The diversity of businesses I found using crowdfunding in September demonstrate the flexibility and versatility of this alternative source of finance. They included organisations asking for straight donations, businesses offering rewards for donations, and businesses offering equity to prospective new shareholders. The sums involved ranged from £3,000 to £1.25 million. Success has been varied – some might have been popping champagne corks while others might have to look in the mirror and answer some tough questions. I wonder if any will enter the crowdfunding category of the BOLD Awards?
Straight Donations
Cumbria Wildlife Trust had raised 80% of what is needed to buy and protect a 3,000 acre wilderness of Skiddaw Forest in the Lake District. It launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise the final £1.25 million from the general public, and it had reached 85% of this target at the time of publishing this blog. A closing deadline is not visible on their project.
Strongly featured in the news in late September, AFC Wimbledon had to call off their game against Newcastle United when heavy rain caused a sinkhole to appear in their pitch. A crowdfunding page quickly gave the club’s supporters a chance to make donations, and it was great to see Newcastle United chip in with £15,000. As of September 30, the total raised had reached almost £123,000.
A Portuguese association for travel agents is asking for donations towards possible legal costs. They want to start an action against Ryanair for what they claim is “abusive commercial or legal practices.” Some may wish them “good luck.”
Rewards for Donations
A young entrepreneur in Leighton Buzzard has developed a refreshing mist spray with built-in sunscreen. Her financial target on Kickstarter was for £3,000 worth of pre-orders, though her personal aim of reaching 1,000 pre-orders before Christmas will go a lot further to providing product validation to develop her Beame business further.
Tilted Axis Press hopes to raise £75,000. Faced with cuts in arts funding, this independent London-based businesses needs to plug a gap to continue publishing translations of books written by Asian and African authors. It is offering signed copies of newly published titles and will continue to add more rewards throughout the campaign. However, it is progressing slowly and has reached only just over £8,000, though there are 27 days left for people to get behind it.
Pilgrim Brewery in Reigate is offering a range of rewards in a bid to raise £50,000 to buy new brewing equipment. This is the first stage of a complete overhaul that will see them demolish the existing brewery and build a new one to put the equipment in. In the meantime they will be able to keep brewing. The product rewards on offer (some are in the image below) represent discounts of 15% to 20% off their normal taproom bar prices. Here are some further examples of crowdfunding used by breweries.
Equity Crowdfunding
Pro Espresso beat its £110,000 target quite comfortably and raised £151,814. It’s a subscription business that allows members to enjoy top quality coffee at home. The business is supported by an espresso machine manufacturer.
Not so positive are the results for the upmarket Embers Camping holiday company. They had reached 71% of their £200,001 target with just two days left. Perhaps the recent torrential rain and flooding brought home to people what a precarious investment it could be.
No such worries for the chocolate drink specialist Knoops. They had reached their £1 million target within two days of the project being thrown open to the public. This is never a case of just good luck, it is always due to good planning and hard work in the earlier stages.
Fermtech is an Oxford-based startup that produces a zero-carbon protein that adds taste to plant-based foods. With just four days left to run they had raised £364,000, 5% above their £325,000 target for 10.82% of the company’s equity.
MPower is a Swiss-based company hoping to raise £1 million for 9.89% equity in the business. MPower raises money from retail investors in Europe, and lends it to lower and middle income earners in Africa, plus small and medium size businesses, to acquire solar panels and electrical appliances. Access to an energy source and equipment can transform lives and accelerate the growth of a small business.
Within each of these three forms of crowdfunding, there are some similar basic rules that apply to being successful.
- Do not go public until you have some guaranteed support that means your crowdfunding will begin with a bang and not a whimper.
- Keep supporting your crowdfunding project on social media, and by email if you have a database of addresses.
- Plan each stage of the project and prepare plenty of image and video content in advance.
You can follow me on Twitter to see my updates and comments on crowdfunding projects as I post them. I am an independent crowdfunding advisor with no formal ties to any particular platforms.
BOLD Awards is an international annual award programme for 33 categories of digital industries and the technology that powers them. Crowdfunding is one of the categories. Projects entered into this category should be able to demonstrate the steps taken to invite others to support their cause and help raise funding, though the winner will be a crowdfunding campaign that also delivered much more than just funding. Entries that are at least started before October 17 will miss a €100 increase in the entry fee, and they can be updated any number of times before the final deadline in December. The award ceremony for the BOLD Awards sixth edition is a black-tie event in Lisbon on 28th March 2025. Enter now – and I hope to see you there!