Crowd Funding

The definition of Crowd Funding is: "the practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people". Companies and individuals use Crowd Funding to source income towards ventures in technology, music, gaming, short films, kids books, crafts and comics.

Two of the biggest online crowd-funding sites are Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. I've used these sites in recent years, helping to financially back projects that I'd like to see become a reality. These sites offer a tier system, giving backers the option of contributing more money in return for a 'perk'. These perks can cost anything from £1 to £10'000, and can reward you with anything from a "thank you" mention on a website, right up to having dinner with the crew on the set of a feature film.

Crowd-funding isn't shopping. You don't buy an item that's sitting in a warehouse somewhere. You contribute money to get an idea off the ground. And even though both IndieGoGo and Kickstarter require campaigners to detail "Risks and Challenges", there's a chance the campaign might never be complete. But that's part of the fun!

It's also nice to be a part of someone else's success, and I wish all the campaigns below all the best with their future...

There are occasions where campaigns have been successful, yet the creators haven't committed to the perks. You can read about a few of those here.

Mercian Media Ltd is a proud backer of the following campaigns, and helped bring these fantastic ventures to life: