Crowdfunding is usually done via or with the help of the internet but the idea of pooling capital or assets to fund a project or enable an enterprise to take-off is not a new phenomenon. Societies and communities have come together to support each other for commercial or creative adventures for several centuries. Previously we were more likely to have used other terms for these arrangements such as consortium, cooperative, co-ownership and mutual rather than the recent adage of crowdfunding.
Non-financial benefits
Crowdfunding not only raises start-up capital, but it also brings non-financial benefits to businesses such as product validation, a gauge for pricing and demand, leads pre-sales and provides a defined shareholder structure.
Enterprises can also utilise the crowd to obtain ideas and feedback on new products and foster collective decision-making but the main advantage of crowdfunding is that it delivers network marketing.
Funders become ambassadors of the project or business they support and they help to market and promote it through their own connections.
The four types of crowdfunding: donation, reward, equity and lending spur different motivations for the funder. Motivations can be social, material or a financial return.
Donation - a donor contract without existential reward. Platforms include
and
.
Reward - a purchase contract for a product or service. Platforms include
and
.
Lending – original amount is being repaid plus interest. Platforms such as
and
.
Equity – ownership and revenue sharing in the project with potential capital gain at the exit. Platforms include
and
.
Social Return
This kind of return is associated with donation-based crowdfunding and is used extensively by non-profit organisations to fund projects and core costs. It can also help to fund creative activities and common purpose activities.
Donation and reward based approaches tend to target smaller campaigns and can also focus on a local or community-based project targeting those funders who can identify with the cause. Funders are satisfied with seeing a project realised.
The ease and speed of setting up fundraisers mean that individuals (with little or no technical experience) can now organise and start their own campaign within minutes.
Material Return
Here the funder receives a product or service as a reward for their investment. This business model is called reward-based crowdfunding.
Reward-based crowdfunding is frequently used for creative businesses or smaller consumer products, where basic financing for production is linked to an initial demand-test. If a sufficient number of people enter into a funding agreement, the entrepreneur has market validation as well as the working capital for the project.
Reward based approaches are commonly used within the film and music industry and also for technology products. Because a product or service is purchased in advance the business acquires the working capital to get the project started.
Sometimes rewards are given to funders in loan and equity crowdfunding business models as an added benefit to the proposed financial benefit. Rewards can be incentives to give the campaign competitive advantage and some businesses offer products or services, instead of an interest or dividend payment.
Financial Return
Funders of equity or loan crowdfunding campaigns expect a positive financial return.
Equity-based crowdfunding offers a higher risk/reward return than crowd lending due to the lack of publicly available data and the illiquid nature of non-publicly traded shares.
Lending and debt based approaches are usually peer-to-peer platforms, where individuals lend money for specific purposes at better lending rates than banks offer.
In the U.K. the Financial Conduct Authority now regulates and authorises these crowdfunding platforms. New rules came into force in April 2014 and apply to businesses that operate peer-to-peer lending or investment-based platforms. The rules were implemented to protect investors and to ensure that consumers had access to clear information about the risks of lending or investing money.
Equity-based crowdfunding and peer-to-peer business lending has now become a vital and increasingly common source of capital that is transforming the prospects of small businesses in the United Kingdom.
