Below is a preview of a chapter I wrote on Crowd Empowered Microfinance in the forthcoming book Microfinance in Developing Countries, edited by Jean-Paul Gueyie, Ronny Manos, and Jacob Yaron. Microfinance is a multi-billion dollar industry with a rich history...
Crowd Finance
Collaborative or decentralized models of finance and investing, including equity crowdfunding, reward crowdfunding, crowd currencies, peer-to-peer lending and peer-to-peer commerce.
Crowdfunding is Propelling Social Innovation
Social innovation refers to new strategies, concepts, ideas and organizations that meet social needs of all kinds — from working conditions and education to community development and health — and that extend and strengthen civil society. Social media and the internet has been a big supporter of social innovation over the past couple of years, witnessing the creation of powerful virtual communities dedicated to a particular cause or initiative.
Cleantech Crowdfunding Finances Solar Projects in Record Time
The sharing and crowdsourcing economy is paving the way for more robusts methods of investments with real return on many fronts. Mosaic just launched the first online clean energy investment marketplace that connects investors to high quality solar projects.
How Razoo Helps Charities Fundraise & Engage Effectively
Lesley Mansford, CEO of Razoo answered a few questions for us on Razoo, a social fundraising platform that is changing the dynamics of corporate and personal charity. Razoo endeavors to make it easy to not only support your favorite cause, but is also proving to be a...
Self-Proclaimed Kickstarter Reject Creates Open Source Crowdfunding Website
To fund their hardware project, the founders wrote their source crowdfunding platform, which is now open sourced.
Crowdfunding Infographic – The US JOBS Act Explained
Crowdfunding is a way that businesses can seek money from a “crowd” to start-up, finance a new product, or expand their operations. Instead of pursuing big VC’s and investors, businesses pursue the crowd. The “crowd” pledges money to the...
A Framework for Political Crowdfunding
The recent presidential election in the United States was the most expensive race in history, with Mitt Romney and Barack Obama spending about $1 billion respectively on their efforts to win the White House. While both candidates raised hundreds of millions of...
Razoo Targets $15 million in 5 Days for U.S. Local Charities
Razoo, the fastest growing crowdfunding platform for causes, announces its first-ever week of giving – a week of five of Razoo’s “Giving Days”. Giving Days are powerful 24-hour online fundraising competitions that unite communities around causes. “Apart from being a...
Kiva Launches Microlending in India
Kiva.org is now working in India. The microlending non-profit made the announcement yesterday in a press release. What’s The Big Deal And why India? 32% of the population falls below the international poverty line. And 68% of the population is living on less...
Will Crowdfunding Platforms Help Fund Civic Projects?
Thinking Kickstarter When we hear crowdfunding many of us — including me — think Kickstarter. Which is understandable since the crowdfunding company has successfully launched over 65 thousand projects. And has over $305 million in total dollars...
Video: Crowdsourcing Week Speaks with Max Sidorov on Google Hangout
Yesterday I published an article where I discussed some of my personal feelings about Max Sidorov. And last night Epi Ludvik and I where able to speak with Max. We used Google+ Hangouts on Air — it was fun and Epi was feeling rather comical last...
The Crowdfunding Bill Will Help Startups
Today is the day that the crowdfunding ecosystem in the US rejoices — more specifically startups and small businesses. President Obama will sign the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act into law. The law allows non-accredited investors to invest in...
Patrick McHenry Speaks in Support of Crowdfunding – JOBS Act
Yesterday was a big day for crowdfunding. While it is supported by the Senate, House and President; there are many within the government and private sector that see crowdfunding as problematic. One of the main supporters of crowdfunding is Congressman Patrick McHenry...
President Obama to Sign the Crowdfunding Bill into Law
So what crowdfunding? According to Wikipedia — the crowd-powered reference site: “…the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts...