Playing to the crowd for funding

Playing to the crowd for funding

By Mahesh Sharma

Wednesday, 17 November 2010

‘Crowdsourcing’ has become an oft-repeated term for businesses looking to engage consumers in decision-making; whether it’s coming up with the name for a new Vegemite brand, as Kraft did disastrously with iSnack 2.0, or asking drivers to report traffic jams, as Waze, a successful traffic information app, has done.

However, the concept of crowdsourcing is now gradually shifting into the area of start-up finance. Start-ups turned down by banks or other investors for funds could soon find that ‘the crowd’ is a more productive option for them, albeit on a smaller scale.

Earlier this year, independent news website New Matilda was forced to shut down because of a lack of funding. But it could be given a new lease of life thanks to a new web 2.0-based fundraising model.

What is crowdsourced funding?

Crowdsourced funding is a way to gather contributions online and can be used for everything from arts projects to product sales. This process is facilitated by websites such as FundBreak.com.au and US-based site IndieGoGo.

New Matilda is running the biggest ever campaign on FundBreak as a last-ditch effort to revive the defunct publication, which closed in June.

Running the publication for next year will cost $175,000 and it aims to raise this total by December. More than $50,000 has already been contributed by over 500 community members.

New Matilda editor Marni Cordell says most of this was contributed by the website’s “die hard” supporters.

“I wouldn't do it if we didn't have that brand recognition already,” Cordell says. “They weren't taking into account we had five years of established presence and a readership, which lots of crowdfunded projects don't have, they just start from scratch.”

However, with less than a month to go she acknowledges FundBreak’s concerns over whether the entire amount could be raised, and admits it will have to tap new sources for the remaining amount.

Accessing the crowd

To use crowdsourced finance, individuals or organisations post a project brief, the funding required for the activity, and a deadline to achieve the funding goal. In exchange for contributions, donors are given "prizes", products or special offers (company profits or shares can’t be offered because of legal restrictions).

FundBreak is an all-or-nothing approach - so no money is transferred if the target isn't met - while other platforms allow project owners to retain all contributions once a deadline is reached.

FundBreak is targeted at funding arts projects, and one of these was an online music collaboration project, where different musicians would remotely contribute different components of a song (eg. guitars, drums, singing, etc).

Melbourne artist Claire Deak raised $2,500 for the project, which primarily funded the CD production costs, and she said it is crucial for potential donors to see what they’re contributing to and also offer interesting rewards, which included copies of the finished CD, finger puppets and jars of jam.

FundBreak was established five months ago by co-founders Rick Chen and Alan Crabbe, and has facilitated crowdsourced funding of 24 projects, which have raised amounts ranging from $20 to $10,000.

Use for projects - not direct investments

Crowdsourced funding should be thought of as pre-sales and donations as opposed to a direct investment in a business, Chen says, because there are legal issues with the latter. The key to a successful project is to engage with the community and leverage social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

“If a project creator is not that serious about the project, ie. they just put it up there and see what happens, normally it doesn't move or it moves slowly,” Chen says.

“If they are serious about the campaign, they really need it to happen. They have to do the marketing, spread the word and get actively involved. That's the most important part we can see.”

Co-founder Crabbe believes Australia will follow the lead of the US-based sites such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter, and embrace crowdsourced funding.

“Globally, the crowdfunding model has been used by charities for a number of years but the same model is now being applied to different industries,” Crabbe says.

“The creative industry has seen a shift towards alternative funding models and crowdfunding is the obvious choice, especially in the US at the moment.”

The US model

IndieGoGo was founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin and Eric Schell.

Rubin claims IndieGoGo is the world’s biggest crowdsourced finance website, raising millions of dollars for over 12,000 projects, carried out across 139 countries.

The site is only three years old, but he said that crowdsourced finance is “really heating up”.

While the majority of funding is contributed from people within the United States, with 27% coming from outside, Rubin says this number is growing and IndieGoGo is planning to expand the platform to different currencies and languages.

“It’s definitely been growing and we’re very dedicated to being global,” Rubin said. “The fact we’re in English and dollars is a little bit limiting but we’re very excited. We’re very committed to making this something we can make a country use either way.”

He said the three key tips were to have a good pitch, be proactive and engage the audience.

Widening your circle of contributors

Akin to when buskers chuck a couple of coins in an empty hat, he said it’s easier to attract contributions from the “big circle” (strangers) once a project has been funded at least 30% by the “small circle” (direct network).

“No stranger wakes up in the morning and says ‘I’m just going to give money to some random project’.”

“Once you get validated by your inner circle, the outer circle which is anyone that cares about the topic, product or concept, might hear about your campaign through IndieGoGo.”

Other publicly-held funding options

Crowdsourced funding can help to drive sales and market interest but there is a new service which emphasises mentoring as a way to refine business ideas for a global market.

Startmate is a collection of Australian entrepreneurs that have run successful global start-ups, and have returned home to boost the local start-up community by lending their knowledge and their personal finances.

At the end of November five internet or technology based ideas will be selected, and Startmate mentors aim to transform this into a globally successful business. The mentors invest their own capital and take a stake in the business.

Startmate mentor Niki Scevak praises crowdsourced funding as a way to bypass the traditional need for funding. He says Startmate is more focused on mentoring local businesses to cultivate the Australian start-up industry.

“I love those types of sites and particularly for different creative projects instead of having to raise money to create the project, create the product and then go out and sell it, you’re almost doing the selling first so you’re validating the interesting-ness of the project.”

“As far as funding versus the mentor driven aspects of the fund I think that the value is in the latter. I think that the volume of start-ups in Australia needs to be a lot higher and [Startmate] addresses that.”

Top tips on how to get crowdsourced funding:
Use audio, video, or photographic material to show people this is a worthwhile venture. Having a campaign video will boost your chances by 122% than a non-video campaign, says IndieGoGo.
Offer prizes and rewards which are personal, creative, ridiculous, regular or conservative.
Be specific about what the funding will be spent on. A smaller amount is much less daunting for your supporters.

Support other projects to network and promote your project to new spheres of people.
A good deadline is between 30 to 60 days.

Keep updating and asking. “Like the traditional method of fundraising, you need to ask seven times before you get it,” says IndieGoGo’s Slava Rubin.

Use social media such as Facebook and Twitter to promote offline and online.
Be mindful that some ideas are more mainstream than others, eg. selling coffee is easier than selling Turkish carpets.
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Crowdsourced and Crowdfounded Movie Iron Sky - See the First Five Minutes for One Euro

Iron Sky, the Finnish-German-Australian science fiction film began shooting today in Frankfurt, Germany. To celebrate this, the creators of the film launched a new internet service called Iron Sky Sneak Peek (http://www.ironsky.net/sneakpeek/), which enables the fans to follow how the first few minutes of the film are made, from the idea to the script, storyboards, animatics, sounds, music, visual effects and so on. Finally, a year from now, they will be among the first ones to see the finished opening scene before the film is officially released.

