Looking for enlightenment.... and.... I am sure some funny smart ass comments out what you know about Crowd Funding??

Who knows anything about this.. enlighten me please?

Ever seen it used effectively?  Known someone?  Would you participate?  

What would you do with the money?  How would you raise it?

That is crowd funding. It's a group of people that network to obtain resources for a cause. The website gave a few good examples. An example that we can relate on is the presidential election. So, we there are volunteers. These volunteers are guided by a person. That person works with a few people. When these people talk to one another about different sources, that is networking. For example, there are four people in one group, one person say's I have good contact with another person that can help with our cause. When contact information is exchanged, that is networking. There can be many types of networking, and, this is social networking.

So, some assignments from the volunteers are making phone calls to citizens. Those with more networking experience can collect funds from corporates or wealthy clients. These wealthy clients "invest" in their "charity" so when the president gets into office, he can make laws that favor the business.

So, sometimes when I'm at home during presidential election season, I'll receive a phone call to donate to a presidential candidate. You will need a cause, some volunteers, and some resources if you want to use crowd funding. Crowd funding literally means what it says. You need a crowd to help fund your cause.

As it relates to the hobby. I might start one, and my cause will be helping clients see escorts. Only those that have a good reason to see providers. I'll start a crowd fund, hopefully obtain enough money so all hobbyist can see escorts.

You want to start a fund so you can help all clients see providers! Such an altruistic person, thinking of others.
My first thought was I want to start a fund so 'I' could see more providers. I guess I am more greedy than you
But maybe I could make it a TOFTT fund. I would only use it to see new ladies, then it would be helping others. I will be helping new girls get their first reviews

Or I could use the money to start a new board and keep the ladies off of it!!

I know the movie Hunger Games got it's start through crowd funding (ie kickstarter). I'd say that's a pretty successful use of it. But I'm sure that's one of the rare success stories.

Hello,

A summarized definition of crowd funding...

Crowd funding or crowdfunding (alternately crowd financing, equity crowdfunding, or hyper funding) describes 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 initiated by other people or organizations. Crowd funding occurs for any variety of purposes, from disaster relief to citizen journalism to artists seeking support from fans, to political campaigns, to funding a startup company, movie, or small business, or creating free software.

However, you better be registered as an organization to do this type of fund raising according to this:

Another aspect of crowd funding is tied into the United States of America JOBS Act which allows for a wider pool of smaller investors with fewer restrictions. The Act was signed into law by President Obama on April 5, 2012. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is going to have approximately 270 days from the enactment date to set forth specific rules and methods to ensure that funding will actually take place.

And this one, too:

Another significant disadvantage to crowd funding is the possibility of getting ensnared in various securities laws, since soliciting investments from the general public is most often illegal unless the opportunity has been filed with an appropriate securities regulatory authority, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission in the U.S., the Ontario Securities Commission in Ontario, Canada, the Autorité des marchés financiers in France and Quebec, Canada, or the Financial Services Authority in the U.K.

Why are you asking about crowd funding? Are you planning to do something like this? You need to be registered with SEC before you start soliciting money from investors.

Serpius

At least in the US. I have friends who have successfully used it to get films, band tours, and even health-food projects started. Usually there's got to be some notion that the person asking for $$ is "fighting the good (artistic) fight" and not selling out. Because each crowdsourced contribution is usually so small, there's little if any chance that the funded party would feel obligated to an individual donor, and donors don't have any future control over the product or art that gets made with crowdsourced funds. The other way in which it gets used (that I've seen) is, sadly, to fund medical treatments. Small children with very obscure cancers, etc., the stuff that leaves me sobbing into my keyboard if I read it too long!

I've given to a couple of Kickstarter projects, mostly friends or friends-of-friends' films, gallery showings, or self-published poetry collections. Oddly, I'm more comfortable giving to a Kickstarter project of people I know than just handing them a few twenties and asking them to mention me in the liner notes. It seems more like they might have a business plan, or something, or at least feel obligated to all the people who just paypalled them $1.73 to actually Do The Thing and not just spend the money on gin. But I'm the trusting sort, so who knows?

I don't think it's covered by the SEC in most cases because it's not an investment - no one expects a return on it. It's a charitable donation, which has its own set of legal rigmarole, but is less likely to get legal action. I'm just speaking to the Kickstarter case, though, and I'm sure the sources you cite have broader application.

Thank you so much for your input, this is valuable info,, and I would donate a few dollars to your fund.. lol

Hey Lila,

I don't know where you got your information from, but it IS a type of investment. Mostly done in microfinancing.

Read more about it here:

http://blog.intuit.com/trends/crowd-power-what-is-crowdfunding-infographic/

Serpius