Crowdfunding the best platforms. Which Russian crowdfunding platforms can you trust?

Collective financing of business ideas and social programs for domestic citizens is a relatively new experience. The first Russian crowdfunding sites appeared only in 2007. Initially, they covered highly specialized areas of investing in creative projects of musicians, writers, and directors.

One of the pioneers is the site Kroogi.com - a platform for providing creativity to Internet users in exchange for voluntary donations. It has a separate directory for crowdfunding, where you can raise funding for recording albums, filming films and video clips, as well as for charitable purposes.

Social services also gained significant weight among domestic platforms. Among them:

• Together.ru- a site founded by a community of readers of the dirty.ru blog. He is involved in fundraising for various social projects throughout the Russian Federation.
• Blagobox.ru- raises funds for the treatment of children with serious illnesses.

Experts consider the main problem of public financing in Russia to be low awareness of the mechanisms for its implementation, both among investors and among project authors. Thus, Russian crowdfunding sites note a strong shortage in the area of ​​creating innovative products. This is due to the fact that it can be difficult for inventors and developers to convey the essence of the project to a wide range of people, and therefore they choose direct cooperation with real business investors. To solve this issue, the Russian crowdfunding platform Boomstarter offered a free online course on the basics of collective investing, creating and promoting ideas.

The best Russian crowdfunding sites

The difficulties in developing mechanisms for public financing of ideas are also associated with the high level of distrust of domestic investors. This leads to the rapid closure of most platforms even in the initial stages of formation. So, if the rating of foreign services includes dozens of multi-directional services, then the most successful Russian crowdfunding platforms for business are represented by a list of three leaders:

• Planeta.ru- one of the first domestic online platforms for crowdfunding. At the end of 2016, the platform had collected 565 million rubles, allowing the implementation of about 2.5 thousand ideas. Provides the opportunity to attract funding in 24 categories, including classic business startups, creative projects and social entrepreneurship. Payments are made if the full amount of the declared amount is collected, as well as with investments of more than 50% of the required capital, if the author of the idea is ready to fulfill obligations to sponsors. The service commission for commercial projects is 10-15%. Social programs are not subject to commission fees.
• Smipon.ru- Russian crowdfunding platform “One Thread from the World.” It provides an opportunity to receive funding for projects in 10 categories. The uniqueness of the site lies in strict manual verification at all stages, from the creation of an application to the execution of the idea. Only citizens of the Russian Federation can apply. Payment of the collected investments is carried out in an “all or nothing” format (only if the requested amount is collected). The site's commission fees range from 3.5% to 5%.
• Boomstarter.ru- covers 15 categories of projects, which include various areas of art, goods production, and publishing. As of 2016, the site was able to attract more than 326 million rubles and implement more than 1,300 projects. Receipt of collected funds is possible with a time limit (subject to the required amount being collected) or upon achieving target investments (for non-commercial purposes). Commission fees for projects that reach the required amount are 5%.

Alternative crowdfunding services

In recent years, the largest Internet companies Yandex and Mail.ru have launched their own products to support crowdfunding in Russia.

• Project “Together” from Yandex- a non-standard platform that allows you to create Internet pages requesting funding for various purposes, including personal needs (see Crowdfunding for personal needs and goals). Payments from investors are made immediately and have no restrictions on time or volume.
• Welcome Mail.Ru- the service offers a huge number of charitable projects that anyone can finance. Fundraising is carried out until the required amount is received.

In addition to the main platforms, tracker sites (Thestartman.ru) aimed at investors are also appearing. Such services offer convenient viewing of all current crowdfunding projects in Russia, collected on various websites.

The main advantage of domestic sites is the opportunity to receive money even in the absence of the fact of collecting the full amount, and often without a time limit. This allows projects to be launched, providing newly attracted investors with real evidence of the effective operation of the public financing system.

Last update: 01/21/2020

Hello, dear readers of the portal site! Today we'll talk about crowdfunding And crowdinvesting , what it is, what types of crowdfunding there are, what Russian sites operate in our country and the CIS countries.

Crowdfunding is a fairly popular word that has been used especially often lately. This is far from just a word, it is a term denoting a new and serious phenomenon in the world business and finance, which has already made it possible to create a large amount of material wealth and implement hundreds of social and investment projects, and also became source of start-up capital for many talented businessmen.

Nowadays, crowdfunding and crowdinvesting are becoming increasingly popular, as this is a wonderful tool that allows you to find out and produce exactly those material values ​​that the consumer really needs.

From this article you will learn:

• What is crowdfunding and its features;
• Types of crowdfunding and its rules;
• What is crowdinvesting and its types;
• Popular Russian sites (platforms).

You will also be able to get acquainted with the current state of crowdfunding in the world, Russia and the CIS countries, and perhaps gain knowledge that can push you to implement your own project using such a powerful tool as crowdfunding.

Crowdfunding and crowdinvesting - what is it, what is it for, how to create and place a project on a crowdfunding site, what kind of Russian sites there are, and so on, read the article

If we literally translate the term “ crowdfunding " From english ( crowdfunding), then it turns out to be “crowd financing”. It would be more correct to slightly adapt this translation to the Russian language, and translate this term as “ Popular (collective) financing" In this translation lies the main essence of this phenomenon, in its essence

Crowdfunding(from the English crowdfunding) - This popular Internet financing of ideas (raising funds from everyone) in order to bring any project to life.

The project could be like commercial, so non-profit. Those people who try to collect finances in this way have a name "recipients", and those who rent (invest) funds are called " donors" .

Nowadays, such fundraising has become very widespread on the Internet and social networks, as it is very convenient fundraising platform, which has a colossal audience.

A large number of Internet resources have been created specifically for these purposes; one of the most famous in the world at the moment is famous crowdfunding platform Kickstarter , which has made it possible to implement more than one project and raised billions of dollars.

The goals of crowdfunding can be very different; they resort to it very often young businessmen who thus wish to raise the necessary amount for the implementation of any project or startup. We already wrote about who startupers are in a previous publication.

As practice shows, if the idea is really interesting and the “donors” liked it, then money can be raised very quickly.

