Rewards is where it's at (I'm biased!)

There is a great big shift in the crowdfunding world right now, scrap that, the whole world and it’s called awareness. Crowdfunding is moving house from the homes of the tech-minded and socially savvy into the living rooms of Joe public and his mates. 

Despite having my head firmly entrenched in the clouds of ideas and possibilities, I’ve got my ear to the ground and there are some distinct mutterings of big business, big financiers and well… big people in the world of money starting to take real notice of what the crowd is up to. It’s called democratic finance and it’s shaken, not stirred. Let’s face it, they’ve got to start jumping onboard right? It’s happening and it’s disrupting.

Also named the “socialisation of finance” (snappy huh?), everyone is talking about it. The nationals are yelling it from the broadsheets most days and Twitter is chirping away second by second, Facebook is a hotbed for spreading the word and rumour has it, most rewards-based pledges originate from the book-of-face. Banks are getting in on the action, and the crowdfunding marketplace is getting rowdier by the day. In fact, I’ve already paid and ordered three of my 2015 xmas gifts already - helping to set up businesses/support charities along my merry way. 

The potent cocktail of rewards, equity, peer to peer and loan crowdfunding has landed and the crowds are cheering. It’s pretty heady stuff when you are in the thick of it and an upward curve of learning. New tech is being developed daily and the masses are adapting to a new-world order, one in which they demand the products and entrepreneurs feed their hungry requests. 

I’m biased, for me rewards is where it’s at. I don’t have £500 quid - or more… hanging about having a party in my bank account, but what I do have is a little bit of money here and there to buy the things I want, and I get a buzz when I pledge on a project - I’m helping someones dreams come true. There is an essential happiness that comes from rewards-based crowdfunding, and its addictive. I’m not in the game for long-term investment and I don’t drink wine with too many that are. 

I’m not a minority, the fact-stuffed Nesta report tells us that the rewards-market grew to £26,000,000 in 2014, and I’ll bet my next pledge it’s eating up some serious brain space for some big charities, brands and businesses that are looking to max out the opportunities to leap into these freshly-formed online communities. 

It’s exciting, and it's getting noisy. The party's just started.... @_Jessification_

PS - this week I'm loving the fact that #MenInSheds have launched a campaign (early days yet but it's a cool idea) and Cornwall is looking to the past to protect the future of their culture with the St Piran's Oratory project. 

Bone-shakingly awesome crowdfunding people...

I see thousands of crowdfunding projects each week - like a community version of Tinder I flip through them judging instantly on their vids, their descriptions, if they're relevant to me... and it takes a special type of project to pique my interest, and and even more special one to get a pledge out of me.

But this week... well, it's only Wednesday and I'm all bone-tremblingly passionate about a few already. I seriously have crowdfunding related issues, my heart rate goes up, my knees knock and I babble with unrepressed excitement about plans, opportunities, what they can do and what they will achieve if they do it right. Crowdfunding - it's a health hazard.

This week - a previous jelly-leg-making project wrote a blog piece for me on Crowdfunder, Ben McCabe from Output Magazine wrote about the heart and soul of the business that had 24 hours to survive. Survival not just for the mag, but to save the jobs of four people, real people, with homes, families, insurances, cars, phone bills... they funded within 24 hours. The bank said no to them, but the crowd, oh the crowd said yes. The crowd are a wise bunch...

Even Ben himself said he never dared dream he would still be sat at his desk the following Monday, what better passion behind a crowdfunding campaign, than that of for your own livelihood? It's so inspiring, their project was special before they even launched - check it. 

I've just got off the phone to a guy "up London way" who has a brilliant campaign to launch in the next few weeks, I feel privileged that I'm involved at this stage, it's a beauty... more on that one to come. But I'm still fizzing and he rang off an hour ago now. Gotta thank the bods over at LinkedIn Europe for that sweet recommendation (you know who you are!)

Finally - there is this crew of people in Scotland that have just raised a staggering £43k to launch an indoor climbing place. I mean - how awesome is that? Oh yeah... we've got an idea, we are gonna crowdfund it, boom, it's crowdfunded. (it's obviously a little more complicated than that with a mega-ton of hard work thrown in).

So today, I'm dedicating my post to the Three Wise Monkeys - because, they are proof that when you monkey around with crowdfunding... it can pay off in a big way.

Crowdfunder About Town

I get excited about a lot of things. Crowdfunding is one of those things. 

What it's doing for society, for enterprise, for people, communities, you name it. It's doing it.

I got lucky - I got offered a job in the industry and I grabbed it, I shook it, I tried it on, gave myself a little wiggle and found it fit like a glove. It feeds my soul, my need to want to change the world. 

I've always wanted to make an impact. Create change, be change, make change, be a part of change, but I'd never found a niche. A place where I could do a bit of everything. Help a business here, fix a charity there, try and cure cancer here, or build a community there. Until now. Until crowdfunding came along. This is different, this is a place where I can jump into a community. I can become a part of a movement and be the movement, I can change the world - me and a million other people. Or a million other people and me. 

So, this is my blog, this is my home for crowdfunding. In ten years time we will be able to catalog what the crowd made happen. What? Yes, ok, so yeah, it's happening now, but it's the legacies that power me. The strength in what the crowd made a reality and what happens to that crowd. Their investment in society and where that leads our economic status - and believe me, it's about much more than the money. It's about the communities we are building. Weaving their webs through our online societies and not just funding the great ideas, but integrating themselves into the fabric - making it happen. 

They say we live in a fragmented society. I say we don't. Not anymore. We are building a new one.

I work in crowdfunding. I work in the present and I work for the future. I'm slightly obsessed with it, biased for the greater good. Where better to place the passion? 

Watch this space. I'll be chatting about what's rocking, what's not, some top tips from the world of communications and what it's like to work for one of the world's best crowdfunding platforms. Not just because of what they are doing, but because the team, the people I work with, my crew... they don't just rock the scene, they are on it like a car bonnet. Inside out, upside down and from a surf board in the middle of the Atlantic. 

@_Jessification_