Mousumi Paul talks about the latest trend in crowdfunding for educational purposes
The magnifying spurt of crowdfunding is growing very strong nowadays. The idea of crowdfunding dates back to a few decades ago when people collected money from every household for a small occasion or for a village wedding. Today, however, the concept of crowdfunding is different from charity and is misunderstood many a times. To begin with, let’s understand quickly what crowdfunding actually means. Crowdfunding is basically about convincing people to be able to raise monetary funds with the help of digital media/the Internet for a particular project or an enterprise. The project could be related to any field from education to technology to sports, health, children and many such areas. The funds raised by individuals triggers the whole crowdfunding process. In the early 2000s, the whole crowdfunding process started along with a website, to raise capital for musical projects and song recordings by Brian Camelio. And today, celebrities from Hollywood like Amanda Palmer, Zach Braff, Kristen Bell to name a few indulge heavily in crowdfunding for concerts or any social cause.
Crowdfunding falls as a perfect back-up for all those who can’t acquire bank loans. It gives them a bigger hand and a boost of confidence to start up with their particular project without any rigid budget. People can also market their ventures for more traffic and free public relations on websites and social media pages. And if unluckily the project or the venture doesn’t work, the raised money will be refunded to all the funders. How’s that for transparency and honesty?
Crowdfunding for education
With 600 growing crowdfunding platforms around the world, fundraising raises up to more than a billion dollars every year. Crowdfunding has potential benefits for all the children who do not have access to education. It is a boon to all those who are talented and bright in their field of work but can’t pay their college/university course. Such an opportunity opens doors for children who want to study overseas. Even when it comes to distributing pencils, books, telescope, microscope etc, crowdfunding comes into a big help for poor children who can’t afford materialistic goods.Students can also start their own venture if they possess substantial funds in hand. The capital would also be a great support to most of them who need monetary help for study tours to conduct an in-depth study on a particular research. Crowdfunding helps anyone who is helpless and needs a small contribution
Challenges of crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is not an easy task. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance to stay glued to all the social media pages and constantly staying live on the Internet. There are also people who still don’t believe in the concept of fundraising via the Internet. Well, such negligence can be easily avoided if we think positively about someone getting educated because of us. Our small donation has the potential to change someone’s entire life.
Platforms to crowd fund
Keeping in mind the growing needs of students to raise funds, several online portals have surfaced. Among the best are Ketto, Hubbub, Kickstarter, GoFundMe, Indiegogo which have become the go-to platforms for most students. Crowdfunding organizations like Incited, Crowdfundedu, Donors Choose etc help students to learn more and polish their skills. These sites offer round the clock services with virtual assistants, regular updates on their funds raised personalized web pages and tips to make your campaign successful and turn your dreams to reality.