The main goals for raising funds using crowdfunding are most often:

• Operations and treatment;
• Attracting and financing certain commercial projects;
• Landscaping;
• Financing of political activities;
• Charity;
• Funding for cultural figures, athletes, musicians, etc. ;

When crowdfunding is used to raise funds for the implementation of a startup or any business project, in most cases this is not a free investment.

People who want to invest in a particular commercial project do so with the aim of making a profit in the future. This method is described later in the article, it is often also called crowdinvesting.

Crowdinvesting should be considered as a separate subtype of crowdfunding. It differs in that the collection of funds necessary for the creation and development of a startup project is carried out in exchange for material remuneration from the financing party in the future.

Distinctive features of Crowdfunding and its types

2. Types of crowdfunding - 3 main types 📌

There are 3 (three) main types:

View No. 1. Debt crowdfunding

Debt crowdfunding involves investing money in exchange for a certain share in a future project, or in exchange for a return on investment.

View No. 2. Equity crowdfunding

Equity crowdfunding This is a type of crowdfunding in which the recipient sells a certain part of his business to a donor (investor), or simply offers a share in his company on the terms of long-term investment.

View No. 3. Reward crowdfunding

Reward crowdfunding The most popular type of crowdfunding, in exchange for investments, donors receive gifts and valuable prizes.

3. Distinctive features of crowdfunding 📑

One of the distinctive features of this method of funds is strict compliance with all rules and agreements.

The following distinctive features of crowdfunding can be distinguished:

Factor 1. A clear idea

Money should not be collected for some obscure extraneous purpose. To attract the required amount of funds, the person collecting them must really offer a clear and understandable idea, in which there will be a desire to invest in order to receive further profit (if the idea is commercial).

For example, you decided to create your own - sew leather shoes. You need to clearly and clearly describe in your project what materials the shoes will be made from, how much money is needed to purchase equipment, and so on.

Factor 2. Limitation

The process of collecting money should be limited in time. This approach allows you to better understand which of the projects is really interesting to the audience, and which did not suit their taste.

Factor 3. Venture

If a donor invests his funds in any project, he does not receive 100% guarantees return on investment, because always during the implementation of a project, there is a possibility that something will go wrong.

In addition, when it comes to social initiatives, return on investment is not at all implied.

Factor 4. Focus

Modern crowdfunding platforms are engaged in raising funds for the implementation of a wide variety of projects, these can be both commercial and non-commercial projects in different fields.

Factor 5. Results-oriented

A person or organization raising money through crowdfunding is obliged to report on the work done and the use of funds.

If she does not fulfill this, she must return the money invested in her.

Why and who needs Crowdfunding, who can use it

4. Who can use crowdfunding 💳 - who needs it and why

One of the features of crowdfunding is that absolutely anyone can do it. In addition, in some cases, the site on which you place your project will not even take any interest from you.

However, most often you will still have to pay = the platform on which you post your (business) project approximately 5-7% commission, but only if you managed to raise funds for the implementation of my project.

If for one reason or another you failed get the necessary investment, you do nothing don't pay site (platform), which makes crowdfunding an almost win-win and very profitable option, both for businessmen and for those who want to implement certain social projects.

Also, in case of successful fundraising, the platform on which the user (recipient) posted his project will ask to provide certain reward for those who invested in his idea. If the investments are large (serious) amounts, then it would be correct to offer investors a certain part in the future business company.

It is important to consider that all crowdfunding platforms are different and some may have your terms.

That is why, before posting your project, you should carefully study the site rules so as not to get into an unpleasant situation in the future due to your own ignorance.

Foreign Crowdfunding platforms + Russian crowdfunding sites

5. Foreign crowdfunding sites 💵

With the development of the Internet, a huge number of crowdfunding sites, which offer their users very comfortable And effective tools to attract investment.

One of the very first and one of the most successful platforms is the popular site kickstarter.com.

Kickstarter (kickstarter.com)

The Kickstarter platform has an official website kickstarter.com, the site is not yet presented in Russian in Russia (that is, in the Russian version), but in the future all large platforms, as a rule, will come to Russian markets.

If a project on the Kickstarter site does not raise the required amount of funds by the specified deadline, then all the money is returned to the sponsors. Funds are collected through Amazon Payments.

Kickstarter takes over 5 % commissions from raised funds + additional commission charged by Amazon.

Crowdfunding platform kickstarter.com - Kickstarter in Russian is not currently represented in Russia

There are also a large number of other similar Internet sites on which interesting projects appear almost every day, collecting a lot of money.

Among such platforms are:

• indiegogo.com ,
• gofundme.com ,
• 99designs.com ,
• crowdflower.com
• crowdfundinginternational.eu (crowdfunding international).

All these sites are very convenient, as they allow you to select one or another project based on certain criteria, for example, such as subject matter, amount of funds required, implementation period And a lot others.

Such a convenient sorting of projects greatly simplifies life for both donors and recipients, and also helps to invest their funds as wisely as possible. find donors as efficiently as possible.

It is important to remember that any posted project goes through serious verification by the crowdfunding platform on which it is located. This state of affairs allows these sites to act as some kind of guarantor between those who collect funds and those who invest them.

For these services, the site usually collects a certain commission. It varies from site to site, but in most cases it is within 5-10% .

6. Crowdfunding in Russia - the largest Russian platforms 💸

Recently, crowdfunding has become increasingly popular in Russia, which has led to the emergence of quite a large number of platforms that act as reliable guarantors between donors And recipients .

Crowdfunding sites in Russia currently have little popularity, but we can already say that this is a promising area of ​​financing both in the CIS countries and in the Russian Federation.

The most popular platforms are the following:

6.1. Crowdfunding platform "Planeta.ru"

Crowdfunding Russian platform "Planeta.ru" (Planeta.ru)

Official site of the site - planeta.ru

This site has certain rules, the creator of the project must be over 18 years old and also have own bank account. On the website planeta.ru you can raise money for the implementation of a variety of projects, ranging from creative ones like recording music and filming a film to social projects.

Exception for the crowdfunding platform are political and commercial projects.

Among the features of this site, we can note the presence of a personal curator for each project, with whom an agreement is signed allowing the launch of fundraising. There are moderators on the site who carefully study each project.

6.2. Crowdfunding platform “From the World by Thread”

Russian crowdfunding platform “From the World to a Thread” (smipon.ru)

smipon.ru

The site specializes in social And commercial projects. Funding can be denied only to those projects that did not pass moderation or were not approved individually for any reason.

