody stalemate.”
That report, following up on the blogger’s work, was accompanied by a post on The Times’s At War blog from Mr. Higgins, in which he observed: “The use of social media by opposition groups and activists in Syria has allowed those of us who follow these sources carefully to pursue a different form of insight into conflict reporting than had been possible before the time when opposition fighters reflexively videotaped their operations and posted them online.”

end quote from:

Blogger Who Traced Flow of Arms to Syria Through YouTube Seeks Crowdfunding

I have no idea what the political point of view of this blogger, only that he seems to be doing research that others are not for whatever reason within the news media. I just thought it is an interesting idea to seek crowdfunding for this project so it can be his livelihood longer.

I can see how people might be able to fund all sorts of projects through crowd funding around the world. Though one might be careful because the S.E.C. might regulate such transactions if they are for a profit. However, if this is a non-profit venture because of something you believe in it might be legal to crowdfund in a non-profit sense. But, depending upon the amount of money we are talking about it might be important to consult with a lawyer, especially if the funding is above 1000 dollars. Also, since this is done worldwide now it might be necessary to check local laws where you live to be safe. 

Crowd funding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding
Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes the collective effort of individuals who network ...
Comparison of crowd funding ... - Category:Crowd funding

Crowd funding

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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It has been suggested that Civic crowdfunding be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since February 2013.
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 The examples and perspective in this article may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article and discuss the issue on the talk page. (March 2012)
Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations.[1][2] Crowdfunding is used in support of a wide variety of activities, including disaster relief, citizen journalism, support of artists by fans, political campaigns, startup company funding,[3] motion picture promotion,[4] free software development, inventions development, scientific research,[5] and civic projects.
Crowdfunding can also refer to the funding of a company by selling small amounts of equity to many investors. This form of crowdfunding has recently received attention from policymakers in the United States with direct mention in the JOBS Act; legislation that allows for a wider pool of small investors with fewer restrictions.[2] While the JOBS Act awaits implementation, hybrid models, such as Mosaic Inc., are using existing securities laws to enable the public in approved states to invest directly in clean energy projects as part of a crowd.
Crowdfunding has its origins in the concept of crowdsourcing, which is the broader concept of an individual reaching a goal by receiving and leveraging small contributions from many parties. Crowdfunding is the application of this concept to the collection of funds through small contributions from many parties in order to finance a particular project or venture.[6]
Crowdfunding models involve a variety of participants.[7] They include the people or organizations that propose the ideas and/or projects to be funded, and the crowd of people who support the proposals. Crowdfunding is then supported by an organization (the "platform") which brings together the project initiator and the crowd.

Contents

History

An early precursor form of the crowdfunding model was the Subscription business model which was used in the 17th century to finance book prints. Similar to crowdfunding an additional benefit to donors was offered like the mentioning on the title page.
In 1884, the American Committee for the Statue of Liberty ran out of funds for the Statue’s pedestal. Newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer urged the American public to donate money toward the pedestal in his newspaper New York World. Pulitzer raised over $100,000 in six months. Roughly 125,000 people contributed to the cause with most donations being $1 or less.[8]
In 1997, fans underwrote an entire U.S. tour for the British rock group Marillion,[citation needed] raising $60,000 in donations by means of a fan-based Internet campaign.[9] The idea was conceived and managed by fans without any involvement by the band,[10] although Marillion has since used this method with great success as a way to fund the recording and marketing of its albums from 2001 to the present.[citation needed]
The United States based company ArtistShare (2000/2001) is documented as being the first crowdfunding website for music followed later by sites such as Pledgie (2006), Sellaband (2006), IndieGoGo (2008), Kickstarter (2009), RocketHub (2009), Fundly (2009), GoFundMe (2010), Appsplit (2010), Microventures (2010) and Fundageek (2011). [11][12]
Electric Eel Shock, a Japanese rock band who has toured the world, became one of the first bands without a previous significant recording deal to fully embrace crowdfunding. In 2004 as an unsigned band they raised £10,000 from 100 fans (the Samurai 100) by offering them guestlist for life.[13] Two years later they became the fastest band to raise a $50,000 budget through SellaBand.[14] They licensed the album internationally including to Universal in their native Japan.
In the film industry, independent writer/director Mark Tapio Kines designed a website for his then-unfinished first feature Foreign Correspondents in 1997. By early 1999, he had raised more than $125,000 over the Internet from at least 25 fans, providing him with the funds to complete his film.[15] Franny Armstrong later created a donation system for her feature film Age of Stupid.[16] Over five years from June 2004 to June 2009 (release date) she raised £1,500,000.[17] In December 2004, French entrepreneurs and producers Benjamin Pommeraud and Guillaume Colboc launched a public Internet donation campaign [18] to fund their short science fiction film, Demain la Veille (Waiting for Yesterday). Within 3 weeks, they managed to raise $50,000, allowing them to shoot their film.
Morton Valence is an early example of a relatively obscure band to independently enter into crowdfunding without using a third party website such as Sellaband.[19]
Crowdfunding's earliest known citation[20] was by Michael Sullivan in fundavlog on August 12, 2006.

