The recent Nepal earthquake got me thinking about crowd funding. I was thinking about how quickly aid and relief supplies can reach people stranded in Nepal if more people could contribute online and not through other channels. Although not all crowd funding websites cater to disaster relief, there are many who do and it can make a very big difference to those people who lives need to be rebuilt after Mother Nature unleashes her fury. Here are some of the best crowd funding websites I have listed to help you fund any project that you care about or might be interested in:
GoFundMe
GoFundMe is the most popular crowdfunding website in the world right now. It works by allowing users create their own online fundraising campaign. The story is also shared on social media to spread the word and let more people know about it. Once people see their campaign they have the option of giving the person a donation. It also allows the user to send a gratitude note from the dashboard to the generous contributions that people have made. Primary features include 5 minute support for email, a mobile app, allowing users to keep the donation that they receive and not penalising missed goals or deadlines. Natural catastrophes, medical expenditures, charity, support for families who have been displaced or separated are some of the causes which GoFundMe allows users to sponsor.
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an exciting platform where people can fund creative projects across all genres from music, games, art, dance, fashion, photography, technology, design and many more. Anyone can launch an online creative project on Kickstarter as long as it conforms to some rules and regulations that the site has set. Kickstarter imposes deadlines on its projects and if a particular project fails to meet the deadline, then it will not receive the donation. It follows an all-or-nothing strategy to keep things going and to build momentum around the project. The website has an exciting vibe that any art or design enthusiast will definitely like.
Indiegogo
Indiegogo is used for campaigns all across the world across adverse range of projects. Indiegogo allows you to create and edit your online campaigns with images and videos. Indiegogo follows the all-or-nothing format but without the urgency and momentum. If a project does not meet its deadline, then some percentage of the funding will go to Indiegogo thus making it slightly expensive.
YouCaring
I could actually feel the tears welling up in my eyes when I saw some of the projects on YouCaring. Compassionate Crowdfunding is their tag line and they live up to it in every way. YouCaring allows you to start an online fundraiser free of cost. It allows people to lend a helping hand to various causes like disaster and emergency relief, adoption expenses, medical bills, non-profit, education expenses, volunteer and service projects and even pet and animal expenses along with many more. A big sigh of relief to all those animal lovers out there! It comes with a user-friendly fundraiser template through which people can tell their story using images and videos. Once the webpage has been created, it can be frequently updated. The next step is sharing of the user’s story on social media websites and via email so that more donors can get to know about it and help the humanitarian cause. The third and final step is the collection of the donations made by the user.
It harnesses the power of social media and kindness to bring in the donations to help someone fight cancer or help a child go to school and realize his dreams. A great platform indeed!
Patreon
I was really excited when I came across this one. Perfect for someone who loves writing and reading blogs. Patreon is for artistic projects only. But unlike Kickstarter it’s not about that one big project that you are trying to gather support for. It’s more about smaller independent bloggers, gamers and animation specialists, Youtubers and designers who regularly create something and post it online. Users are allowed to become patrons of their favourite artists or writers. The patron now gets to give a monthly gratuity to that artist whom they are a fan of and whose work they admire. Whenever their favorite artists release a new song video, a new comic strip or an awesome piece of writing, they’ll be notified about it. They also get additional perks such as chatting with that beautiful singer on Google Hangout or getting pre-sale concert tickets to her show in New York! Woo hoo! It’s a very exciting platform for both artists and patrons alike and for anyone who loves creative content and material.