Iron Sky is a science fiction black comedy, where the Nazis, who fled to the Moon in 1945, return to reclaim the Earth in 2018. The film has a budget of 6.8 million euros, and the cast contains such actors as Julia Dietze (1½ Ritter), Götz Otto (Schindler's List, Tomorrow Never Dies, The Downfall), Christopher Kirby (The Matrix Reloaded & Revolutions, Daybreakers, Space: Above and Beyond), Udo Kier (Dogville, Dancer in the Dark), Peta Sergeant (Satisfaction), Stephanie Paul (Separation City, Film School Confidential), and Tilo Prückner (The Neverending Story, Die Fälscher). (Full credits can be found in the end of the message and Iron Sky press page: http://www.ironsky.net/press/)

What makes Iron Sky special is that almost a million euros of the budget comes from fans and followers, and the movie is created in collaboration with the Internet community. The Iron Sky team reaches over 150.000 fans on the net on a weekly basis, and the numbers are growing weekly. The team has been publishing “making of” documentaries for the duration of the film, and the fans can follow the progress of the movie project in real time on Iron Sky website (http://www.ironsky.net/) and YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/energiaproductions).

Iron Sky Sneak Peek is another way for the fans to support the film, and get an unprecedented inside view to the workings of a scifi movie project. The fans can decide how much they want to pay for the Sneak Peek, starting from one euro upwards. The Iron Sky team will publish new material on a monthly basis, following the progress of the movie from the idea to script, storyboards, animatics and so on, right up to the finished film.

“After years and years of work, we are finally here - shooting the film”, said the director of Iron Sky Timo Vuorensola. “We have an eventful month ahead of us, then a short break for the Christmas, followed by a month and a half of shooting in Australia. In Frankfurt we film our location shots, which is about a half of the movie. In Australia we do the studio parts.”

“Iron Sky Sneak Peek aims to offer the fans a great way to see how a movie project like this works, the whole process is going to be revealed and explained like never before. And additionally it’s another way for the Internet community to support and take part of making this film. Fan funding is extremely important thing for us, it was the last missing piece in our financing puzzle ”, said the producer of Iron Sky Tero Kaukomaa. “Close collaboration with the audience on ideas, publicity and funding is the future of genre film.”

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Crowdsourced Nazi spaceship film sparks UFO debate 1,144,418 hits on You Tube

By Allan Hall in Berlin 1:05PM GMT 17 Nov 2010

A new sci-fi film about Nazis has reignited a debate in Germany about Hitler's development of UFOs.




The Finnish sci-fi comedy 'Iron Sky' centres on real-life SS officer Hans Kammler who was said to have made a significant breakthrough in antigravity experiments towards the end of WW2.
The film relates how, from a secret base built in the Antarctic, the first Nazi spaceships were launched in late 1945 to found the military base Schwarze Sonne – Black Sun – on the dark side of the Moon.

This base was to to be used to build a powerful invasion fleet and return to take over the Earth once the time was right, in this case 2018.
But a new report out this week in Germany in the magazine PM purports that there is "strong evidence" that a Nazi UFO programme was well advanced.
Hitler ordered Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering to develop the super weapon that would change the war.

The PM report quotes eyewitnesses who believe they saw a flying saucer marked with the Iron Cross of the German military flying low over the Thames in 1944.
At the time the New York Times wrote about a "mysterious flying disc" with photos of the device seen travelling at extremely high speeds over the high-rise buildings.
The best known of the Nazi UFO projects was the Schriever-Habermohl scheme, named for Rudolf Schriever and Otto Habermohl.

Initially a Luftwaffe project, it fell under the auspices of armaments minister Albert Speer before being taken over once again in 1944 by Hans Kammler.
Eyewitnesses captured by the Allies after WW2 claimed to have seen the saucer produced in Prague fly on several occasions in early 1945.

Joseph Andreas Epp, an engineer who served as a consultant to the Schriever-Habermohl project, stated 15 prototypes were built in all.

He described how a central cockpit surrounded by rotating adjustable wing-vanes formed a circle.
The vanes were held together by a band at the outer edge of the wheel-like device. The pitch of the vanes could be adjusted so that during take off more lift was generated by increasing their angle from a more horizontal setting.
In level flight the angle would be adjusted to a smaller angle, similar to the way helicopter rotors operate. The wing-vanes were to be set in rotation by small rockets placed around the rim like a pinwheel.

Once rotational speed was sufficient, lift-off was achieved.
After the craft had risen to some height the horizontal jets or rockets were ignited. "After this the wing-blades would be allowed to rotate freely as the saucer moved forward as in an auto-gyrocopter. In all probability, the wing-blades speed, and so their lifting value, could also be increased by directing the adjustable horizontal jets slightly upwards to engage the blades, thus spinning them faster at the digression of the pilot," he said.

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American Express Re-upping Its “Crowdsourced” Philanthropy

Everything, it seems, is being crowdsourced these days, even corporate philanthropy. The American Express foundation has been tapping the public for input on which historic sites to support in selected cities. The project, called Partners in Preservation, is a partnership between the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express, which pledged in 2006 to spend $5.5 million over five years on refurbishing and upgrading historic landmark sites. A committee picks a different city each year and 25 historic sites in that city. Then the public votes on which site or landmark it wants the corporate donation to support. The site with the most votes is guaranteed funding; a committee of local civic leaders helps determine which other high vote getters receive grants.

People have gotten pretty creative in expressing their votes. In Boston in 2009, the biggest winner — the Paragon carousel — had a rock band write a song about it; the song was posted on YouTube and was instrumental in driving more votes. Seattle was chosen as the 2010 location; the big winner there was the Schooner Adventuress, a 97-year-old ship that was as a work boat on the San Francisco Bay and now serves as an environmental education site for schools and youth organizations. Via boaters’ blogs, Facebook and Twitter, and a video on YouTube the ‘Vote For the Boat’ campaign rallied the public. The Schooner won a $125,000 grant to be used for repairs.

Today American Express Chief Executive Ken Chenault will be announcing an additional $10 million commitment to the project from the American Express foundation. “As the program has evolved, we’ve relied more and more on social media for calls to action and communication with the voting public – but what’s really interesting is that it’s not just American Express and the National Trust talking about the program – the sites themselves are incredibly engaged and are driving their own communities to take action and vote,” says Chenault.

A spokesperson for American Express says that to the best of their knowledge, the company was the first to use crowdsourcing in philanthropy — although the term crowdsourcing wasn’t common in 2006. Others like Pepsi, with its Refresh campaign which “gives away millions to fund great ideas” have followed suit.

Still to be determined: Which city in the U.S. will be chosen for the Partners in Preservation competition in 2011. American Express says that decision will be made early next year. So far, the competition has been held in San Francisco, New Orleans, Chicagoland, Boston and Seattle.
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10 TIPS TO SUCCESSFULLY CROWDFUND YOUR MOVIE

THE SHORTER THE FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN, THE BETTER
While it may seem like raising $5,000 for your film over a 60-90 day span will lessen the impact of the campaign on the folks you are pitching to, it also runs the risk of slowing (or outright stopping) any momentum you may have. If you’re riding the fundraising campaign hard for, say, 30 days, you run the risk of annoying people but you also get in to it, get it done with and then can move on. Those annoyed won’t be annoyed for long and, at worst, you’ve only put yourself out for 30 days (which, for many filmmakers uninterested in fundraising, knowing the time limit is shorter can make it more bearable; you can get to the other stuff, like filming, that much faster). There is a flipside to this, however.