Related definitions

There are questions about the legality of taking money from "investors" without offering any of the security demanded by conventional investment schemes. Sites such as SellaBand have a failsafe. They hold funds in an escrow account.[21] If the nominated target isn't reached, all funds are returned to contributors. While sites such as ArtistShare allow projects to keep all the funds raised.[21]
Investors are given something for their money - so in a legal sense, they have paid for and received something.[21] Rewards range from having your name in the credits, an initial shot at the product itself and in some cases even revenue returns.
Micropatronage is a system in which the public directly supports the work of others by making donations through the Internet. In use as early as 2001,[citation needed] the term was popularized in 2005[22] by blogger Jason Kottke when he quit his day job as a web designer and spent a year blogging full-time, living off the voluntary donations of his readership. Micropatronage differs from traditional patronage systems by allowing many "patrons" to donate small amounts, rather than a small number of patrons making larger contributions.

Role of the crowd

The inputs of the individuals in the crowd trigger to crowdfunding process and influence the ultimate value of the offerings or outcomes of the process. Each individual acts as an agent of the offering, selecting and promoting the projects in which they believe. They will sometimes play a donor role oriented towards providing help on social projects. In some cases they will become shareholders and contribute to the development and growth of the offering. Each individual disseminates information about projects they support in their online communities, generating further support (promoters).
Motivation for consumer participation stems from the feeling of being at least partly responsible for the success of others’ initiatives (desire for patronage), striving to be a part of a communal social initiative (desire for social participation), and seeking a payoff from monetary contributions (desire for investment).[7]
An individual who takes part in crowdfunding initiatives tends to reveal several distinct traits: innovative orientation, which stimulates the desire to try new modes of interacting with firms and other consumers; social identification with the content, cause or project selected for funding, which sparks the desire to be a part of the initiative; (monetary) exploitation, which motivates the individual to participate by expecting a payoff.[2][7]

Crowdfunding platforms

Further information: Comparison of crowd funding services
There are over 450 crowdfunding platforms.[23] Project creators need to do their own due diligence in order to understand which platform is the best to use depending on the type of project that they want to launch.[2] There are fundamental differences in the services provided by many crowdfunding platforms.[7]
For instance, CrowdCube and Seedrs are both Internet platforms which enable small companies to issue shares over the Internet and receive small investments from registered users in return. While CrowdCube is meant for users to invest small amounts and acquire shares directly in start-up companies, Seedrs on the other hand pools the funds to invest in new businesses, as a nominated agent[24].
Crowdfunding platforms serve as a “network orchestrators”. They create the necessary organizational systems and conditions for resource integration among other players to take place.[7]
Relational mediators act as an intermediary between supply and demand (i.e. SellaBand, Kickstarter, Uinvest). They substitute a traditional intermediary (traditional record companies, venture capitalist). These platforms link new artists, designers, project initiators with committed supporters who believe in the persons behind the projects strongly enough to provide monetary support.
Social gatekeepers assist people to raise fund by exploiting their social network connections (i.e. Kapipal). They add an intermediary role that was previously absent. These platforms intermediate consumer-to-consumer funding.
Growth engines focus on the strong inclusion of investors (i.e. Trampoline Systems). They disintermediate by eliminating the activity of a service provider previously involved in the network. These platforms that use crowdfunding to seek stakes form a community of high net worth private investors and match them directly with project initiators.

