Crowdfunding has emerged as a new technique for funding small corporate projects. During recent years, crowdfunding has also become popular among charities, social workers and other users for collecting funds to finance their personal needs. Particularly during holidays, crowdfunding websites experience dramatically increased traffics, as hundreds of people post their projects like Christmas gift list, holiday plans etc.

Crowdfunding Getting Popular for Financing Holiday Plans

There are more than 500 online platforms for crowdfunding. A number of people, who cannot afford to buy Christmas presents, visit these websites and post their needs. There are three reasons why people find it convenient to crowdfund their holiday plans and other personal needs:

1. Ease

Online crowdfunding websites are easy to use. All users have to do is make a wish list, make an impressive profile to convince donors and post their project on any crowdfunding platform. As every crowdfunding app is designed differently and has different fees structure, users can choose a platform according to their preferences.

2. Cost Effectiveness

Unlike paid publicity and advertisement, crowdfunding websites offer a comparatively reasonable method for collecting donations and financing personal needs. Crowdfunding forums do not charge users for publicity and attracting donors. These websites have fixed charges of posting a project.

3. Time Saving Approach

Asking for donation from friends and family might be time consuming. Particularly if someone does not have a strong online network or a large social circle, reaching the funding goal might become frustrating. But these websites are visited daily by hundreds of donors, therefore the probability of getting more funds in less time increases.

Crowdfunding for Charities during Holidays

According to a report by CNBC, during the holiday season in 2012, the traffic on online crowdfunding websites increased dramatically. IT experts think that the overwhelming popularity of these websites predicts that in coming years crowdfunding will become one of the biggest platforms for financial aid. The report also said that in 2012, more than $2.4 billion was collected for charities and social welfare. This reflects that a number of users on crowdfunding websites are either social workers or charity owners.

Crowdfunding has provided a convenient platform to a number of people for giving their donations to unprivileged children and give them some Christmas joy. It has also provided a platform for the younger generation who relies on online means of communication to give their donations and funds to those who deserve them the most.

Popular Crowdfunding Platforms for Gift Giving

Small charities and welfare owners are relying on online crowdfunding are using websites like Indiegogo, Causevox, Fundly and WishBooklet to crowdfund a number of causes like buying presents for unprivileged children. Charities rely on crowdfunding websites because these websites are visited by a number of people and their projects can be funded quickly.

Here is a quick review of these online websites.

Fundly

Fundly is an online crowdfunding website which is famous for crowdfunding projects for schools, welfares, charities and emerging artists. It supports all kinds of projects. People post big budget venture on Fundly due to its increasing popularity among donors. Fundly rates vary with the type of projects. For small projects it is 3.9% of total benefits and for large projects Fundly charges 4.9% of the total money collected.

Indiegogo

Iniegogo is probably one of the most famous online crowdfunding websites in the world. It is frequently visited by charity owners and people during Christmas and holidays for crowdfunding Christmas gifts. Indiegogo also allows people to post corporate projects for crowdfunding. The website has a flexible payment method and simple design. It is one of the oldest websites for crowdfunding therefore a number of people trust Indiegogo for posting their projects and wish lists. Charities also prefer Indiegogo over other crowdfunding websites due to its reasonable rates. It charges 4% of the total donations.

WishBooklet

WishBooklet is another emerging online crowdfunding website making really easy to get the gifts you want. The app is becoming popular among those who need funds for their personal needs like gift giving on Christmas. A number of websites do not allow fundraising allows users to crowdfund their personal needs, but WishBooklet does. The app provides a platform to users for gathering their friends and family to crowdfund what their wish list. WishBooklet allows multiple people to crowdfund a gift or just a single individual to purchase a gift. The money you raise on WishBooklet goes straight to your bank account.

Causevox

Causevox is a customized funding tool. The site has its own domain and allows thirty days free trial to new users. After 30 days, you have to subscribe to Causevox to avail its crowdfunding services. Causevox has high rates than other online crowdfunding websites. It claims 7.5% of all the donations collected. Apart from allowing organizations to create funding profiles, the crowdfunding app also allows users to raise funds for personal causes like gift giving.

Tips for Successful Crowdfunding

Here are few tips which make your Christmas wishes come true:

• Apart from posting your project on online crowdfunding website, promote your project among friends and family so they can also contribute in fundraising.
• You can also post the link of your project on social forums like Facebook and twitter and ask your social circle to spread the word.
• Make an appealing project profile which can convince fundraisers to donate. Moreover, you can also add an audio or video message to address donors in a more attractive way.
• Be accurate in estimations. It is also wise to mention the number of funders you need and how much each funder has to contribute.
• Although websites help in attracting fundraisers, but you can also encourage donors by posting updates about funding goals and conveying message to them.
• In order to expand your donors’ base, you can thank them for fundraising.
• You can also promise some reward to attract more fundraisers.

If you need donations for your Christmas wish list then it is the best time to try an online crowdfunding website.

Author Bio:

Eric Santos is a blogger, social media guru, and entrepreneur. Eric is the co-founder and Business Guy at WishBooklet, a gift crowdfunding web-app that makes getting the gifts you really want easy. Eric is the current CEO of Dwibbles and former founder and CEO of Soshowise Inc. Eric received a B.S in Entrepreneurship from CSUF.