Let’s say you tried to raise $5,000 in 30 days, and we’re creeping up on Day 15 and you’re still under 50% of your goal… is your project done for? Not at all (I’ve seen a few projects that we covered here on Film Threat take such a scenario and turn it around, some even pulling in some insane final day tallies to pull off the goal), but the amount of work you have to put into the fundraising increases that much more. If you were hitting it hard before (sending emails, Twitter tweets, Facebook posts, blog entries, etc.), you have to up the effort. It pretty much becomes your job (if it wasn’t before, and if it was before, it’s now overtime). The shorter the campaign also means the intensity of the campaign is that much more heightened.

For the record, since noting this trend of the most intense period being the end period, I’ve used it to help decide what projects to feature on Film Threat. Why? Because the short timeframe moves people to act, and if I feature a project too early, it runs the risk of being forgotten… even by me. There are exceptions of course (if the money being raised is $8,000 or more, I like to feature a project earlier), but even in those cases the most intense fundraising hits in the first week, and the last two weeks.

YOU HAVE TO BE PERSISTENT
Remember that whole “annoying” thing I mentioned above? Yeah, well, you may have to be a little bit annoying if you want to hit your goal. First, remember what it is that is more important: your project; you want to complete your project. You have to chance that, in order to make your goal, you may annoy someone somewhere, or that a friend or two may give you shit for it. I’m not talking about putting aside your dignity, but when you fundraise or crowdfund your film, you’re more than just a filmmaker, you are a salesperson. You are selling your project, and yourself, to other people to convince them to put money in.

Let’s look at it like selling Girl Scout cookies door-to-door. You don’t go up to one house, get turned down and then leave the neighborhood. No, you go to the next house in the neighborhood… then the next… then the next… then when the neighborhood is played out, you try a new neighborhood. Then next week, maybe you start all over again, this time with a new flavor of cookies. Those neighbors that turned you down initially may change their minds, they may hate you more… but if your timeframe is short (as mentioned above), that won’t last long, because you’ll be done. But when you’re selling, you have to sell everyday… to someone. Select your neighborhoods, and work through them… daily. Some of the most successful fundraising campaigns that I’ve seen on this site I’ve also seen and read about on Twitter, Facebook and on other film sites, because the people behind them were constantly at it, finding new ways to pitch their idea, find publicity, find interest… and many times, it wasn’t even the people behind the project doing the pitching; the investors or friends had picked up the flag and were marching it around for them, which brings us to…

KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE; KNOW YOUR CROWD
Consider this, to keep with the Girl Scouts theme, as picking your neighborhoods. You map out which audience will be the most receptive, and you pitch to them first. If you’re right, there’s a good chance that you will find partners-in-arms who will be willing to do more than just give your campaign money, they’ll help you find more. One of the beautiful things about crowdfunding is that, for it to really work, the crowd has to feel like they benefit too. A campaign is more than just some filmmaker’s next film, it’s also now the crowd’s project. No one likes to throw cash away, and the crowd is much more likely to get behind your project if they feel like they’re really a part of it, and when you know your audience (or neighborhood), you can find that crowd faster. That said, sometimes you’re wrong about the neighborhood, or the neighborhood is receptive, but not enough to get the job done… so find another neighborhood (expand your audience). When you hit that receptive crowd, while the campaign remains intense, you will not be alone in your endeavors.

KEEP YOUR INVESTORS INFORMED; UPDATE OFTEN
You know your audience, the crowd is engaged and… you don’t ever update your crowdfunding page, no one knows the status of the project, etc. If you were an investor who just put in money, how would you feel if the project you took a chance on isn’t even bothering to talk to you after taking your money. This is where the Girl Scouts metaphor breaks down, because, unlike the Girl Scouts, you owe the houses who bought cookies updates on how you’re doing. Because investors have put more than just money in, they’re interested in the success of the project. They want to back a winner, because a winner can make everyone look good.

Sidebar: you can never judge an investor by the amount they put in; just because someone puts in $35 doesn’t mean they’re less important. You don’t know every investor’s financial situation; what may look small to you ($35), may be the entertainment budget for the month for that investor.

Since, for many investors, it’s more than just about the money; they want the project to be successful, and they want to feel like they’re a part of that success, the least you can do is keep them informed and updated as much as possible. If you’re climbing to your goal, let them know what you’re doing to get there because THEY WANT YOU TO SUCCEED. They may be able to help you more. Maybe their monetary contribution is as high as it can go, but they may be able to help you spread the word. Consider every investor or crowdfunding supporter as part of your campaign and project, and let them help you!

TAKE YOUR CAMPAIGN SERIOUSLY
You may be the aloof, laid-back type who is just trying this crowdfunding thing out because other financial avenues have dried up, but that doesn’t mean you should behave that way with your campaign. No one wants to back the project where the main driving force behind it is, “Yeah, it’d be nice… but it isn’t the end of the world. If it works, cool.” Screw that noise! Your investors, unless they’re made up entirely of friends and family that would back you regardless, want to feel the urgency of the campaign, and they want to see that you will stop at nothing to hit your goal. Again, they want to back a winner, and at the very least, they should feel like the campaign wants to win. If you take the “eh, we’ll see how this turns out” tack and then play the fundraising equally as laid-back, do not be surprised when you don’t hit your goal. The successful crowdfunders are the one that can’t imagine NOT hitting their goal.

USE SOCIAL MEDIA; SELL EVERYWHERE
As I mentioned earlier, some of the more successful campaigns I’ve seen are also the ones I’ve heard the most about on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Again, those campaigns hit it daily, and when the main project owner wasn’t doing the pitching, the investors were. If I feature your project on Film Threat, and the most I’m reading about it on Twitter or Facebook are things that I’ve written, your project is in trouble. It is NOT enough to simply post on your personal blog or your crowdfunding page, or to ride one piece of press. That is picking one neighborhood; it limits your chances in completing your goal considerably. You need to be everywhere.

BECOME AN INVESTOR YOURSELF
Seriously, invest in someone else’s project. Find out how it feels to be a part of another campaign. Evaluate things you think or feel when you see the project you backed do the good things (or the bad). Become the audience to know the audience.

Beyond that, remember that the film community is like a natural environment or ecology. You can’t just take-take-take, you have to give back to the community too. Backing another project not only generates good karma, it can also help you form an alliance or friendship with other like-minded filmmakers who will also take up your flag and run with it as you’ve done with theirs. Without naming them, there is a group of filmmakers, and projects, I’ve featured on Film Threat that have been partially successful because they’ve all been supporting each others’ projects. When one hits their goal, they all turn to the next one who needs help. They retweet each other’s stuff on Twitter, they support each other, they share tips and ideas that worked for them… they’ve embraced the community aspect, and they’ve become givers as well as takers and they’ve ALL been successful thus far.

