This Financial Times article reports on a new initiative to fund arts projects by crowd funding / crowd financing. The ‘We Fund’ website enables individuals to donate small amounts of money to arts related projects in return for credits, perks and other benefits.

In return for pledges of amounts of cash between £1 GBP and £3,000 GBP, donors can choose from a menu of benefits ranging from a simple ‘thanks to’ credit, packs of goodies including DVDs, right up to special performances in your own home. For example see the ‘Butter Side Down’ and ‘Madam Butterfly’ projects on We Fund.

These are examples of raising funds through crowdfunding by offering credits, perks and other benefits in return for donations (rather than ‘investments’)

There are also more sophisticated financial investment schemes which enable investors to take an equity share in a project – or a company set up for a particular project. There are many examples of raising finance for film projects in this way. Such schemes generally involve larger amounts of cash and present the investor with more risk – and the prospect of substantial financial rewards – depending on the financial result of the creative endeavour.

Join this international creative enterprise community and let us know of other examples of projects and initiatives to raise finance for creative businesses and projects using crowdfunding / crowdfinancing techniques.

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