1. The Diversity and Impact of
Crowdfunding Projects
Lily Eves
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2. Online Support
With the widespread influence and
real-time interaction, the rise of
social media has created a new
way to encourage social good
(Bresciani and Schmeil).
Organizations and individuals have
jumped onto this trend and
promoted their causes and projects
through social media platforms.
Supporting these promotions has
been given the title clicktivism.
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3. “The use of digital
media for facilitating
social change and
activism” (Clicktivist.org)
Clicktivism
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4. Clicktivism includes a variety of
activities online in order to
support a cause or project.
Most often, people engage in
what is often referred to as
slacktivism.This involves actions
that require little time and effort
to support a cause.
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5. Slacktivism
We may participate in forms of clicktivism through
social media more often then we realize.We could
like or follow a page of an organization we
support, share a hashtag to show our support for a
cause or sign an online petition to contribute to a
movement. It can be so simple and easy to partake
in.These actions are what are often referred to as
the derogatory term of slacktivism.
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6. Criticism of Clicktivism
“Social media has become a powerful, if
not essential, tool for connecting causes
with those who might support them.
But organizations and activists must
learn that it’s not enough to simply
launch a hashtag or video meme and
hope it goes viral. There must be a plan
to engage supporters once they’ve
clicked, and keep them engaged, even
after the hashtag stops trending” (Marc and
Craig Keilburger)
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7. ALS Ice Bucket Challenge
An online trend of pouring a bucket of ice water over your head to
raise awareness for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis took over social
media in 2014.
Many people critique this campaign as a useless effort, since many
people who engaged in it did not actually donate to the cause.
However, according to Ritu Sharma, there was “$15.6 million raised
from July 29 to August 18, with $8 million raised between August 14
and 18 alone”.That is an 800% increase from the same period the
previous year.
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8. Clicktivism is a powerful
tool and should not be
criticising. Something as
small as spreading a
hashtag can have a great
effect for that cause (Sharma)
Clicktivism does not
always have to be about
effortless clicking.There
are many forms of it than
can have a massive impact.
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9. Converting Clicktivism
into Crowdfunding
The next step in supporting a cause or
project involves making greater personal
sacrifices that some forms of clicktivism
often do not provide. This may involve
donating time or money rather than a
Facebook like. A major and powerful
method of clicktivism is crowdfunding.
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10. What is
crowdfunding?
“Crowdfunding is a method of raising
capital through the collective effort of
friends, family, customers, and
individual investors.This approach
taps into the collective efforts of a
large pool of individuals—primarily
online via social media and
crowdfunding platforms—and
leverages their networks for greater
reach and exposure” (Fundable.com)
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12. Even after creating a page on
Kickstarter or another crowdfunding
platform, you still need to spread the
word. This can be done primarily
through social media. Whether it be
personal advertising on Facebook or
spreading a hashtag, you must target
an online audience in order to get
online donations.
Raising Money Online
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13. TheVariations in Funding
These crowdfunding platforms can be used for so many
different causes and projects.This can include funding for
charities, video games, films, tuition, art, disaster relief,
technology or many other endeavors.
There has been many significant impacts from these money
raising campaigns.
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14. The Most Funded Kickstarter Projects…
Pebble Time Smartwatch
$20,338,986
Coolest Cooler
$13,285,226
Pebble Technology
$10,266,845
The World’s Best Travel Jacket
$9,192,055
Exploding Kittens Card Game
$8,782,571
(Zipkin)
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15. Crowdfunding in Science
Scientists use crowdfunding platforms
such as MyProjects to fund their
projects. If it captures the interest of
others, many people will be inclined
to give money. These non-profit
organizations rely on donations for
their research, and crowdfunding has
proved to be a successful method of
collecting them. (Lin)
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16. PayingTuition
Students have turned to
crowdfunding for paying for school.
Many of the crowdfunding sites
have seen a huge increase in their
education categories. People across
the world can donate money to help
one person pursue their dreams of
higher education (Blackman).
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17. Yooka-Laylee: Funded By Nostalgia
The team behind the Nintendo 64 classic games Donkey Kong
Country and Banjo-Kazooie reunited to form Playtonic Games.
They launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a new project
entitled Yooka-Laylee.The campaign reached its goal 30
minutes after launching the Kickstarter page, therefore making
it one of the greatest crowdfunding successes in the video
game industry (Dring).
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18. The Veronica Mars Movie
Seven years after the television show
Veronica Mars was cancelled, a
Kickstarter campaign launched to
fund a movie to tie up loose ends in
the series. It reached its goal of 2
million dollars in 12 hours, and
ended up raising nearly triple the
amount that it asked for. The movie
hit theaters with many of the
original cast members in March 2014
(Rappaort)
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19. Disaster Relief
During times of natural disasters and tragedy, crowdfunding
campaigns are often launched in order to help those in need.
YouCaring has had massively successful campaigns to help Syrian
Refugees and orphaned and abandoned children in Napal.This
platform makes it easy for people to connect with causes and
donate to help others across the world (Kutilek)
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20. A Crowdfunded Revolution
There is a huge array of causes and projects that
have been helped by crowdfunding. People may
donate to see their favorite show come back or for a
new technological product, but they also will give
money to charitable causes if given the option.
Charities should take advantage of this new trend
and spread their cause through social media.
Clicktivism is effective in creating social good.
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21. Sources
Blackman, Andrew. “Tuition Due? Time to Hit Up Everyone You Know”, Wall Street Journal, 02 Nov. 2015.
Bresciani, Sabrina and Andreas Schmeil. “Social Media Platforms for Social Good”, 6th IEEE International
Conference on Digital Ecosystems and Technology, 2 July 2012, pp. 1-6.
Dring, Cristopher. “Yooka-Laylee: The Backers View”, GameIndustry.biz, 20 April 2017.
Keilburger, Craig and Marc. “Global Voices: 'Liking' Must Be Followed Up with Real-World Action”, Times
Colonist, 12 April 2015.
Kutilek, Paige. “Crowdfunding for Natural Disasters”, YouCaring.com, 9 Sept. 2016.
Lin, Thomas. “Scientists Turn to Crowds on the Web to Finance Their Projects”, The New York Times, 12 July
2011.
Rappaport, Sarah. “Kickstarter Funding Brings 'Veronica Mars' Movie to Life”, CNBC, 12 March 2014.
Sharma, Ritu. “Stop Pouring Ice on Clicktivism”, The Huffington Post, 20 Aug. 2014.
“What is Clicktivism”, Clictivist.org.
“What is Crowdfunding?”, Fundable.com.
Zipkin, Nina. “The 10 Most Funded Kickstarter Campaigns Ever”, Entrepreneur.com, 28 Dec. 2015.
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