The recipient collecting funds through this site must have Russian citizenship and also have clear idea And deadlines for collecting funds.

Before the start of the project, an agreement is concluded between the recipient and the site itself. The agreement implies the transfer of part of the funds to the site if they are successfully collected.

6.3. Crowdfunding platform "Boomstarter" (Boomstarter.ru)

Russian crowdfunding platform “Boomstarter” (boomstarter.ru)

Official website of the crowdfunding platform - Boomstarter.ru. The Boomstarter platform is an analogue of the Kickstarter project.

To create a project on Boomstarter you must be citizen of the Russian Federation over 18 years of age. In addition, you should provide place of permanent registration And identity document, as well as create your own bank account and provide this data to the site.

The site is more focused on financing of creative projects, such as recording albums, releasing books, filming films and more. While commercial and charitable projects (targeted financing, various information and propaganda campaigns, etc.) are prohibited from being posted.

A feature of the site is the limited time frame for fundraising. Money can be collected no more than 60 days, thus the site is suitable for collecting small amounts.

Comparative table of Russian crowdfunding sites:

*ViN– all or nothing (projects can only be fully funded, or not funded at all)

OB– Leave everything (there is an opportunity to receive a certain part of the funds that were collected)

What is crowdinvesting - the meaning of the term + forms (models) of making a profit in crowdinvesting

7. What is crowdinvesting: main types + platforms for crowdinvesting in Russia 💰

Crowdinvesting - This, kind, collective investment. From English words: 1) Crowd- crowd, 2) Investing- investing. This means that crowdinvesting is “investing in crowds.”

The principle of this type of crowdfunding is as follows:

An entrepreneur comes up with a startup project, then investors chip in to implement the project and the profits from the business are divided among everyone in pre-agreed proportions (according to the agreement)

Let us remind you! Crowdinvesting is one of the types of crowdfunding (“people’s finance”).

7.1. Types of crowdinvesting - description and meaning

Crowdinvesting is divided into 3 type:

1. Royalty;
2. Public lending (crowdlending);
3. Equity crowdfunding.

View 1. Royalty

In this case, the investor expects to receive a share or part of the profit of the financed business project. This financing approach is used in the creation of many films, projects and games. We wrote about (how and where to look for investors for a business) in a previous publication.

With this form of crowdinvesting, the investor has the right to count on a share of the profit of the financed project. This approach is often used when financing music projects ( SonicAngel), films ( Slated) and games ( LookAtMyGame).

Type 2. Public lending (crowdlending)

Crowdlending – a new way of online lending to individuals, other individuals or companies through special Internet resources.

Here the lender has a higher interest rate compared to deposits in banks, and the borrower has a lower interest rate on his loan than banks offer. Plus, getting a loan this way is much easier.

Also found in public lending - social lending. The rates on these loans are very low (symbolic) or non-existent. The result is something between charity and lending.

There are 2 (two) main types of crowdlending:

1. P2P lending– when individuals lend to other individuals;
2. P2B lending– when individuals lend to organizations, companies (usually medium and small businesses).

Type 3. Equity crowdfunding

The newest and most advanced form of crowdinvesting, where the investor becomes a “shareholder” (owner of a share of the financed project), with all the rights of a shareholder (receiving dividends, managing the company, etc.).

This form of crowdinvesting violates the laws of many countries. But laws are being adopted that legalize this activity and allow the form of crowdinvesting to be regulated, which has a beneficial effect on the development of developing and developed countries.

7.2. The most popular platforms for crowdinvesting in Russia

There are a large number of Russian crowdinvesting platforms.

Let's look at the most famous of them:

1. StartTrack – the site was created in 2013 with the support of the IIDF (Fund for the Development of Internet Initiatives), the minimum amount for investing in this site is 10,000 rubles, the profitability is promised - up to 35%. StartTrack is one of the most famous and reliable crowdinvesting platforms;
2. Flow – This is a project from Alfa-Bank. To invest, a minimum amount of 10,000 rubles is required. You need to invest for a period of at least 6 months. Crowdinvesting platform promises higher returns 25 % ;
3. Aktivo – a platform from the creators of the CarPrice and KupiVip platforms. This platform allows you to invest money in commercial real estate, which is rented out to large and well-known companies (supermarkets Pyaterochka, Victoria and others). To invest, you will need an amount of at least 500 thousand rubles. Platform profitability over 11 % per annum.

7. How crowdfunding platforms make money 📈

Earnings crowdfunding platforms mainly based on receiving commission from projects. The commission on different sites may be different, for some it is 5% some 15% .

Also, platforms may have additional income, for example, some platforms that raise funds for creative projects, in the future sell albums, books and other similar products.

The same applies to some sites focused on commercial projects, which subsequently sell various products.

Commissions are not taken at all from charitable and very often social projects.

For example, the Russian crowdfunding platform Rusini does not take a commission at all, since it is intended to solve social problems.

8. How to create your own crowdfunding project on the site 📋

Each crowdfunding platform has its own characteristics, which can vary greatly from site to site. However, the process of creating a project is quite similar for most sites.

How to create a project on a crowdfunding platform

To create a project on a crowdfunding platform, you need to go through the following steps:

1. Creating a new account on the website;
2. Description of your project;
3. Indication of the required amount of funds for collection, as well as the deadline for collection;
4. Calculation of expenses that will have to be incurred on presents (gifts) to donors.

Creating the project itself (business project, commercial or social project, etc.) implies:

1. Domain creation and registration;
2. Creation of a logo (brand);
3. Installation of social network buttons;
4. Create site();
5. Confirmation of registration by E-Mail and the possibility of sending by E-Mail;
6. and promotion of the project throughout the world, country, region;
7. Recording a video presentation of the project;
8. Determining the amount of the fee.

If you fail to collect the required amount of money within the time period specified by you, you receive nothing. If, for one reason or another, you managed to collect more than the specified amount of money, you you receive ALL funds.

Important to remember that this is not just a collection of money, but a business contract, so if the collection of funds is successful, you must comply with all terms of the contract.

If you are unable to do this, you are obliged to return the money invested in your project.