Crowdfunding applications

Crowdfunding is being experimented with as a funding mechanism for creative work such as blogging and journalism,[25] music, and independent film,[26][27] for funding a startup company,[28][29][30] and even for funding public projects.[31] Community music labels are usually for-profit organizations where "fans assume the traditional financier role of a record label for artists they believe in by funding the recording process".[32]
Since pioneering crowdfunding in the film industry Spanner films have published a useful ‘how to’ guide.[33] Innovative new platforms, such as RocketHub, have emerged that combine traditional funding for creative work with branded crowdsourcing - helping artists and entrepreneurs unite with brands "without the need for a middle man."[34]
Crowd lending from non-banks is gaining momentum globally as banks have increased interest rates or pulled back from lending to consumers and small businesses; however, as of early 2012, the non-bank sector of crowd lending is yet to be considered a threat to the big consumer lending businesses of the largest global banks.[35]

Philanthropy and civic projects

A variety of crowdfunding platforms has emerged to allow ordinary web users to support specific philanthropic projects without the need for large amounts of money.
Global Giving allows individuals to browse through a selection of small projects proposed by nonprofit organizations worldwide, donating funds to projects of their choice. Microcredit crowdfunding platforms such as Kiva (organization) and Wokai facilitate crowdfunding of loans managed by microcredit organizations in developing countries.
The US-based nonprofit Zidisha offers a new twist on these themes, applying a direct person-to-person lending model to microcredit lending for low-income small business owners in developing countries. Zidisha borrowers who pass a background check may post microloan applications directly on the Zidisha website, specifying proposed credit terms and interest rates. Individual web users in the US and Europe can lend as little as one US dollar, and Zidisha's crowdfunding platform allows lenders and borrowers to engage in direct dialogue. Repaid principal and interest is returned to the lenders, who may withdraw the cash or use it to fund new loans.[36]
Petridish.org focuses on biological projects, for example research of animal species. In addition, it also has many projects that specifically focus on conservation of endangered species.
Some organizations try to make crowdfunding playful. Raise5 allows individuals to microvolunteer as a way to fundraise small amounts of money, and Charitykick has users microfund "dares".

Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act

In 2012, the JOBS (Jumpstart Our Business Startups) Act was enacted to remove a ban against public solicitation for private companies raising funds.[37] The JOBS Act allows accredited investors to invest through crowdfunding campaigns.[citation needed]

Intellectual property exposure

One of the challenges of posting new ideas on crowdfunding sites is there may be little or no intellectual property (IP) protection provided by the sites themselves. Once an idea is posted, it can be copied. As Slava Rubin, founder of IndieGoGo said: “We get asked that all the time, ‘How do you protect me from someone stealing my idea?’ We’re not liable for any of that stuff.”[38] Inventor advocates, such as Simon Brown, founder of the UK-based United Innovation Association, counsel that ideas can be protected on crowdfunding sites through early filing of patent applications, use of copyright and trademark protection as well as a new form of idea protection supported by the World Intellectual Property Organization called Creative Barcode.[39]

Patent disputes

On September 30, 2011, the crowdfunding site Kickstarter filed a request for declaratory judgment against Fan Funded who owns U.S. patent US 7885887, "Methods and apparatuses for financing and marketing a creative work". Brian Camelio, founder of ArtistShare, is the inventor on the patent. Kickstarter says it believes it is under threat of a patent infringement lawsuit. Kickstarter has asked that the patent be invalidated, or, at the very least, that the court find that Kickstarter is not liable for infringement.[40][41]
In February 2012, Fan Funded responded to Kickstarter's complaint notably claiming that patent infringement litigation was never threatened, that "ArtistShare merely approached KickStarter about licensing their platform, including patent rights", and that "rather than responding to ArtistShare's request for a counter-proposal, Kickstarter filed this lawsuit."[42]

Pros and cons

Benefits for the creator

Crowdfunding campaigns provide producers with a number of benefits, beyond the strict financial gains.[43] The following are non financial benefits of crowdfunding.
  • Profile – a compelling project can raise a producer's profile and provide a boost to their reputation.
  • Marketing – project initiators can show there is an audience and market for their project. In the case of an unsuccessful campaign, it provides good market feedback.
  • Audience engagement – crowd funding creates a form where project initiators can engage with their audiences. Audience can engage in the production process by following progress through updates from the creators and sharing feedback via comment features on the project's crowdfunding page.
  • Feedback – offering pre-release access to content or the opportunity to beta-test content to project backers as a part of the funding incentives provides the project initiators with instant access to good market testing feedback.
Proponents of the crowdfunding approach argue that it allows good ideas which do not fit the pattern required by conventional financiers to break through and attract cash through the wisdom of the crowd. If it does achieve "traction" in this way, not only can the enterprise secure seed funding to begin its project, but it may also secure evidence of backing from potential customers and benefit from word of mouth promotion in order to reach the fundraising goal.[2] Another potential positive effect is the propensity of groups to "produce an accurate aggregate prediction" about market outcomes as identified by author James Surowiecki in his book The wisdom of crowds, thereby placing financial backing behind ventures likely to succeed.
Proponents also identify a potential outcome of crowdfunding as an exponential increase in available venture capital. One report claims that If every American family gave one percent of their investable assets to crowdfunding, $300 billion (a 10X increase) would come into venture capital.[44] Proponents also cite that a benefit for companies receiving crowdfunding support is that they retain control of their operations, as voting rights are not conveyed along with ownership when crowdfunding.

Risks and barriers for the creator

Crowdfunding also comes with a number of potential risks or barriers.[6]
  • Reputation – failure to meet campaign goals or to generate interest result in a public failure. Reaching financial goals and successfully gathering substantial public support but being unable to deliver on a project for some reason can severely negatively impact ones reputation.
  • IP protection – many Interactive Digital Media developers and content producers are reluctant to publicly announce the details of a project before production due to concerns about idea theft and protecting their IP from plagiarism.[6]
  • Donor exhaustion – there is a risk that if the same network of supporters is reached out to multiple times, that network will eventually cease to supply necessary support.
  • Public fear of abuse – concern among supporters that without a regulatory framework, the likelihood of a scam of abuse of funds is high. The concern may become a barrier to public engagement.
For crowdfunding of equity stock purchases, there is some research in social psychology that indicates that, like in all investments, people don't always do their due diligence to determine if it's a sound investment before investing, which leads to making investment decisions based on emotion rather than financial logic.[45]
Crowdfunding draws a crowd, investors and other interested observers who follow the progress, or lack of progress, of a project. Sometimes it proves easier to raise the money for a project than to make the project a success. Managing communications with a large number of possibly disappointed investors and supporters can be a substantial, and potentially diverting, task.[46]