KNOW WHAT IT TAKES TO MOTIVATE YOU, AND CHOOSE A CROWDFUNDING PLATFORM APPROPRIATELY
Deadlines are a great motivator, but for some people, they are not enough. If you’re using Kickstarter then, for example, maybe you’re using it because you like the added motivator that if you don’t hit your goal, you don’t get any money. If you’re using IndieGoGo, maybe the deadline is motivation enough, or maybe your goal isn’t the end-all need for your project (you could use all that you’re looking to raise, but if you can raise even half that, you can still move forward with your project). My point is, know yourself well enough to know what is going to work best for you. Don’t just pick a platform because it worked for this person or that friend… they are not you. You are much more likely to be successful if you pick a platform that you can embrace instead of dread. That said, likewise, if you know that the platform that fits you perfectly now probably won’t get it done (because you know that similar motivations haven’t been successful for you in the past), maybe do the opposite and challenge yourself. Still, you have to know yourself.

DO YOUR RESEARCH
There are tons of projects out there that have been successful. Find the ones that the most similar to what you’re trying to do (subject matter, goal amount, etc) and look at how they did it. Drop those filmmakers a line, ask questions. Find out what you’re really in for. Your path and project will not be exactly the same as theirs, of course, but learn from the mistakes of others to save yourself the step of making those mistakes yourself. You’ll make other mistakes (that, likewise, someone else can learn from). There will not be a perfect blueprint to be successful in every scenario, every time BUT there is enough information out there to help push you in the right direction. Use it!

And don’t be afraid to question everything you read. This article is just one of many that exist out there of people trying to tell other people how they can be successful at crowdfunding. I don’t think many of my points are unique, nor do I think that they are better than a lot of advice floating around out there. That said, these are points that I, personally, have directly observed as having been components of successful campaigns. But I’m on the outside looking in, having not started my own campaign and applied these ideas myself.

REMEMBER WHY YOU’RE DOING THIS
Crowdfunding is hard. You’re going to be met with love and hate. Some things you do will be praised, others will be considered annoying and obnoxious, maybe even losing you some friends. It is important to remember, at every point, why you are doing all of this to begin with. Is it to see your dream brought to reality in a feature film? Is it to raise the right amount of money to insure that you and your film have the best shot at traveling the festival circuit? Is it to help you establish your own medium? Whatever it is, DO NOT FORGET IT. Focus on it in the hard and the easy moments. It should pull you through.

And those are my “10 Tips to Successfully Crowdfund Your Movie.” Hopefully something in there strikes some truth with you, and you can utilize the information to succeed yourself. Or, maybe your own success flies in the face of what I’ve said. Either way, let us know in the comments below. That way we can all learn because, as I said above, these are just the things I’ve directly observed. I may’ve missed something (it is more than likely I did), so share your experiences and we can all be the better for it.
Read more: http://www.filmthreat.com/features/27698/comment-page-1/#ixzz15Ol63BuA
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Telstra uses Salesforce for crowd sourcing

The use of the Salesforce Ideas internal forum has created more than 300 company initiatives for Telstra since it began using the application in March 2010.

T Idea, as it is called within Telstra, allows employees to submit, discuss and vote for ideas in an open forum.

Employees can monitor the progress of their suggestions while Telstra assesses each idea against its popularity, viability and how well it aligns with existing plans.

Some of the new initiatives which were rolled out include 24/7 call centres, weekend technician appointments for metropolitan and some regional areas, and BigPond email address portability.

Salesforce Asia Pacific and Japan executive vice president, Lindsey Armstrong, said that when Telstra CEO, David Thodey, came on board he wanted to look at new ways of engaging with staff.

"He wanted to use the principles of Facebook and Twitter but in a private way to communicate on mass with people," she said.

Using the cloud meant the company was able to sidestep many of the hardware and software challenges of rolling out a new system to a large number of users.

"The power of the Force.com platform allowed Telstra to fully customise the system from user interface to backend dashboards in just 12 days, [and this is] something that could take years with on-premise alternatives,” she said.

“We are seeing a fundamental shift in cloud computing from low cost applications through providers such as Yahoo! to mobile collaboration which is influenced by applications like Facebook," Armstrong said.

The application was also extended to include contractors, partners and retail staff who can have their say about Telstra.

According to Armstrong, the use of T [idea] tapped into a feeling within Telstra that people wanted to communicate and contribute to the company.

"They got 600 new ideas in a couple of days," she said. "We learnt that people want to be part of a solution, collaborate together and receive peer recognition."

"Part of driving through change, innovation and improved customer service, means listening to what frontline staff and partners think the business should be doing," she said. "They have a direct line to customers and can provide companies with an enormous amount of insight and understanding about their customers, business and the industry."
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Win $300 and design a logo for Trash - A new chain of charity shops

This looks interesting. On crowdspring.com we found a competition to design a logo for a chain of charity stores. It reminds me of The Life and Times of Reginald Perrin and his high concept of Grot. Perhaps it is ingenious. One person’s trash is another person's treasure. Charity shops are the new Neiman Marcus you never know what you will find and although it has all been essentially put in the trash it can so easily be plucked out of the trash and put in zoftic lighting where it truly belongs. Good luck and we will follow crowd spring and its crowd sourcing of a logo design for TRASH.
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How To Start A Bank

Part of my job description every day is to read and research numerous articles about crowd sourcing and crowd funding. We were sent this link from the BBC World Service on starting a new bank. It's a 25 minute audio broadcast on How To Start A Bank.

Spirits low? Is the Credit Crunch getting you down? It might just be a very good time to start a brand new bank ... unencumbered by the toxic loans and the government bailouts of most of the old ones. Peter Day finds out from the experts how to start a bank ... and also how not to do it

It is fascinating to hear the interview of various players from the world of alternative banking. The price of admission "free" is worth listening to these contributors who include: Andrew Hilton Director - Centre of the Study of Financial Innovation, Muhammad Yunus Founder - Grameen Bank, Brandon Davies Chief Executive Office - dRisk.biz Limited, Lindsay Mackie Consultant - New Economics Foundation, Antony Elliott - Fair Banking Charity, Ian Hatton Senior Regeneration Manager - Essex County Council and Giles Andrews Managing Director - Zopa. I checked out the website for Muhammad Yunus Founder - Grameen Bank and found this Grameen Bank methodology is almost the reverse of the conventional banking methodology. Conventional banking is based on the principle that the more you have, the more you can get. In other words, if you have little or nothing, you get nothing. As a result, more than half the population of the world is deprived of the financial services of the conventional banks. Conventional banking is based on collateral, Grameen system is collateral- free.

Grameen Bank starts with the belief that credit should be accepted as a human right, and builds a system where one who does not possess anything gets the highest priority in getting a loan. Grameen methodology is not based on assessing the material possession of a person, it is based on the potential of a person. Grameen believes that all human beings, including the poorest, are endowed with endless potential.