9. Achieving project success on a crowdfunding platform 💡

Of course, every person who creates a project on one or another crowdfunding site wants to collect the required amount of money within the time frame specified by them. But we must admit that it is far not everyone can really do it.

What are the criteria for project success?, compliance with which can increase the likelihood of fundraising success to the maximum?

For each project everything is individual, however, if we generalize, we can highlight the following criteria:

Criterion 1. Realism

You should not set goals for yourself that you cannot achieve, especially if you do not yet have much experience in this direction. You need to move towards your goal in small steps.

That's why It's better to collect a small amount of money, which will allow you to implement your small project, rather than aiming for something global and getting nothing.

Criterion 2. Timeliness

As practice and success stories of some projects show, seasonality has a significant impact.

Projects are best started in autumn, since it is during this period of time that most people return from vacation and are ready for active financial activity.

Before uploading (uploading) your project, it is very important to study the features of the site where you are going to do this. It will also be useful to familiarize yourself with the projects that already exist on them and the stories of past successful projects.

Criterion 3. Originality

Originality is a very subtle criterion that should be approached accordingly. Of course, it is very important that the project is different from other projects, since this way it can attract attention.

However, one must be very careful with this, despite all the originality of the project must remain realistic. It is unlikely that anyone will want to finance “freak, fantasy” projects that are characterized by unjustified excesses.

Criterion 4. Openness

Try to provide as much as possible more information about yourself, your experience and approaches to project implementation .

Important to remember that people want to invest money only in worthwhile, promising and realistic projects.

If someone thinks that there are rich people who will finance all sorts of stupid things, then he is very mistaken, rich people know how to count their money, perhaps that is why they are rich.

Therefore, you should provide your potential investor with as much information as possible about yourself so that he knows where and what he is investing his money in.

Criterion 5. Availability of a business plan

Having a business plan can be a very big plus for any commercial project.

Real calculations and figures will help the investor better understand the prospects of your project, and will also indicate that you are serious about this matter.

We wrote in our last issue where to download it, as well as how to compile it and what to pay attention to.

10. Successful examples of crowdfunding 💎

Using this method of money, a lot of different projects are implemented almost every day. focus And scale. But, as in any other matter, there are several well-known examples of crowdfunding use, which are a reference point for many businessmen.

• Pebble - device (wristwatch)

A device from Pebble Technology in the form of a watch. The project was collected in 2012 $10,266,845, 68,928 donors made a donation.

• Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign

One of the most famous examples of crowdfunding is Barack Obama's presidential campaign in 2008. It received a very big resonance and response among his supporters, and in the end it was possible to collect $272 million, approximately 2 million Americans took part in donations.

• Recording an album by the group Bi-2

The famous Russian rock band Bi-2 collected through crowdfunding 1.25 million rubles to record the album Spirit.

• Stephen King book

The famous American writer Stephen King, who specializes in writing horror, posted one of the first chapters of his new book online, and in exchange offered everyone $1 for reading it. This proposal of King found a very big response among his fans and those who were not indifferent to his work, thus, in a short period of time it was possible to collect entire 2 million dollars.

• Film Age of Fools

The problem of global warming is of interest to many people nowadays, and the British film company Spanner Films was no exception, which managed to collect about £1 million for 5 years (during the period 2004 – 2009). This money went towards the filming of the film The Age of Fools, dedicated to the problem of global warming.

• Games Wasterland 2 and Adventure

To develop the games Wasterland 2 and Adventure, which became very popular, about $3 million for each of the video games. About 87 thousand people took part in this.

11. How to create and advertise a campaign on a Crowdfunding platform - basic concepts, rules and expert advice 🛠

Raising money through crowdfunding platforms - the process is not easy, because in order to raise the necessary amount, it is important to provide potential investors and donors with a really good and clear idea.

In addition, there are a large number of requirements for the approach itself and for the personal qualities of the fundraiser.

So, let's look at the basic tips, factors and rules, the observance and consideration of which will help to achieve success in this direction.

11.1. Basic Concepts

Before posting your project on crowdfunding sites, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with the following concepts:

1) Crowdfunding is not a handout

It is very important to understand that no one just will not invest money to your project.

If this is a commercial project, then it should bring profit in the future.

If this is a social or charitable project, then it should be really useful and interesting.

Thus, in order to receive the required amount of money, you must offer something to those who invested in return.

2) Ask yourself why people will give money to me?

Put yourself in the shoes of your potential donor or investor and tell me, would you invest in such a project?

3) Be prepared to work hard and seriously

It is impossible to raise money on a crowdfunding site without difficulty. It’s not enough to just post a project, even if it’s ideal and properly designed, people need to see your openness and understand that you are the one who can bring this project to its logical conclusion.

That's why, do not be shy, communicate with your potential investors, tell me as much as possible about themselves and their approaches, they should see an open person who is ready to work long and hard to achieve their goal.

4) Crowdfunding is not for everyone

Despite the fact that crowdfunding is a very convenient method of raising funds, which is popular all over the world, it is not suitable for everyone.

Some people simply cannot work in this format and they are looking for other ways for themselves, which, by the way, are also in abundance.

Therefore, it is important to be prepared for the fact that crowdfunding may not be your thing, and you will be able to implement your project using other methods.

5) The project must be useful

It is quite obvious that in most cases only those projects that offer some useful product, service or anything else that can interest people manage to raise money.

11.2. How to create a campaign on the platform - 6 important tips

In Russia, there are several very popular crowdfunding platforms that can become a very good tool for raising funds to implement your idea.

In order for the project to collect as much funding as possible, it is important to consider the following tips when creating a campaign on the site:

Lying in general is always bad, but when it comes to real money it is especially bad. You should not overestimate your real capabilities and write in the project description something that you simply cannot implement. Realism - this is your main rule.

It is very important to clearly define the deadline for collecting money for your project; it should not be too short, but you should also avoid deadlines that are too long.

The ideal fundraising timeline may vary for each project, but in most cases It is best to allocate 2-3 weeks to raise money, and constantly update your project, approximately 2-3 times a week.

Calculate the minimum amount of money you need to implement your project.

In no case should you greatly overestimate this figure, since if you immediately ask for a large amount of money, this can greatly scare potential donors (investors) away from you.

Offer people who invest money in your project some tangible rewards. It's best to have these rewards tied to your project in some way, this will give investors a stronger sense of personal involvement in your project.

