What is Crowdsourcing?
Crowdsourcing is when you solicit others to donate money toward your project, usually in exchange for an incentive or privilege. For example, if there was a fundraiser for the 2010 Finger Lakes Film Festival, and one person donated $25, that person might get an all-access pass for both nights of screenings. If there's a project that you've been itching to embark on, but don't have the money for, crowdsourcing is a great way to find the money. Here are some websites where you can do internet fundraisers:
Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/
Kickstarter is probably the most widely known of the crowdsourcing websites.
Advantages: As I mentioned, it's probably the most popular crowdsourcing website, which means your project is more likely to attract publicity. Kickstarter also does a "featured projects" page, where they highlight projects they find interesting.
Disadvantages: Kickstarter is still in Beta Mode. As they write at their website, "We're in Beta and the ability to start projects is limited. If there's a project you can't wait to start, sign up or login and then drop us a line. We'd love to hear about it." Also, you only get the money if you reach your goal. However, if you do reach your goal, people can continue to pledge until your deadline.
Chip In: http://www.chipin.com/
Advantages: You get the money even if you don't meet your goal. Also, unlike Kickstarter and IndieGoGo (see below), they take no money off the top, as the funds are transferred through Paypal.
Disadvantages: Unlike Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, there's no community to bring extra attention to your project. You will need to link to the fundraiser from your website (which you should do, anyway) really have to do the legwork.
IndieGoGo: http://www.indiegogo.com/
IndieGoGo was one of the original crowdsourcing websites. Until recently, it was devoted primarily to Film and Video Projects. Now they've expanded to compete with Kickstarter.
Advantages: Like Kickstarter, there's a community and the website has a page that calls attention to certain projects. Also, unlike the previous two websites, there's no deadline to raise money, so if you have an ongoing project, this might be the place to look.
Disadvantages: What they take off the top is a little steep--9%. You may want to keep this in mind.
Crowdsourcing projects tend to work best if a project has a modest amount. Of course, you may have to claim taxes once you've raised your money. Kickstarter and IndieGoGo do their payments through Amazon Payments, and ChipIn does their payments through Paypal (aforementioned). I just thought I might pass this along incase anyone was interested.