Conventional banks look at what has already been acquired by a person. Grameen looks at the potential that is waiting to be unleashed in a person. I concur!
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Crowdsourcing makes a splash on the stock market

A new startup, EquitySplash, has recently announced that it is going to use crowdsourcing to attract stock investors. In a move that makes traditional Wall Street investors shudder, the platform EquitySplash is developing will enable people to deposit money into a collaborative fund and then invest the amount of money they initially deposited into stocks they personally choose.
When the trades close each day, all profits and losses are distributed to each fund member. The benefit is theoretically two-fold. First, the successful trades will benefit all members of the collaboration. Second, the risks and potential losses are spread out over the larger member pool.

Will crowdsourcing work in equity management? Can a crowd of peers through the not yet released EquitySplash pick better stocks than a mutual fund manager? Since EquitySplash is still in beta format, they are not currently doing any open registrations, so it is impossible to measure performance results at this time.

Crowdsourcing stocks certainly appears to be a creative alternative to those who are tired of the traditional approach used by the investment fund industry and the Wall Street political machine, but it might raise several eyebrows with the SEC.

It’s also likely that EquitySplash has done enough research to cover their legal bases, but their crowdsourced model seems to violate investment adviser regulations. The SEC will surely keep a close watch on EquitySplash’s success upon market release to ensure they stay on top of all investment regulatory requirements.

The bigger question lies with investors—ordinary people and whether or not they will entrust their money to be invested via crowdsourcing by people they don’t even know. Critics of this new model would say that most people will stick with the more traditional method of investing.


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Crowdfunding Success Summit December 5th 2010

Children of the Wind - New Trailer from Seek Films on Vimeo.

Jilann Spitzmiller & Hank Rogerson are co-hosts of the Crowdfunding Success Summit. On December 5th 2010 $47.00 will buy you entry to an online webinar that will educate you in crowd funding. Join them on Sunday, December 5th 2010, To Learn The 7 Steps to crowd Funding Success! Crowdfunding is all the rage and a lot of filmmakers are jumping in. But it’s embarrassing and disheartening to put yourself out there and fail to meet your goals. Do it right the first time. Buy a pass to the ultra-affordable Crowdfunding Success Summit and start finding your fans and
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Funding Circle Success could put banks into a Flat Spin

04 Nov 2010 Martin Williams
The initial success of a new SME lending service aimed at bypassing traditional banks may be getting the major clearers into a flat spin.
Since its launch in August, FundingCircle.com has attracted over 1600 private lenders who have so far lent over 1 million pounds to small businesses.
The service offers lenders (investors) a return of around 8%. For the small business borrower, this is a far cheaper interest repayment rate than the typical bank loan on offer with interest rates up at around 12%. With innovative financial services like Funding Circle competing directly with banks in the small business finance space, the banks are going to have to keep an eagle eye on market developments.
FundingCircle.com may attract copycat services if its success continues, spelling out more danger for the banks in the future.
The major clearers may have been reluctant to lend to even creditworthy business concerns during the crisis, but coming out the other side of the downturn, they might not find they are operating in the same cosy world when they do return in earnest to the lending game.
Alternative sources of finance have sprung up while they've been playing hard to get. Some may say they deserve what they get!
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Media agency of the future

By Jonty Fisher

I was skimming through a recent Advertising Age where an article on the “Future of the Media Agency” caught my eye. Various media agency heads were discussing their views on how their groups would have to adapt to a rapidly evolving and increasingly fragmented media space. Their answers surprised me though, and clearly showed the desperate scramble to redefine how the entire communications media industry defines how it delivers value to clients.
The media agency heads discussed how — in ten years time — the majority of them would become full service marketing communications agencies, offering a range of services that encompassed “anything the marketer required”. This reflects somewhat of a universal dilemma for the industry, where almost every specialist sector is trying to move into a full-service space.

So firstly, we have to ask, why?

Globally, the industry is in the very public throes of an acute personality crisis, founded in a struggle to accurately define the value that each player creates. The natural urge of each of these media agencies is to extend up and down the value chain, channelling David Copperfield in trying to blind the client with an array of glittering options rather than redefine how they answer a brief and solve the Chief Marketing Officer’s (CMO’s) problems.

A brief history

Consider how the CMO of the late 90′s and early 2000′s would manage their marketing. They would generally craft high level strategy, and then bring in their Knights of the Round Table (hat tip – Joseph Jaffe), typically their ad agency – as lead agency and brand custodian, – their PR agency, digital agency, direct agency, events agency, and maybe a strategy or market research agency. A proverbial bunch of cats in desperate need of herding. Now as Mark Sherrington always reminds me, there is no need for a lead agency if you have a lead client, but there are many of his peers that haven’t proven to hold the same mettle that he has.
As we moved further into the 2000′s, Mr Consumer became much more of a moving (and more empowered) target under an environment of intense media fragmentation, a rise in digital consumer connectivity and activism, exploding brand choice and declining advertising trust.
The bankable results of tried and tested communication methods crumbled and ideas didn’t fit that neatly into channel silos anymore. As a result, agencies found it harder to solve CMO problems, so the CMO’s in turn found it harder to marry their agencies‘ value with their agencies’ invoices. Agencies needed to adapt. Fast.

So agencies took the view that they could either do a better job, and even better, earn more revenue from crab-walking across the channel spectrum. This crab-walking took one of two approaches; either, for example, an ad agency would buy a PR agency and put them in an “integrated group”, or they would buy some big name talent in a horizontal skills space and launch their own additional channel divisions and integrate.

The problem though, lies in the fact there is no value in being “full service” or “integrated” alone. If the internal ideation, strategy development and creative conceptualisation still happens in silos, there is no objectives-based solutions to the marketing or communication problem, no equal share of voice in strategy development, and no true channel-neutral or channel-agnostic communications solutions.

Where to from here?

There has been much debate about the future of agencies in the media space. While the stock response has been a move to full service capabilities, there have been many who have argued that there will be a finite split between those who create ideas, concepts and strategy – the creators or idea generators, and those who execute those ideas, concepts and strategies – the executors. The thinking here goes that those with excellent strategic and conceptual brains will sit in one agency to generate ideas, and then hand those over to execution teams at one or multiple “do-er” agencies to produce and deliver those ideas to market.

The problem in splitting the two is that it divorces two parallel processes that are critical in crafting robust strategy; in that strategy should inform execution, but execution should also inform strategy. In the world of marketing and advertising, ideation doesn’t happen to schedules and milestones. Ideas can be developed in execution that can, and in many cases should, make fundamental changes to strategy. If ideation and execution are finitely divorced, this critical upward spiral of ideas into those that not only solve the brief but the problem above it, is stunted.

Crowdsourcing

Others argue that agencies in their current form will die a speedy death, and the sword on which they’ll fall will be crowdsourcing. Scores of independent conceptual and strategic thinkers together with scores of independent execution specialists in channel areas will bid for the work.

The downfall of this approach for me is that whilst it is easy – and undoubtedly valuable – to crowdsource ideas and concepts (see IdeaBounty.com for the best example), it is incredibly difficult to crowdsource teamwork and execution. And it’s impossible to crowdsource the basic organisational support structure that is required to run larger campaigns for big clients. Finally, if everyone is freelancing, crowdsourcing will become unmanageable unless there are some selection processes to control submission volume and quality.