Tip 5: Make investing accessible to everyone

You must set up your campaign as competently as possible so that you want to invest in it like those who want to invest 100 rubles, and those who want to invest 10,000 rubles.

Be as open as possible, tell potential investors and yourself as much as possible about your achievements, awards and plans.

11.3. Advertising and marketing of the project on the site

The right marketing approach is very important for the ultimate success of your project. That is why this issue should be approached especially responsibly and seriously.

The following marketing tactics can help you:

1. Involve your relatives, friends and acquaintances in your project. The more people you attract to it, the better. Be sure to advertise it on social networks, post links to your project on forums, in social network communities, on your personal page;
2. Ask your acquaintances, friends and relatives to tell you about your project to as many people as possible, both in real life and through the Internet and social networks;
3. Be sure to create a newsletter, which concerns the latest events and news concerning your project, use it to notify all your investors and subscribers;
4. Find local online media sites, and try to tell them about yourself, since crowdfunding is still something new for Russia, perhaps some media will want to tell their readers about you, which will attract even more people to your project;
5. Talk to bloggers who work in a direction close to you and ask them to tell you about your project;
6. Create a video and post it, For example, on YouTube, in this video, tell us about how the fundraising process is going and what is the latest news regarding your project; (We recommend reading - where you will also find out how much and how YouTube bloggers earn)
7. Look for influential and famous people on social networks, get in touch with them and ask them to tell them about your project, if it is really interesting, many of them will talk about it on their page, which will increase the likelihood of collecting the required amount of finance and further implementation of the project;
8. Always be willing to make contact with those who are interested in your project. If people start commenting on information about your project posted on a page on a social network, be sure to respond to them, tell them about your future plans and ask them to talk about it;
9. Use all possible tools to advertise your project on the site: Vkontakte, Facebook, LiveJournal, Twitter, YouTube, personal connections, friends, acquaintances, relatives, etc.

12. Latest news of the Crowdfunding market

1) In 2014, the Yandex.Money company announced the launch of its Crowdfunding platform “ Together: for good deeds", which is designed to simplify the collection of money via the Internet for various charitable needs and social projects.

2) The WebMoney payment system has launched a new service “ Group purchases", which allows users of the service to unite in groups to collect funds for the purpose of purchasing goods from wholesale suppliers at low prices or for other large orders in foreign stores;

3) WebMoney Transfer has created a new service “ Funding", which has 4 directions for raising funds. Thanks to this service, you can raise money not only through classic crowdfunding, but also finance charitable projects, make collective purchases, organize various events, and so on.

13. Frequently asked questions ❔

Let's consider the questions that come to the editors of the portal "site"

Question 1. Boomstarter does not give away money, what should I do?

Try contacting the project manager, email, support service, etc. Both negative and positive reviews about the company were found online.

Some negative reviews contain information that the project is moderated and published on the site in the 3rd week, some that they do not pay (don’t give) money.

On Kickstarter, the projects that attract the most funds are game development ($654 million in total), design ($637 million) and, finally, technology startups ($637 million); Among the projects launched on Planeta.ru, public ones lead by a wide margin - 19% and music - 18%, while business and technology account for only 9%.

“Crowdfunding still has little in common with charity: by sponsoring one or another crowd project, the sponsor always receives something in return,” clarifies Fyodor Murachkovsky, CEO of Planeta.ru. And yet, this interest is most often intangible: “For example, people may simply want a festival to be held in their city, a concert to be held, or a new film to be shown.”

Fedor Murachkovsky (Photo: from personal archive)

The whole world

Crowdfunding (from the English crowdfunding, “crowd financing”) is not a new phenomenon: back in the 18th century in Europe, writers raised money to publish books by subscription. New life was breathed into it by the advent of the Internet and electronic payment technologies: online platforms simplified the procedure for collecting money. The first service of this kind can be considered ArtistShare, which appeared in 2003 - a platform where listeners can donate to musicians for the publication of albums and food. Platforms where business projects were promoted using a reward system appeared later: Indiegogo launched in 2008, and Kickstarter in 2009. They brought start-ups, which were experiencing problems with lending and investment due to the global economic crisis, a new powerful source of financing. Noting this role of crowdfunding, the US government significantly simplified the legislative regulation of crowd platforms in the JOBS Act adopted in 2012.

Among the record holders for crowdfunding are the developers of the video game Star Citizen, who raised $151 million through several campaigns on Kickstarter, the creators of the Pebble Time smart watch, who received $20 million there, and the Ubuntu Edge smartphone, who managed to raise about $13 million through Indiegogo. Today There are more than 500 crowd platforms in the world.

Pebble Time Watch (Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

They often host very strange projects. In November 2014, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise funds for the installation of Blood Sport. The idea was to make gamers pay for mistakes in the game with their own blood: every time a character is wounded, Blood Sport, using a needle fixed in the gamer’s vein, should take some blood from him. The authors hoped that by going to gaming championships, gamers would thus donate blood for medical purposes. But just five days later, Kickstarter blocked the campaign for being unethical, and the developers managed to raise only 3 thousand Canadian dollars.

“It doesn’t work at random”

“The fact that there are so few product projects in Russia is primarily a shortcoming of the platforms themselves,” says Guzel Sanzhapova, who has already completed four campaigns on Boomstarter. - What are they doing now? The conditional manager of Planeta.ru goes to events in cities and tells entrepreneurs how the platform can be useful to them. The platforms inspire authors, the flow of crowd projects is huge, but there are not so many sponsors and most projects do not collect the stated amounts. Venues should educate the sponsors themselves, create in them the feeling: you are fashionable, you helped and for this you received a unique product first.”

In this sense, Russian crowd platforms are seriously inferior to foreign ones. “If you open a good project on Kickstarter or Indiegogo and at the same time have prepared well and established connections with the press, they start sending you money already at the start,” says Sanzhapova. — But in Russia you have to bring the audience to the site yourself and convince them to donate money. Only about 10% of Boomstarter sponsors are regulars on the site; the remaining project authors must attract them themselves.”

Therefore, the authors of crowd projects must invest in marketing - the site will not advertise the project for them. Moreover, even the largest crowdfunding sites cannot boast of rich Russian traffic: according to the Wordstat service, the word Boomstarter was searched in Yandex 5 thousand times over the last month, Planeta.ru - 6.5 thousand, "crowdfunding" - 20 thousand . once. Belousov says that many still mistake Boomstarter for an online store, leaving angry comments on the site: “I paid for your sofa a week ago, why hasn’t anyone called yet?”

Belousov’s project “Bevan” was searched 12 thousand times over the past month, as the businessman actively promoted it outside of Boomstarter. Half (49.42%) of the traffic to his project’s page came from YouTube, where he posted several dozen videos: “Bevan” is inflated in a cinema, floated down a river and shot with guns. Belousov himself sets marketing expenses at 20% of the proceeds: during the previous campaign, expenses, for example, amounted to 416 thousand rubles. It’s a shame that every fifth ruble collected is spent on promotion, but there’s no other way to raise money. “This, of course, is not a completely closed circle: crowdfunding is still a tool for generating demand with a long tail,” says Belousov.

Nikolay Belousov (Photo: Alena Kondurina for RBC)

​Maria Dokshina offers project authors the following calculations: “The average amount raised for one project is about 300 thousand rubles, the average donation is 1 thousand rubles. This means that you must get about 300 people to spend on the project. At the same time, we must remember that out of 1 thousand of those who read about the project, only 100 people will pay. This doesn’t work at random: if you don’t show your page to at least 3 thousand people, you won’t raise money.”

Forced charity

Abroad, crowdfunding influences not only business, but also the development of technology. For example, experts recognize its role in the revival of interest in virtual reality: many professional investors lost interest in VR projects back in the 1990s, and a new wave of attention rose thanks to the augmented reality helmet launched in 2012 on Kickstarter and managed to raise $2.4 million Oculus Rift. In Russia, crowdfunding does not have such influence: crowd campaigns are rarely of interest to the media and professional investors.

This is largely due to the shortage of truly bright entrepreneurial projects. “The classic sponsor question: why should I help you do business? — explains Guzel Sanzhapova. — Therefore, every crowdfunding project should have more answers to this “why” than about the business model. And this is the problem of Russian crowdfunding: most authors offer non-original products that are easy to buy abroad.” According to Dokshina, crowdfunding serves as a reflection of the Russian economy: “Our buying and selling is better developed than production.”

A different mentality also has an effect: abroad, sponsors most often transfer money in order to be the first to receive something that no one else has. “Everything is different here. Numerous surveys that we conducted showed that the main motivation of sponsors is to become involved in the creation of something socially useful,” says Dokshina. - This is essentially charity. Some of our most popular business projects are those that are going to raise factories and factories in small towns.”

According to Sanzhapova, all projects need added value and the best option is an honest story with benefits that people can understand. One of her crowdfunding projects is the establishment of Cocco bello honey soufflé production in the Ural village of Maly Turysh: flower honey is mixed with berries collected by local residents, mainly grandmothers. “I could just start selling honey. But then how will I be different from everyone else? There is a serious lack of goodness on the news agenda right now. My project is exclusively about goodness and a little about economic efficiency,” says Sanzhapova.

A good goal, if properly illuminated, makes it possible to reduce marketing costs to a minimum. “In the first two campaigns, we had no costs: we shot videos on iPhone,” says Guzel. “In the third and fourth, we had a small budget for marketing, but we didn’t do any advertising—we just shot a high-quality video to tell you what we spent the money on.”

Not everything is lost

Trying to increase the number of business projects, Boomstarter is now changing its work model: instead of the previous 10% of fees, the site will take a fixed 5 thousand rubles. plus 3.5% of fees (payment for payment system services). This disciplines the authors of requests, the company believes: paid placement is interesting only to those projects that really expect to raise money and are serious about the matter. “Projects expecting to collect 50 thousand rubles. and less, we recommend posting on other sites,” says Dokshina.

The CEO of Planeta.ru is not embarrassed by Russia's lag. According to him, Russia is following the same path as the rest of the world: “It all started with music, cinema and other creative directions, then social entrepreneurs tried crowdfunding, and then business became interested. So, the widespread use of collective financing in domestic business is a matter of time.”

As for the entrepreneurs themselves, they are beginning to think about moving to other ways of attracting investment. For example, regarding crowdinvesting: if the crowdfunding model involves symbolic bonuses for sponsors - souvenirs, discounts, product samples, then in crowdinvesting people receive a real share in the sponsored business. Such projects are more difficult to start, they require legal support, but they attract more serious investors. According to the Crowdexpert project, the total amount of funds collected by platforms around the world using this model has already exceeded $25 billion. Even in Russia, crowdinvesting has already surpassed crowdfunding in terms of the amounts collected: for example, since 2013, the StartTrack crowdinvesting platform has managed to attract more than 1 billion rubles.

“I’m already faced with the question: should I conduct a fifth crowdfunding campaign or launch crowdinvesting? - says Guzel Sanzhalova. “But there are approximately the same problems here: an audience has not been formed that would trust the collection of money through Internet platforms: people are afraid that they will be deceived.”

Seven steps to launch a crowdfunding project

1. Select a site. Business projects are usually posted on Boomstarter, cultural projects on Planeta.ru and Kroogi.com, charitable projects on Tugeza, My Teacher, Pomogi.org. If the product has no analogues in the world, you can try to launch a campaign on the largest foreign platforms Kickstarter and Indiegogo. A resident of any country can open a project on Indiegogo; to launch it on Kickstarter, you must be a resident of the USA, Great Britain, Canada, Germany and several other countries or have a legal entity there.

2. Make sure your project complies with the platform rules. For example, on crowdfunding platforms you cannot raise money for treatment or in support of politicians, or create joint-stock companies. Most sites also prohibit collecting funds for personal purposes - paying for education, travel, purchases.

3. Create a project in one of the provided categories, indicating the amount you need to raise and the end date of the campaign. On Planeta.ru the maximum period is 100 days; only charity campaigns can be unlimited. There are two options on Boomstarter - “All or nothing” (up to 60 days) or “To the goal” (indefinitely).

4. Determine rewards for sponsors: this could be a discount on products, a souvenir, or the opportunity to pre-order the first batch of goods.

5. Attract external traffic to the page. Promote it using YouTube and thematic communities related to the product. Successful projects attract about 70-90% of sponsors from outside.

6. Assess the risk of underfunding and choose the right fundraising model. Planeta.ru transfers the collected money to the author of the project if they managed to collect more than 50% of the amount. If less, the money is returned to the sponsors. If you're an all-or-nothing fundraiser on Boomstarter and don't reach your goal, all money will go back to the backers; but if they transfer you more, then you will receive everything. If you collect “To Goal”, the campaign will end when the specified amount is collected.

7. Don't forget to consider the costs associated with crowdfunding. Boomstarter takes 5 thousand rubles. for placement, another 3.5% of the collected amount goes to the payment system. Planeta.ru retains a 15% commission from projects that have collected from 50 to 99% of the amount, and 10% from those who have collected 100% and above. The platform deducts operating expenses from charitable projects - 5.9%. In addition, all platforms are required to pay taxes - 13% personal income tax or 6% for simplified individual entrepreneurs. Together with promotional costs and souvenirs, the total share of royalties usually reaches 30-40% of the amount of funds raised.

Hello, dear readers of the blog site. There are many examples in history when promising entrepreneurs did not have money for initial financing. Even if the idea promises multimillion-dollar profits, there may not be enough funds for implementation, but crowdfunding can now solve this problem. To raise funds, there are crowdfunding platforms in Russia, which can be both international and local; they should be considered separately.

What is crowdfunding in simple words

The concept of crowdfunding comes from the English language and consists of two words: crowd (crowd) and funding (financing). This implies that crowdfunding is the mass financing of a project from many sources. The peculiarity of such a collection is that the money goes to a specific purpose, and anyone can contribute the amount in any amount. He is called an investor or donor, and later he receives reports on the development of the business.

Initially, crowdfunding existed outside the Internet; one example would be the Statue of Liberty in New York, for which the entire American population raised money. Now crowdfunding has moved to the Internet, where fundraising is carried out on crowdfunding platforms - specialized sites.

With the help of crowdfunding, you can get money not only for your business, but also:

• payment for treatment and complex operations;
• charity;
• volunteer developments;
• political activity;
• socially significant ideas;
• startups.

Different crowdfunding platforms have their own requirements for authors, their projects, and sponsors. So, the author needs to be an adult, and also propose a campaign that does not contradict the laws of the state in which it will develop. The collected money must be used only for its intended purpose, this is monitored using a reporting system.

Having described the idea, its features and benefits for society, as well as the required amount with its justification, they begin to accept money. Each participant receives a reward for participation, often several of them, the size of the reward depends on the amount contributed. The investor himself chooses what to invest in, choosing from an abundance of offers

Crowdfunding sites in Russia: TOP 10 best

To raise funds, you need to register on a crowdfunding site, and the most realistic way to collect the required amount is on international resources. At the same time, there are Russian platforms that allow you to start collecting money, although they are not as popular and widespread as their foreign counterparts. The advantage of global platforms is that people from any country can register on them; Russia is no exception.

Having an idea and wanting to receive finance for its implementation, you should pay attention to the following TOP 10 crowdfunding platforms:

• is the most famous crowdfunding network and has become a pioneer. It is in its likeness that most similar sites are created, but Kickstarter is one of the 1000 most visited sites in the world. Contributions here are collected for a successful start, and not for financing already launched programs. The main activity is the development of gadgets, including for the home, but the authors can try their efforts in other areas.

• is an international platform that supports participants from 200 countries. There are more areas of activity in it than in Kickstarter; these can be charity, opening a business, or implementing a social idea. Even if the amount is not raised in full, part of it is still sent to the author minus the commission (Kickstarter returns the contributions back).

• is the best choice for startups if they relate to business, science and art. Social events are also included in the list of purposes for which funds can be obtained.

• - has no restrictions on the scope. At the same time, you can get help both for a new strategy and for an existing business. The maximum you can concentrate is $25,000, which excludes the financing of global plans, but PeerBackers is perfect for helping you implement a small idea.

• - focused on the development of social and socially significant initiatives. The response to such ideas is higher than that of Kickstarter, but you should not count on a large amount - the average fundraising is $10,000.

• Planet is a Russian crowdfunding resource that finances mainly creative and public campaigns, as well as art. The peculiarity is that it is impossible to raise funds for commercial developments and political actions. Each campaign goes through several stages of verification, and after launch it is assigned a personal curator who monitors the progress of fundraising and user reactions.

• - despite the similarity of the name with Western Kickstarter, this is a Russian resource. His main task is to find finance for creative endeavors, for example, holding an exhibition, publishing a book, recording a track. 60 days are allotted for this, after which the lot is closed, and the author has the right to withdraw the amount or return the contributions to the participants.

• Circles- one of the oldest crowdfunding services in Russia, focused on creativity. To reach it, you must have ready-made content that users will pay for.

• - an almost complete copy of Circles, which is also designed for creativity, in which it is impossible to request support for social and public ideas.

• From the world by thread - multidisciplinary development, combining the fields of business, ecology, creativity, and education. Funds can be raised both for the development of a musical group, and for the development of video games, the maintenance of a zoo, or the creation of a gadget.

There are many more places where you can get money on the Internet, but they are not as popular as the listed positions. Therefore, people who want to implement a project choose either Western services or Russian ones, if their rules are more clear and transparent.

Instructions for collecting money

To start creating a budget, you need to put in some effort to place it in the system. As an example, it is worth considering the work of the largest Internet platform Kickstarter, for development on which it is not enough to simply create a profile and wait for a successful completion. You need to consider the instructions that will allow you to succeed:

Experienced authors recommend investing a little in other campaigns, at least minimal amounts, before starting. This will show potential participants that the author himself supported the development of new ideas. Help can be not only material, for example, the owners of information resources can offer promotion, or large investors will join in for financing outside the resource.

Additionally! The profile specifies the maximum number of communication channels and provides for transparency of all operations. People need an understanding of where and why they are investing; the first stage will be getting to know the creator, albeit remotely.

