CHAPTER 1 History Global Fund-raising Think about something you really want that you don’t have the money for It happens to everyone That something might be a new bike or a new guitar It might be tickets to a concert or to Comic-Con It might even be something that someone you care about needs such as a better wheelchair for a family member or help with medical costs for a friend Your allowance helps That babysitting or lawn-care money you earned helps too but it might not be enough What do you do You could ask your family and friends if they would be willing to donate a few dollars to your cause Or thanks to crowdfunding and social media you could ask the whole world 4 21st century skills library
Alexander Pope gave a shout-out in his book to the 750 people who helped fund his project in 1713 Back in Time In the late 1990s and early 2000s during the rise of the internet crowdfunding became the quickest way to raise money But that’s not when it got its start Crowdfunding has been around since at least the 18th century well before the internet The term crowdfunding however wasn’t coined until 2006 by Michael Sullivan Alexander Pope a famous poet during the time asked people to 5 CROWDFUNDING
Marillion’s 12th studio album is said to have been the first modern-day crowdfunded project help fund his project of translating German poetry to English In return Pope promised to include their names in his work Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart also used crowdfunding strategies to pay for his concerts Back then it was a slow process It often took years to raise the necessary funds Crowdfunding and the Internet In 1997 Marillion a British rock band successfully raised money from people all over the world in order to fund its tour The band used the internet only 6 years old at the time to raise 60,000 6 21st century skills library
making Marillion the pioneers of modern crowdfunding Three years later the first crowdfunding site ArtistShare launched ArtistShare was the first website dedicated to raising money for musicians looking for ways to fund their next project The novel idea of using the internet to raise money from fans and interested parties quickly spread Soon more websites like ArtistShare started popping up From big music stars and franchises to entrepreneurs people of all backgrounds use crowdfunding platforms to market their ideas and inventions to the entire world Timeline of Crowdfunding Sites Launch Year Company ArtistShare Kiva Mightycause formerly Razoo Indiegogo peerbackers Kickstarter Optimize Capital Markets Canada GoFundMe RocketHub Fundable 2000 2005 2006 2008 2009 2010 2012 7 CROWDFUNDING