The result may be a hybrid agency model which maintains core support staff and some guiding lights in strategy, idea generation and project management to provide a backbone to an external, more selective (perhaps members-based) crowdsourcing model. Is this enough value for a client, or would they just create those structures themselves? I’d bet on the latter – many already are.
I don’t think anyone has the definitive answer right now; the industry, consumers and clients are evolving rapidly at the moment, and there will be more blood on the floor before the hypotheses are truly tested. Personally I would suggest that the changes should be less in the headline-grabbing, industry wag-horn blowing external structures, and more squarely focused on the internal structures of how briefs are processed, how strategy is developed, and how solutions are built.

Into the future

Firstly, in terms of talent, thinking will win. Too many traditional agency ‘strategists’ exist to deliver retro-fitted rationales to already-created TV campaigns. There’s no client value here – it’s driven by agency revenue, not the client problem. Strategists will have to become the guides, leading multi-disciplinary teams to co-create strategic idea platforms and their tactical delivery – together.

The key to this multi-disciplinary strategy development is the influence of executional or tactical brains sitting around problems and looking up to higher strategy platforms, and being led by a true strategist who has a full stakeholder view of the business problem looking down to the execution. Every seat at the table truly has to have an equal voice. The problem has to be looked at from all sides. Time-consuming? Yes. Expensive? Yup. But valuable? Business relevant? Definitely.

Focus on the problem

At the heart of this co-creation will be the problem, not the brief. If we’re honest, the communications industry has become very good at solving briefs, but very poor at solving business problems. Strategy, ideation and tactical delivery will be much more fluid, adaptable and, to use the current buzzword, “agile”. Planning will be structured around solutions to problems that are less time-based and more result-based. Lighting many small fires will win over the bonfire approach of old, and consumers will hold the matches.

While creativity and innovation will naturally retain their pulpit status, the traditional agency view of creativity will have to continue to spread beyond the traditional products of audio and visual art. As Gareth Kay elegantly describes it, move from “advertising ideas to ideas that can be advertised”.

Transparency and measurability will become paramount. We’re an industry that loves to let clients believe that we shouldn’t play by the same rules as other professional business services. Want influence at the board room table? Start by talking the same language as the Financial Director, be crystal clear on how you deliver value, and be prepared to back it up with a business case, not creative awards.

In my opinion, there’s too much talk at the moment about who should be leading the brand delivery – traditional agencies, digital agencies etc. I believe that’s a red herring. The idea that solves the problem, not the delivery channel, must win – every time. And that’s about changing how we create and deliver ideas, with every channel specialist working collaboratively on an equal footing.

The initial promise of integration was objectives-based, idea before execution and truly channel-neutral delivery. For me, the current problem in the industry is less the external structure of what the agency will look like (and the terminology we use to describe it), and more about the internal operational processes of how service delivery is strategised and conceptualised, from the brief to the problem and back to the solution.

It’s a fascinating time to be in the marketing/communications/media industry. Rules are being created and broken at an incredibly rapid pace. We are fast approaching a crossroads, with decisions being made that will leave some on the right revenue road, and others in the proverbial dust. Which side will we be on? I believe the former. But whatever your view, one thing is for certain. Keeping your head in the sand is the sure way to run through the crossroads and over the abyss.
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Public Enemy Raise $75,000 For Album Via Crowd Funding

Though initially labeled a "mis-step," it appears that Public Enemy's attempt at "crowd-funding" their new album via Dutch website SellaBand has provided the funds required for the legendary rap group to record and distribute their new release.

"We just received word that our fund raising campaign has completed," Public Enemy announced on SellABand's site. "This is truly a great moment for us and we owe it all to our fans on SellaBand -- our true 'Believers'."

Though they had originally aimed much higher, the group "recalculated" their initial goal of a $250,000, dropping the goal to $75,000 for the recording, marketing and promotions costs associated with releasing their new, entirely fan-funded release.

"It has been a long and winding road," their statement continued. "We've had explosive starts, media attention, corporate troubles, media criticism, recalculations and finally resurgence. When its all said and done, the bottom line is that we never lost faith in ourselves, our fans and the future of fan funding as a model."

Though they have yet to reveal details about the new album, the group sounded empowered by their fan's support, proving that alternate sources of funding for artists is actually possible.

"We're over here in Europe killing shows. Moscow and Sofia are in our rear view mirrors and we've got a lot more on tap. We're going to be celebrating this with our fans, so we hope to see you on our winding road. Thank You," their statement concluded.
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Independent Filmmakers Launch Crowd Funding Organization

New York, NY, October 12, 2010 (Washington Bangla Radio / PRWEB) With the growing fundraising trend for filmmaking in full effect, three independent filmmakers today announced the launch of The Independent Collective (TIC) – an organization that offers visual and performing artists a crowd funding system fueled by donations. Intended to inspire anyone with an interest in entertainment, TIC will facilitate fundraising for artistic projects by connecting individuals, companies and non-profit organizations that will allow TIC’s members the opportunity to develop various projects in the arts that they cannot afford or maintain easily on their own.
TIC will kick-off their slate of projects with the feature film TINY DANCER, written by scribe Jayce Bartok who also penned THE CAKE EATERS starring Kristen Stewart, Aaron Stanford and Bruce Dern. TINY DANCER is an indie drama about a former prima ballerina who after having her baby wants to break back into her former dance Company, but must decide between her family and the art she loves. In the tradition of THE RED SHOES and TURNING POINT, TINY DANCER aspires to be the film that reinvents ballet for this new century. Elizabeth Berkley (The L Word, The First Wives Club) has expressed interest in starring as Lauren Drake, the lead in TINY DANCER.

“Understanding there has been a shift in the traditional financing model for independent films, it was logical to turn to crowd funding as a means of financial support,” said Jayce Bartok, thespian, screenwriter and co-founder of The Independent Collective. “Our objective with The Independent Collective is to connect with individuals who have an interest in entertainment in a way that builds expertise among artists and enthusiasts. After the production of TINY DANCER, our goal is to present a slate of projects in the visual and performing arts to our community of members and donors.”

Giving fans and supporters everywhere even more reason to make donations, TINY DANCER is a sponsored project of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA), a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt organization. Contributions on behalf of TINY DANCER made payable to the NYFA are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Contributors to TINY DANCER will gain membership to TIC and member benefits.

In addition, to raise awareness for TINY DANCER, TIC will be hosting a fundraising costume party on October 28, 2010 at New York City’s hot spot, Lolita. The event will be hosted by two-time, Tony Award nominee, Daphne Rubin Vega who is best known for originating the role of Mimi in "Rent".

At the center of TIC will be the featured-packed website – TheIndependentCollective.com – where individuals wanting to actively contribute to the production of TINY DANCER are invited to join and donate by selecting one of the tiers which begin at $20. The website will provide members regular updates on TINY DANCER through blog posts, including production updates, behind-the-scenes videos during production and interviews with cast members.