Successful examples of crowdfunding projects

Throughout the history of crowdfunding, many projects have been implemented, funds for which were literally collected by the whole world. Among the successful ideas:

• Pebble Time Watch- for the sale of smart watches that complement the functions of a smartphone, they raised a million dollars in just an hour. The initial goal was only 500 thousand dollars, but exceeding the limit allowed the implementation of more technologically advanced watches.
• Coolest Cooler- $13.2 million was raised for a universal portable refrigerator with the functions of a cocktail blender, power bank and speaker. Initially, it was planned to raise $50 thousand for this project.
• Exploding Kittens is a card game based on Russian Roulette. Almost $9 million was collected from 220 thousand people for its creation.
• OUYA- a game console based on Android OS attracted investments of a million US dollars in just a week, although the initial level was set at $950,000.
• Computer games Torment: Tides of Numenera and Project Eternity - collected an average of 4 million dollars, while exceeding the initial level by 3-4 times. The developers managed to attract attention thanks to a clear description of the final product, colorful art compositions and constant communication with investors.

To realize your unique and promising development in the absence of money, you can seek the help of third-party investors from all over the world. For this purpose, there are crowdfunding platforms in Russia and abroad, where people are ready to help with money the development of useful and interesting plans. But before you start, it is important to familiarize yourself with the rules and promotion strategy, because only well-prepared proposals achieve success.

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Nowadays, to start your own business you need money. Of course, an idea and a well-thought-out technology for its implementation are also necessary things. But a talented person is able to come up with a dozen, each of which has a chance to become worldwide popular. But if there is no money, you will not move one step towards your business dream. Crowdfunding is a way to get investments for your project without bank loans or loans from relatives.

Crowdfunding will make your investors a large number of people who are interested in implementing the project, or they simply like your idea and want to help you.

To submit an application about your desire to attract finance to your project, you must have it worked out and ready. People need to understand what they are investing in. The more detailed and attractive you describe your idea, the better.

You must have an idea of ​​how much you need. To do this, calculate all expenses and declare on the crowdfunding website the specific amount of funds you need. Information about the amount of funds already collected and how much is left should be publicly available to everyone.

For general development: although crowdfunding is associated with, money is raised not only for business purposes. Crowdfunding sites allow you to raise money for the needs of those affected by any global disasters, to support political and other campaigns, to solve environmental problems, etc.

Foreign crowdfunding platforms, of course, are more famous and advanced than Russian-language ones. And the phenomenon of crowdfunding itself began abroad, and our Internet entrepreneurs have already “copied” the idea.

Kickstarter

www.kickstarter.com. This is now the most popular crowdfunding resource. It is one of the thousand most visited sites in the world - and this is a very good indicator, which suggests that Kickstarter is really useful.

Kickstarter has largely served as the basis for the creation of other similar crowdfunding sites. Kickstarter raises money to implement specific ideas, rather than to fund existing companies. If the declared amount is not collected within a certain period, then all the money received is returned back to the investors. This is one of the mandatory laws of Kickstarter. The fundraising period and the minimum required amount are determined by the author of the project.

Kickstarter specializes mainly in financing various creative projects: shooting independent films, creating video games, comics, music, equipment, gadgets, etc. Kickstarter takes 5% of the funds raised as a commission for its services.

One of the most successful Kickstarter projects is the Pebble product (wrist gadget). $1,0266,845 was raised for this project, with a total of 68,928 donations.

IndieGoGo

www.indiegogo.com. Another popular international crowdfunding platform. Here you can raise money, launch your business, implement any interesting idea. Unlike Kickstarter, IndieGoGo transfers all funds raised by a certain date to the project author, even if the amount is not sufficient. Only the size of the commission changes: if the fundraising project goal is achieved, the resource retains 4%. But if not, then 9%. The IndieGoGo service extends to approximately 200 countries around the world, so the resource can be called the most international.

One of the main differences between IndieGoGo and other similar resources is that the rating of projects is not compiled manually, but is automatically calculated. The algorithm analyzes the level of activity of authors and donors (investors), the number of updates, comments, etc., and based on this, a rating of the popularity of projects within IndieGoGo is compiled.

About a year ago, IndieGoGo launched a new fundraising direction. Now you can raise money there to finance various life events: large family celebrations, weddings, medical operations, emergencies, etc.

RocketHub

www.rockethub.com. Here you can raise funds for projects related to art, business, science, as well as for socially important and social causes. The principle of operation is the same as that of IndieGoGo - the amount of money you raise is the amount you receive. But if the entire amount was not collected, then pay a higher percentage of the commission. All information on projects (including how much money has already been collected, which people donated money, etc.) is publicly available to each user.

RocketHub is ideal for beginners. Even if you don’t know what crowdfunding is and what it involves, you can use the services of the school, which was created by the RocketHub resource. They will tell you what to write in the application, how to organize a fundraiser, what are the features and nuances of RocketHub and crowdfunding in general. This way you can achieve maximum results for your project.

PeerBackers

www.peerbackers.com. A kind of universal crowdfunding platform. There are practically no restrictions here - you can raise funds for a project in any field. The project itself can be either just an idea or an already operating business that you want to develop. This is an advantage over other crowdfunding platforms that refuse to fund established businesses. However, it is unlikely that very large-scale projects will be financed through PeerBackers. It is recommended to set the required investment amount within 25 thousand dollars.

The system takes a commission of 5% of the collected funds, however, this is a common figure. After registration, you will be offered to take special training courses. Crowdfunding specialists will provide you with initial consultations that will prepare you to work with PeerBackers. In the future, you can ask for advice or clarification again at any time.

Boomerang

www.booomerang.dk. One of the most successful European crowdfunding platforms. It was founded recently in Denmark, however, it has already managed to seriously declare itself. Initially, the emphasis was on investing in video game and music projects (since the main example to follow was, after all, Kickstarter). However, Boomerang soon chose a different main direction - social and socially significant projects. The amounts requested on Boomerang are not as high as on many other crowdfunding platforms. On average, amounts do not exceed 10 thousand dollars.

Boomerang is proud that its charity and social causes are more successful than their Kickstarter counterparts. The founder of Booomerang decided that people would invest in such socially significant projects much more willingly than in creating a new gadget or commercial service. And he really made the right decision: Boomerang has become one of the main crowdfunding resources in Europe for raising funds for social causes.

Crowdfunding is a very interesting phenomenon in our world. The list of crowdfunding platforms can go on and on. Along with already popular platforms, new ones are constantly appearing, which in the future will be able to compete even with such giants as Kickstarter.