Legal restrictions

 This section may contain original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research may be removed. (March 2013)
Another significant disadvantage to crowdfunding is the possibility of getting ensnared in various securities laws, since soliciting investments from the general public is most often illegal unless the opportunity has been filed with an appropriate securities regulatory authority, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S., the Ontario Securities Commission in Ontario, Canada, the Autorité des marchés financiers in France and Quebec, Canada, or the Financial Services Authority in the U.K. These regulators can have different ways of determining what is and what is not a security but a general rule one can rely on (at least in the U.S.) is the Howey Test. The Howey Test says that a transaction constitutes an investment contract (therefore a security) if there is (1) an exchange of money (2) with an expectation of profits arising (3) from a common enterprise (4) which depends solely on the efforts of a promoter or third party. Clearly, under this standard, any crowd sourcing arrangement in which people are asked to contribute money in exchange for potential profits based on the work of others would be considered a security. As such, the applicable investment contract would have to be registered with a regulatory agency (such as the S.E.C.) unless it qualified for one of several rule-laden exemptions (e.g., Regulation A or Rule 506 of Regulation D of the Securities Act of 1933, or the California Limited Offering Exemption - Rule 1001 (also known as S.E.C. Rule 1001)). The penalties for a securities violation can vary greatly and depend in large part on the amount of profit obtained by the "promoter," the damage done to the investors, and whether a violation is a first time offense. However, a violation may result in both civil and criminal penalties, a return of any profit made and sometimes a lifetime ban from work in the securities industry. According to Section 5 of the Securities Act, it is illegal to sell any security unless such a sale is accompanied or preceded by a prospectus that meets the requirements of the Securities Act.[47][citation needed]

Debt

Debt based Crowdfunding allows a group of individual (or institutional) lenders to lend funds to individuals or businesses in return for interest payment on top of capital repayments. Also known as Peer to peer lending or Peer to business lending. Borrowers must demonstrate creditworthiness and the capability to repay the debt, making it unsuitable for NINA or startups. Active platforms include: rebuildingsociety.com. [48]

Equity

[icon] This section requires expansion with: equity practices in other countries. (June 2012)
Equity Based Crowdfunding is a mechanism that enables broad groups of investors to fund startup companies and small businesses in return for equity. Investors give money to a business and receive ownership of a small piece of that business (equity and / or debt). If the business succeeds, then its value goes up – and so does the value of that share of that business. The converse is also true. Coverage of Equity Based Crowdfunding indicates that its potential is greatest with Startup businesses, who are seeking smaller investments to launch and that additional follow-on funding required for rapid growth may come from other sources.[49]

United States

History

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In 2011, Jenny Kassan,[50] Paul Spinrad [51] and Danae Ringelmann of Indiegogo [52] met and lobbied on behalf of crowdfunding at the government-business forum on Small Business Capital Formation at the SEC meeting.[53]
In February 2011, Jason Best, Sherwood Neiss, and Zak Cassady-Dorion Principals of Crowdfund Capital Advisors collaborated to form Startup Exemption with the goal to lobby Washington, D.C. to update the U.S. Federal Security Laws and make it legal for entrepreneurs to use crowdfunding to raise a limited amount of early-stage equity-based financing. With the assistance of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council (SBEC) they partook in two hearings on Capitol Hill. Their framework was the basis for the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act[54] introduced by Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) on September 14, 2011. The path to legalize crowdfunding including all responsible parties can be found here.

Legislation

The JOBS Act was signed into law by President Obama on April 5, 2012. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been given approximately 270 days to set forth specific rules and guidelines that enact this legislation, while also ensuring the protection of investors.[55] Some rules have already been proposed by the SEC.[56][57]
The bill went through a number of amendments and on April 5, 2012 President Barack Obama signed the JOBS Act into law.[58] The legislation mandates that funding portals must register with the SEC as well as an applicable self-regulatory organization to operate.[59]
The JOBS Act places limits on the value of securities issuer may offer and individuals can invest through crowdfunding intermediaries. An issuer may sell up to $1,000,000 of its securities per 12 months, and, depending upon their net worth and income, investors will be permitted to invest up to $100,000 in crowdfunding issues per 12 months.[60] An independent financial statement review by a CPA firm is required for raises $100,000-500,000 and an independent financial statement audit by a CPA firm is required for raises over $500,000.[61]

Regulation

The SEC is now drafting regulations to implement the equity and debt crowdfunding provisions of the bill. The original deadline for regulations is in January 2013.[57][62][dated info] In parallel to the SEC regulations, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) is creating additional rules related to member firms engaged in crowdfunding.[59]