To learn more about The Independent Collective, visit its website or follow the organization on Facebook and Twitter.

Based in New York and Los Angeles, The Independent Collective (TIC) is a community of individuals dedicated to bringing artistic projects to fruition. TIC was founded in 2010 by partners Jayce Bartok and Tiffany Bartok of Vinyl Foote Productions, and Bryan deCastro of BDC Communications. For more information, visit www.theindependentcollective.com.
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Detroit gets big share of Kickstarter micro-grants

DETROIT FREE PRESS, 10/28/2010
Kickstarter may be a well-known buzzword in the Internet startup world, but it's also becoming well known in Detroit. And for good reason.

Excerpt:

Idealists like Noam Kimmelman, Tom Nardone and Ellen Donnelly flock to Detroit, eager to lay claim to what they see as a blank canvas for urban renewal.

Their projects are creative, artsy and altruistic -- but not quite fodder for traditional grants.

So each has turned to kickstarter.com , a global micro-granting Web site for art, film and creative projects. The three are among a dozen at any given time in metro Detroit asking the world for chunks of $25 or $50 to fund projects in their quest to fix the city. Donors have given thousands of dollars, so far, to local art-as-renewal projects.

It's a phenomenon the Brooklyn-based company is seeing only in Detroit.

"There's a groundswell of people all over, saying, 'Let's save Detroit,'" said Kickstarter co-founder Yancey Strickler. "It's seen as a kind of wild west for art."

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Donors Save 'Blue Like Jazz' Pic

By MIKE FLEMING Deadline.com | Thursday October 28, 2010 @ 10:49am EDT

Most films don't tap into moviegoer wallets until they reach theaters. But Blue Like Jazz, an adaptation of Donald Miller's faith-based book, waged a 30-day campaign that raised $346,000 from 3900 supporters. That allowed the film to overcome a budget shortfall and begin production yesterday in Nashville. Marshall Allman (True Blood) plays the lead role of Miller, Tania Raymonde (Lost) and Justin Welborn (The Crazies) also star. Steve Taylor is directing. The dough was raised through Kickstarter.com, and the flm's backers claim it's the largest crowd-sourced creative project ever. The book is about the author's spiritual journey and the donation campaign started when the author blogged that the movie version of his book would be placed on indefinite hold because an investor fell out for $250,000. Two fans, Zach Prichard and Jonathan Frazier, created a grassroots save-the-film campaign by launching Savebluelikejazz.com. One of the film's backers agreed to match the amount raised if it got to $125,000. That backer will match the $346,000. That gives the filmmakers an extra $450,000 that will be used for extra shooting days. The total budget of the film is under $5 million. These donors won't get their money back, but there were other incentives. The director has personally called around 300 of the donors so far, and between shots, will be logging phone time until he completes over 1000 thank you calls. Many donors will receive "associate producer" credit, which could mean the end credit roll will be longer than usual. But the filmmakers said the donors saved the movie.
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Is crowd-funding the future for documentaries?

While fundraising websites offer documentary-makers a novel way to finance projects, the concept has its flaws

by Kate Bulkley guardian.co.uk

Crowd-funding was pioneered by the maker of climate-change documentary The Age of Stupid, Franny Armstrong, above, raised £1.5m through the web Photograph: Spanner Films

In the face of broadcasters squeezing budgets, many documentary-makers are looking to "crowd-funding" sites, such as IndieGoGo and Kickstarter, to raise money for projects, instead of relying on commissions. These sites enable film-makers to advertise projects in the hope of attracting investors and generate revenue by taking a percentage of the money raised.

Some of the websites have a social betterment agenda at their core, which suits the ideals of many documentary-makers. But not everyone believes that crowd-funding is the answer to tighter broadcaster budgets.

"I think that these are exciting models of co-operative funding with everyone working together and the film-maker engaged with communities and their audience throughout the entire production," says Charlie Phillips, director of Sheffield Doc/Fest's MeetMarket, where documentary-makers pitch their projects to potential funders. "But I also realise that there are a lot of documentary media-makers who want someone on high to give them a pot of money and send them on their way."

Crowd-funding was pioneered by film-maker Franny Armstrong who, over several years, raised £1.5m through the web for her 2009 film The Age of Stupid, about climate change. Armstrong did this on her own site but now sites dedicated to crowd-funding are popping up all over, including two new sites in the UK, Buzzbank.org and Sponsume.com.

Social networks

"The whole concept of Do It Yourself is a little bit aged," says Slava Rubin, founder and CEO of IndieGoGo, an early pioneer of crowd-funding whose site launched in 2008 and today hosts hundreds of documentary films looking for funding. "Today raising money is about finding your influencers, tapping your social networks and doing it with others."

IndieGoGo is not limited to raising funds for film, but Rubin says that documentaries are particularly ripe for crowd-funding. "In documentary film-making there are a lot of bottlenecks in terms of decision-making, raising enough money and distribution, so the world of the internet where you can democratise funding is a good solution."

Rubin believes the crowd-funding model is only at the beginning. "Over time crowd-funding will get stronger and stronger and even traditional ways of raising money will want to tap into this demand for research and audience-building as part of their investment."

For documentary-makers the lure of web funding can be irresistible, particularly for films with a difficult social agenda. Tapestries of Hope, a documentary that investigates the sexual abuse of young girls in Zimbabwe, raised $23,000 (£14,500) on IndieGoGo from 81 funders. "The money raised on IndieGoGo helped validate demand for the film," says Rubin. "Because they had identified an audience they were able to secure a 100-theatre theatrical release."

For film-maker Emily James, who was an executive producer on The Age of Stupid and has made films such as The Luckiest Nut in the World for Channel 4, crowd-funding makes sense for her film Just Do it, which is about civil disobedience. "Crowd-funding was sort of an act of faith because I think there is an audience for this film and I think they will put their money where their mouth is. So I guess it is partly wilful optimism and it is also about what we want to achieve in terms of restructuring the funding in our industry," says James.

Matching funding

James has built her own site to raise funds for Just Do it. So far the web has pulled in £2,500 (she has raised another £21,000 from grants and two private donations). James hopes that a matching fund grant she has secured from the charity arm of Lush, the soap products company, will kickstart more giving online. "We have found that building the sharing tools ourselves on our own site has been harder than we thought," admits James who was keen to keep all the donations rather than pay a third-party fundraising site a fee. "In hindsight we might have made a different choice," she admits.

Like many documentary film-makers, James has often had her pitches turned down by broadcasters. "There are about eight people in the UK who can greenlight a film and I don't think they are always rights about their decisions," says James. "You end up getting a lot of lowest common denominator stuff because that's what millions of people will watch in one viewing on television but not all films are suited to that. If you have a slow-burn film or a niche film crowd-funding is really exciting because it offers another way to make your film possible."

Crowd-funding may fill a gap in financing for documentaries but Claire Fox, director of the Institute of Ideas, sounds a cautionary note: "Just because a lot of people click through on a website doesn't mean that crowd-funding is a more democratic way to get films financed," says Fox. "If I believed that then I would have to believe that the winner of X Factor is the best singer in the world.

