Crowdfunding: 1+1+1=Success! Or Fatigue?

I will admit I am addicted to the crowdfunding website Kickstarter. I go on the website about once a month and do a search of the available campaigns.  I begin my search by looking at all Pittsburgh has to offer, and then I move to Food, then Technology, and end with Fashion.  I have funded 10 Kickstarter campaigns: some large amounts, some small.  For me it is a joy and a gamble – will the campaign be successful? Will it fail? What goodies do I get in return for funding?  

Besides the trill of watching the campaign on it’s journey to success funding (or sadly sometimes failure), is the feeling I am helping.  My $5, or $100, and once $1000 is helping a social cause or social entrepreneur and since I am now a funder with a reward, I no longer feel like I am just donating.  Instead I am participating.

A part of me also wonders if crowdfunding popularity is only a fad.  Will people fatigue of always contributing?  Or will they fatigue of scrolling through numerous poorly thought out campaigns or just plain bad ideas in search that one campaign worthy of their money? I mean let’s face it, it takes time to search and as the old saying goes…time is money.  

In the article “$5.1 Billion Future of Crowdfunding” it states that crowdfunding is on the rise - a rise to $5.1Billion this year to be exact.  However, the article quickly points out that to meet this amount of volume the model of crowdfunding must evolve and diversify into a more “geographically-diverse” model with options similar to “big-time investing.”  (Did a few Bankers’ ears just pop up?!) 

Which brings me to my next question, introducing models like “big-time investing” how does this affect the crowdfunding typical user, the social entrepreneur?   Will it help them? Or will it attract more mainstream brands to the website to compete for the funds?

More on crowdfunding visit Forbes article on the Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chancebarnett/2013/05/08/top-10-crowdfunding-sites-for-fundraising/

Thinking about doing your own crowdfunding campaign (and want to keep people interested ) visit Forbes article on 7 tips to create a successful campaign: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2013/04/17/7-strategies-for-launching-a-successful-crowdfunding-campaign/