Crowd funding services

The JOBS Act enables equity based crowdfunding when it is conducted by a licensed broker-dealer or via a Funding Portal registered with the SEC.[63] Many Crowdfunding services have launched to fill this role, and the space is evolving rapidly. Early portal Profounder closed before SEC guidelines were released,[64] and equity portal Earlyshares acquired charity portal Helpersunite.[65] Many portals have also consulted the SEC on its guidelines.[66][citation needed]. The first portal operating in the U.S. and geared towards small businesses was founded in 2010 by Alejandro Cremades and Tanya Prive and is operating under the name of Rock The Post.[67]

United Kingdom

Abundance Generation was the first regulated crowdfunding platform in the UK to be regulated by the Financial Services Authority (now the Financial Conduct Authority). It was approved in July 2011 and launched to the public in 2012.[68] Abundance Generation provides debt finance to UK based renewable energy developers.
On 6 July 2012, Seedrs Limited launched as the first equity crowdfunding platform to have received regulatory approval anywhere in the world, from the Financial Services Authority (FSA).[69] In August 2012 Richard Branson announced his support in the Telegraph for CrowdFunding, CrowdInvesting and CrowdLending platform BankToTheFuture.com. In February 2013, CrowdCube who launched in 2011, became FSA authorised.[70]

Sweden and Norway

Crowdfunding portals have also launched in Scandinavia supporting both local language crowdfunding and English language crowdfunding. The donation-based CrowdFunding portal FundedByMe has been active in Sweden and Norway since 2011,[71] and Swedish crowdfunding activity is evolving in parallel to Crowdfunding in the USA with Equity-Based CrowdFunding becoming active in Sweden late in 2012.[72]

Finland

An Equity Crowdfunding portal has also been launched in Finland in January 2013 supporting Finnish startups and investors via the portal FundedByMe. The focus is on Equity Crowdfunding [73] with a local team in Helsinki at Hub Helsinki. The legal issues around ordinary reward based crowdfunding have been under debate in Finland as its legislations[74] around this is different from most countries. However the legislation about Equity Crowdfunding is more similar to rest of Europe, and the legal situation is clear.[75] FundedByMe started with Equity Crowdfunding in Sweden in September 2012 and have now also started in Norway and Finland.[72]

Australia

Crowdfunding as a discrete activity is not prohibited in Australia.[76] Sources cite that it has been legal in Australia for 7 years.[57]

