This project was brought to my attention via an invite to contribute research and editorial pieces for their new Crowdfunding section.
http://zero.newassignment.net/assignmentzero/crowdfunding
Most likely, I will be participating and all of my output going forward will be added there.
You can read more about the project here:
http://zero.newassignment.net/about
So after almost 10 months, the wikipedia squadron pursued and finally deleted the Crowdfunding article that I had originally published.
Here is the google cache copy of it:
http://72.14.209.104/search?q=cache:b6RQv48ryxkJ:en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding
I have copied/pasted the article into a new page over at pbwiki.com:
http://crowdfunding.pbwiki.com/
To edit, the password is 'edit'.
Cheers,
Sull
Here is a post discussing Ze Frank's approach to micro-sponsorship. I figured it is related and worth pointing to here.
i left a comment...
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smart, good use of an unoriginal idea, i think.
basically, bloggers and musicians and other media makers have used micropayment systems before, either to sell a specific piece of content or as a donation.
in a sense, Ze has made a glorified paypal button.
he has also taken notice to some of the “marketing 2.0″ sites that pop up seemingly starting back when the milliondollarhomepage.com launched and succeeded.
Ze is the perfect candidate to try and experiment since immediately, he will see good results, especially since starting his Ze Show project and the times right now are hot for alternative methods of payments to content creators.
Of interest, maybe, is a stop by one of my blogs - Crowdfunding.com - and the wikipedia article i had added over the summer for Crowdfunding. And of course, HaveMoneyWillVlog.com continues to successfuly raise funds for videobloggers.
We will see more of these New Sponsorship systems and i agree that they will probably trump traditional and even newer approaches like revver… because in the end, the services are only good for providing exposure…. but for accepting sponsorship funds, you can do it yourself…. plugins to your blog and a paypal account will be all that is needed.
but you need an audience. and thats why you need to leverage the destination sites that *may* provide the exposure for you… assuming you’ve make decent video where people will subscribe. not easy. but possible.
sull
Beth kanter blogs about and has great interest in online fundraising, crowdfunding, micro-philthranthropy.... Her latest post touches on the importance of video when setting up an online fundraiser. I couldnt agree more!
She also points to a great article that rounds up many fundraising services and acts as a guide.... and I have to link to it from here as well:
http://www.first-of-its-kind.org/site/how-to-use-the-internet-for-group-fundraising
Beth's latest post talks about her interest in using video along side a fundraising widget, or embedded as part of the widget even. Its something I obviously am BIG on and is very much part of fundavlog project. Here is what I say about video messaging in relation to fundavlog:
Transparency is crucial to earning trust and building this community. Transparency on all levels. This will be very apparent within fundavlog through video messaging and open access to community exchanges.
Though I do not yet have a widget ready, the fundavlog site itself, when used to create payment pages, utilizes a web video recorder that is offered by the blogcheese guys, to post a personal video message with the fundable entry.
Anyway, take a look at Beth's post and her latest fundraiser, for sponsoring a college student in Cambodia, at her blog here-
http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2006/11/vlog_fundraisin.html
take a look at the new relaunched chipin.com
the service seems more simplified yet still full featured.
they have added personalized payment pages, something i have been talking about here for fundavlog. you can have your own subdomain too. the widget has also been improved.
the chipin team has also decided to not charge for the service or take any transaction fees if raised funds are under $10,000. see http://blog.chipin.com/fees for more info.
now that chipin is back, i plan to touch base with them to see how best fundavlog can integrate services beyond the copy/pasting a widget. I'd like to let users generate a chipin from fundavlog so the process can be seamless.
overall, i am glad that chipin has returned with a streamlined version 2.0. they seem to be a dedicated team who are optimistic in the power of crowdfunding.
congrats to the chipin team!
sull
This article was brought to my attention tonight and it's a GREAT example of Crowdfunding.
Smart use of the Internet to raise money!
Four emails and nine days later, just over 3000 people had raised more than $267,000
The Article on WashingtonPost
The blog post referring to it
The first time I came across a blog that was using indiekarma, I instantly hopped over to their site and read the blog to understand their mission and technology. I was impressed and decided to give them a call to discuss how we could work together (fundavlog). I was told that they were revamping the service somewhat and especially their dockable widget approach. Now they have released the new beta widget which is more traditional in that it is meant to be placed on a blogs sidebar instead of temporarily appearing at the bottom or top of pages overlaying the site before it fades away.
Soon, I will talk with the folks at indiekarma again about fundavlog integration.. as an option to fundavlog users.
In mean time, take a look at their blog and demo.
http://indiekarmademo.blogspot.com/
Looks like chipin.com is gearing up for a new version of their site and service.
They are doing a really nice job over there and look forward to seeing the next version.
http://www.chipin.com/
http://blog.chipin.com/2006/09/21/something-is-brewing/
From the chipin blog:
"For those who are reading this blog and following the adventures of ChipIn, you may have noticed a bit of a quiet period for the company the past few months. Here’s the announcement.. we are re-launching chipin.com. Yep.. the chipin.com as you know it will soon be gone. But don’t fear, we have been building a better system to match your needs. When we launched ChipIn in late May, we set out to listen to our users and build a system that reflects the needs of people collecting money. Keep an eye out for our launch in early Oct. We believe we have finally built the smarter way to collect money."
I just quickly created a first version of a wikipedia entry for Crowdfunding.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowdfunding
I have made passing reference here to the concept of fundles. They are like bundles of fundable entries found on fundavlog. In other words, they are collections and playlists that users will be able to create. I am still building the pages and functionality for this but when complete, I will have a question to answer....
Should fundles be fundable? What I mean is.... if you spend time to make a fundle, you are promoting the media and people that are associated with each entry within that fundle. Might it make sense to add fundable feature to a fundle so other users can have a way to say -hey, thanks for being a filter and compiling this. here is a buck- ??
And to take it further, what if every entry in the fundle would recieve equal portion of any funds received? If a fundle has 4 entries in it and the fundle receives $5, then each entry would be credited with $1 and the fundle creator would also get $1. And so on.
fundles will also be widgets that can be added to any web page.
I think it could be interesting. Maybe I can get some feedback on these thoughts? Hop over to the google group if you have ideas to share. Thanks!
http://groups.google.com/group/fundavlog/
sull
Another minor dev update.
Added display of Top Funders and Top Funded Entries.
I will add Top Funded Members next.
This adds to fundavlog's transparency and filtration via money.
Just a quick note that I added more logic and checks on the funding features.
This will prevent errors and assure accurate transactions and restrictions.
Still have a few more items on my list to finish up before pounding on the site can truly begin by beta testers. Speaking of which, If anyone can confirm interest in testing out fundavlog (no cost to you) please message the fundavlog google group.
http://groups.google.com/group/fundavlog
focus will return to fundavlog now..... after a brief break.
fyi :)
this past week and prob the entire weekend..... no attention here.
been reading some interesting stuff that can apply here.
learning and smirking.
sull
Anne posted some thoughts about fundavlog
The good news is that Anne has also volunteered to help steer the fundavlog experiment. Thanks, Anne! When the project is ready for some sort of beta launch, Anne will be given authority for transaction management and whatever else Anne is interested in doing for the project.
More people are welcome to get involved!
I still am aiming for late September to begin a simple beta test phase of about 1 month in length. So, over the next month or so the fundamental discourse will be important.
