{"id":42889,"date":"2018-03-20T13:45:43","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:45:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/world.edu\/?p=42889"},"modified":"2018-03-20T13:45:43","modified_gmt":"2018-03-20T20:45:43","slug":"5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/","title":{"rendered":"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that crowdfunding is such a recent phenomenon. While the first crowdfunding campaign was more than 20 years ago, in 1997, it didn\u2019t become mainstream until around 2009, when revenue was around $530 million<\/a>. Sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indigogo now make it easy to run a crowdfunding campaign, whether it\u2019s for a new product, a show, or even for the benefit of an individual\u2019s medical bills.<\/p>\n

Crowdfunding isn\u2019t all about making sure you get the next sequel to your favorite self-published book, however. It\u2019s also doing a lot of good for society overall. Here are 5 important ways crowdfunding is benefitting society.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Reinventing charitable giving <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Many crowdfunding campaigns are created to help individuals who are going through a tough time, either medically or personally. People who have been through a fire, have expenses related to a disease like cancer, or have had their possessions stolen. Crowdfunding, with its ability to \u201cgo viral\u201d can mean that charitable campaigns have jaw-dropping results: one man\u2019s quest to raise money for an 89-year old man resulted in $300,000 in donations<\/a>, rather than the $3000 he was hoping for.<\/p>\n

    Since individual campaigns like this have the ability to touch people emotionally, crowdfunding is beginning to change the way non-profits approach donations: instead of just promoting their mission statement, they\u2019re becoming more personalized to appeal to people willing to give to campaigns for individuals. Tapping into donor\u2019s emotions involves storytelling and being transparent about the work that\u2019s being done, which is compelling non-profits to shift their fundraising efforts and to try leveraging the power of crowdfunding.<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Improving Public Services <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Governments have to balance where they allocate funds, especially those provided by taxpayers. Some projects sit on the back burner for years because there simply isn\u2019t the money to fund them. Civic crowdfunding has become an option for communities that don\u2019t want to wait for projects to become reality. Between 2010 and 2013, about $10,700,000 was raised<\/a> via crowdfunding for projects like parks, improved bike lanes, and monuments. While crowdfunding won\u2019t replace taxpayer dollars, these civic projects are making many cities and towns safer and more beautiful than before. They also allow for more community involvement<\/a> in decision-making.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Leading the charge for green business and sustainability<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        Because environmental preservation is an important issue for many people, crowdfunding is a perfect way to fund green businesses or initiatives that focus on sustainability. Instead of going through the normal channels of investment options, like venture capital or small business loans, a business can appeal directly to the buyers. Many consumers are willing to pay more for sustainable products, and crowdfunding is one way they speak with their dollars.<\/p>\n

        Civic crowdfunding could help solve some of society\u2019s biggest environmental problems. For example, as more cars come on the road, more pollution is being released into the air. Private cars emit 73% of urban air pollution, and the number of vehicles is likely to rise to 3 billion<\/a> by 2035. Crowdfunding for initiatives like sustainable transportation, bike lanes, and other projects could help reduce environmental impact.<\/p>\n

        Most crowdfunding websites have an environmental\/green section<\/a>, allowing those who care passionately about these issues to quickly find projects they want to support.<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Fostering innovation <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Innovation can be a slow process. It can take years for an idea to become reality using more traditional funding sources. Crowdfunding can speed up that process<\/a> by providing the necessary funds and the initial orders for the product. This shortens the development cycle by proving the demand and funding the project simultaneously. Now, it\u2019s easier than ever for innovators to bring a new project to life\u2014a project that can potentially deliver immense value. If the interest just isn\u2019t there, the project isn\u2019t funded, the investors get their money back, and there\u2019s no harm, no foul. Crowdfunding is a wonderful tool for effective market viability testing for just this reason.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. Creating opportunities <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Everyone knows a person (or ten people) with great idea for a project. That project might not pass muster with a book publisher or Hollywood executive, but that doesn\u2019t mean no one is interested. Crowdfunding makes creating something accessible. People don\u2019t have to go through the \u201cgatekeepers\u201d with crowdfunding, they just have to propose an idea people find interesting and exciting enough to buy. That\u2019s truly the beauty of crowdfunding: if it can be made, and enough people want to see it made, it can happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            It\u2019s hard to believe that crowdfunding is such a recent phenomenon. While the first crowdfunding campaign was more than 20 years ago, in 1997, it didn\u2019t become mainstream until around 2009, when revenue was around $530 million. Sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indigogo now make it easy to run a crowdfunding campaign, whether it\u2019s for […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":42890,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[106182],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-42889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-politics","tag-crowdfunding"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n5 ways crowdfunding is improving society - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s hard to believe that crowdfunding is such a recent phenomenon. While the first crowdfunding campaign was more than 20 years ago, in 1997, it didn\u2019t become mainstream until around 2009, when revenue was around $530 million. Sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indigogo now make it easy to run a crowdfunding campaign, whether it\u2019s for […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-03-20T20:45:43+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Crowdfunding.jpg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"376\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-20T20:45:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":747,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/Crowdfunding.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"crowdfunding\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Business and Politics\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/\",\"name\":\"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/Crowdfunding.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-03-20T20:45:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/Crowdfunding.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/03\\\/Crowdfunding.jpg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":376},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"It\u2019s hard to believe that crowdfunding is such a recent phenomenon. While the first crowdfunding campaign was more than 20 years ago, in 1997, it didn\u2019t become mainstream until around 2009, when revenue was around $530 million. Sites like Kickstarter, GoFundMe, and Indigogo now make it easy to run a crowdfunding campaign, whether it\u2019s for […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2018-03-20T20:45:43+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":376,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Crowdfunding.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society","datePublished":"2018-03-20T20:45:43+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/"},"wordCount":747,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Crowdfunding.jpg","keywords":["crowdfunding"],"articleSection":["Business and Politics"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/","name":"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Crowdfunding.jpg","datePublished":"2018-03-20T20:45:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Crowdfunding.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/03\/Crowdfunding.jpg","width":680,"height":376},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/5-ways-crowdfunding-is-improving-society\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"5 ways crowdfunding is improving society"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42890"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42889"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=42889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}