"I also think that gaining an audience before you make a film gives you an advocacy audience but it ignores your role as a documentary film-maker to create a new audience for new ideas. I also like to believe, idealist that I am, that the people who are commissioning documentaries know something about documentaries, so they can overrule the crowd," says Fox. "I think it is important that films get made about things we have never heard about and crowd-funding is mostly about orthodoxy, so the films that the crowd will go for are the ones you would expect about climate change and child abuse, for example, and not the thing you've never heard of."

To find out more attend the Crossover Summit at Sheffield Doc/Fest on Wednesday 3rd November

Buzzbank Innovative investing

Buzzbank will be a new entrant to the crowd-funding scene when it launches in November, but its co-founder and chairman, Michael Norton, is an old hand at the charity-giving game. His view is that the technology of the web is pumping new life into global giving by marrying up a wider variety of projects with a much bigger pool of potential backers.

"The website won't raise you money," says Norton, who at 68 has more years of experience in the industry than many internet entrepreneurs have had birthdays. "You have to raise the money yourself, but the technology certainly facilitates it."

Norton founded the Directory of Social Change in 1974, the UK's biggest provider of information and training on charitable giving, and was a founder of Unltd, a UK social entrepreneurs charity.

He has big ambitions for Buzzbank as a means to engage the public in fresh ways. "I hope that we can build up a constituency of people who are committed givers. That way we can launch new projects non-stop."

Typical to other crowd-funding sites, Buzzbank takes a percentage (5%) of the monies raised for a project as its fee. The backers of Buzzbank include Norton's own charity, the Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action, as well as several others including the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, the Tudor Trust and the Wates Foundation. These and several individuals have put up startup funding of £400,000.

Unlike some other crowd-funding sites, Buzzbank is focused on raising crowd-sourced finance for social ventures, including documentary films that have a social impact. In the case of documentaries Norton advises that the "best thing to do is to start with something quite modest that will build your crowd".

One film that will be on Buzzbank is Leave to Remain, directed by Bruce Goodison, which is about asylum seeking in the UK. This is a serious topic but Norton says that one of the "perks" is to be an extra in the film if you give £50. "We have to get away from just pure finance. It has to be about engaging people in doing things together," says Norton. "We are also interested in people having fun with their money and being involved in the projects."

Raising Money for Digital Projects, a workshop featuring Michael Norton is part of the Crossover Summit at Sheffield Doc/Fest on Wednesday 3 November

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Crowdsourced New York Apartment Pushing Limits

Analysis by Alyssa Danigelis Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:52 PM ET

Downsizing isn't a scary word for Graham Hill. It's a crucial one. The Treehugger founder recently bought a tiny apartment in New York and instead of moving right in he's asking the public for ways to transform the small space into a high-tech, low-impact home.

Hill's new project is called Life Edited, and it grew out of his observation that American homes have grown larger on average in the past 50-plus years, from 1,000 square feet to 2,300 square feet. We're like the punchline from George Carlin's comic routine about stuff. Having more stuff hasn't made us any happier, either.

The 420-square foot apartment is located in the Red Hook neighborhood in Soho, New York. When introducing the project at the Pop!Tech conference in Maine, Hill told the audience that he's hoping to transform it into a little jewelbox, one that's tiny, ultra-green, high tech and even luxurious.

Hill's project is an attempt to green his own living space and also to expose the public to great ideas. Many in the green industry don’t actually live very green lives, he notes. "You can sell an idea if you're actually doing it yourself," he told me. "In the green area, people say we don't want to be preaching to the choir. I think we can only be so lucky as to have a really strong choir."

In general, design contest work tends to happen in private. Most of the creative process never sees the light of day. To avoid that, Hill is crowdsourcing the designs for everything from a hideable kitchen and folding bike space to robot cleaner storage and efficient lighting. He's got an impressive, but not impossible, list of requirements. Design submissions open on October 27.

"The neat thing about crowdsourcing in this particular platform, people are encouraged to submit their designs early," Hill says. During the comment period, visitors to the site can see other people's ideas, give feedback, and the designers can tweak their submissions up until the deadline on January 10, 2011. The best entries won't just get recognition -- sponsors that include Cisco, Jovoto, Voltaic Systems, and Strida are offering more than $70,000 in cash and prizes.

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Unilver announces winner of largest-ever effort to involve consumers in content creation

Partnership with MOFILM invited budding and established film-makers to produce short films for top brands – from Axe to Vaseline; Grand-Prize winning film premieres at London Film Festival

UNILEVER, in partnership with MOFILM and the London Film Festival, are excited to announce the grand-prize winner of the Unilever Consumer Creative Challenge at this week’s London Film Festival. Judges awarded Ryoko Kawanishi the grand prize for her film, The Melody of Skin, created for the Vaseline brand.

A judging panel of peers, film experts and industry leaders selected the overall grand-prize winner from the 13 shortlisted videos – one for each of the participating brands. The winning film, Melody of Skin was chosen from among the brands’ entries and premiered at the London Film Festival last night. Ms Kawanishi will receive £7,000 and the grand-prize-winning film will feature in an upcoming Unilever marketing campaign.

Competition participants were invited to make a film for one of thirteen international Unilever brands. To watch the winning entries for each brands use the gallery below or follow the links: Axe, Ben and Jerry’s, Close up, Dove, Walls, Knorr, Lifebuoy, Lipton, Rexona, Snuggle, Sunsilk, Surf and Vaseline.
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Crowd funding the unemployed to create the Unemployed Corporation of England

Part 1: UCOE

Crowd sourcing the unemployed to create the Unemployed Corporation of England

by James de Rin

With all the talk of austerity and cut backs in the UK and the USA I thought it might be good to pitch a crowd funding idea I have been mulling over for months now. It’s only an idea so don’t freak out. Let’s research how many people are unemployed in the UK. The answer according to Google is 2.45 million. So let’s say we crowd source the unemployed or crowd fund the unemployed in the UK. We ask all the unemployed to put in 1 pound. You say they don’t have any money, probably true but I’m only asking for 1 pound. So say all of them put in 1 pound we would have 2,450,000 pounds in a fund. Let’s call it the Unemployed Corporation of England (UCOE). Now let’s buy some real estate. Let’s buy a pub for say 150,000 pounds, there are currently 1,000 pubs for sale in the UK. Let’s then employ a portion of the unemployed to fix it up and pay them. So now the fund called UCOE owns a building it paid 150,000 for what is then revalued at 200,000 and we rent the rooms in it for 560 a week and we turn the pub into a Starbucks for 5,000 a month and the shop into a charity shop called Trash for 3,000 a month. So now we have all these revenue streams for the fund. And so we do it again and again. And then the politicians hear about it and they say we will match funds for UCOE. And so we have twice as much money as we had before. We have created employment and an asset fund and made a profit that goes back into the fund. What do you think? How many unemployed in the USA?

Email: james@crowdsourcecapital.com with your ideas, comments and suggestions. Should we do this for real?