See also

References

  1. ^ Ordanini, A.; Miceli, L.; Pizzetti, M.; Parasuraman, A. (2011). "Crowd-funding: Transforming customers into investors through innovative service platforms". Journal of Service Management 22 (4): 443. doi:10.1108/09564231111155079. (also available as Scribd document)
  2. ^ a b c d e "What IS Crowdfunding And How Does IT Benefit The Economy". accessed November 27, 2012.
  3. ^ "Welcome to The Crowdfunding Wiki!". Michael Sullivan and pbworks consensus group. Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  4. ^ "Crowd funding: An emerging trend in Bollywood". Retrieved August 12, 2012.
  5. ^ "Crowdfunding as the future of science funding? | The Science Exchange Blog". Blog.scienceexchange.com. May 27, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c "Crowfunding in a Canadian Context". accessed February 7, 2013.
  7. ^ a b c d e "Crowdfunding: Transforming Customers Into Investors Through Innovative Service Platforms". accessed February 7, 2013.
  8. ^ "Joseph Pulitzer". February 7, 2013.
  9. ^ "The Marillion story and what we can all learn from it".
  10. ^ "BBC article, May 11, 2001".
  11. ^ "Wharton".
  12. ^ "Inc.com".
  13. ^ "Drownedinsound.com "Wanna Go VIP? Electric Eel Shock'll show you the way...", Dec 2nd, 2004".
  14. ^ "itsallhappening, June 24th, 2008".
  15. ^ Andrew Rodgers (June 11, 1999). "Filmmaker Uses Web To Help Finance, Cast Movie". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved January 7, 2013.
  16. ^ Kate Bulkley (November 24, 2012). "funding models for film making | Sheffield Doc/Fest 2010 | guardian.co.uk". Guardian. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  17. ^ "Crowd-Funding FAQ". Spanner Films. July 13, 2009. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  18. ^ Christina Warren (January 17, 2011). "A Guide to Kickstarter & Crowd Funding [INFOGRAPHIC]". Mashable.com. Retrieved December 13, 2012.
  19. ^ "blog entry by Morton Valence "Nothing Like Sellaband", May 22, 2008".
  20. ^ "Crowdfundings earliest citation".
  21. ^ a b c "How To Get Your Projects Crowdfunded And Created: The Kickstarter Alternatives". Retrieved February 10, 2013.[unreliable source?]
  22. ^ Rettberg, Jill Walker (2008). Blogging. Polity. pp. 135–136. ISBN 0745641342, 9780745641348 Check |isbn= value (help).
  23. ^ "Top 10 Crowdfunding Platforms". 2012. Retrieved February 9, 2013.
  24. ^ http://www.cfo-insight.com/financing-liquidity/alternative-finance/crowdfunding-sideshow-or-headline-act/
  25. ^ funding-journalism/ "Crowdfunding journalism". idio. May 19, 2009. Retrieved May 15, 2009.
  26. ^ Helen Pidd. "Teenagers' credit note approach to fund £1m film of Clovis Dardentor". Guardian. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  27. ^ Dell, Kristina (September 4, 2008). "TIME article on Crowd Funding the 'Age of Stupid'". Time.com. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  28. ^ TechCrunch "Sponsume lets projects get off the ground with Groupon-style group funding model"
  29. ^ "TechCrunch 'Grow VC launches, aiming to become the Kiva for tech startups'". Eu.techcrunch.com. February 15, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  30. ^ Prentice, Claire (May 12, 2010). "'Cash-strapped entrepreneurs get creative'". BBC News. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  31. ^ "CivicSponsor helps citizens crowdfund their public spaces". Govfresh.com. April 12, 2012. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  32. ^ Kappel, Tim, "Ex Ante Crowdfunding and the Recording Industry: A Model for the U.S.?" in Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Review, Vol.29, Issue 3, p.376
  33. ^ "How to crowd fund your film". Spanner Films. Retrieved August 19, 2012.
  34. ^ Bell, Melissa. "Crowd-sourcing a brand", The Washington Post, March 12, 2011, accessed September 3, 2011.
  35. ^ "Crowdfunding: John Mack backs non-bank with board role ", Euromoney, April 12, 2012.
  36. ^ "Is Microfinance for You?", SecondAct, April 17, 2012.
  37. ^ "President Obama Signs JOBS Act Into Law". Retrieved August 12, 2012.
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Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Crowd funding
Studies and Papers
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end quote from:

Crowd funding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_funding
Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes the collective effort of individuals who network ...
Comparison of crowd funding ... - Category:Crowd funding

note: I realized I went from Crowdfunding to Crowdsourcing without realizing it. So, I now deleted Crowdsourcing and went to Crowdfunding which is what I actually am writing about. But I left my personal experience with Crowdsourcing because I personally haven't experienced crowdfunding even though I noted above I have met people who have been funded through crowdfunding. I think crowdfunding will expand in multiple ways whenever people are trying to accomplish something constructive.

note: My own personal experience with Crowdsourcing was to encourage people through my blog to purchase handy geiger counters in Japan in March and April 2011 during the Tsunami and Fukushima and throughout the Pacific region and into Hawaii and California and to crowdsource their findings of radiation in  online forums. In this way they could protect their friends and family from bad radioactive food, air, water (fresh and sea) and earth. When I was working on this it became quite popular throughout the whole Pacific Region since the prevailing winds are usually from West to East from Japan across the Pacific.


 

 

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