Category: Platform Reviews

Summary: Petridish is a crowdfunding platform for scientists to showcase their research to the public and for the public to show recognition and support to innovative researchers in the form of monetary payments or pledges.

Best Feature: Petridish provides you with the opportunity to gain support of the next, life-changing scientific discovery. Your “backers” have the ability to email your project to family and friends, share your research on Twitter and Facebook, and even ‘star’ your findings as a favorite. With these simple links, your research has the ability to be shared and spread across the Internet quickly.

What To Consider: Projects are hand-selected, thus not everyone has a chance of showcasing their research. Also, similar to Pozible, Petridish uses an “all or nothing” approach in which projects are only funded if they meet their goal by the set deadline.

Ideal User: Scientific experts looking to share their passions with others in order to accumulate backers and funding worldwide. Petridish is for the “best of the best” in science, as only some projects will make the cut.

Cost: The site requires a 5% fee. Third-party credit card processing fees are also the responsibility of the researcher, which are typically 3 to 4%.

Summary: Credibles, a service offered by Slow Money, offers crowdfunding services to small, sustainable food-related businesses. The site offers a redemption service for prepaid crowd funding, donation tracking, and more.

Best Feature: When donors prepay their favorite business, they’re repaid with edible credits, or “Credibles,” which can be redeemed at the business. These credits, worth $1, serve as an incentive for fans and customers to participate. A customer who invested in a food-related business could, for instance, be paid back for their investment in ice cream. Credibles can be given as gifts and transferred for use at partnering businesses.

What To Consider: The service is currently limited to businesses in New York City and California, so businesses in other areas will have to wait before they’re able to use the service.

Ideal User: Credibles is ideal for professionals and business owners in the food and restaurant industry.

Cost: Credibles charges a small service fee when a supporter pays via the “pre-pay” option, though the site does not specify how much.

By Posted by Eric Mack  for crowdsourcing.org

In case you hadn’t heard, 2012 was the year that crowdfunding exploded onto the scene. Sure, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, Rockethub and others were around before this year, but the last 12 months saw the very concept permeate much deeper into the collective consciousness.

Numerous new platforms like WhenYouWish.com and niche platforms like Medstartr opened their doors, the JOBS Act in the US and other laws in Europe opened the door for equity crowdfunding, and donation-based campaigns began to collect seven-figure totals from the crowd.

To kick-off our year-end review of crowdfunding in 2012, our team profiled the five highest-grossing projects of the year. Lots of them have to do with gadgets and gaming, as you’ll see. I want to make it clear that these big money-makers are just a small slice of the overall crowdfunding pie, and we believe this top five reflects the fact that gamers and gadget early adopters have emerged as a kind of early “sweet spot” for donation-based crowdfunding. More about that in a massolution research report coming out soon.

Full Story

Summary: Pozible is a crowdfunding platform for creative-minded individuals looking to raise funds, realize their aspirations, and make great ideas become a reality. Project creators are able to present their visions to a worldwide audience, as the platform recently went global.

Best Feature: Unlike some of the other crowdfunding platforms, Pozible offers a variety of resources to help their users succeed. The Pozible Handbook provided by the team includes guidelines for before you start, how to set up your campaign, what to do during your campaign, and where to go after your campaign. Furthermore, the site provides a helpful blog with crowdfunding tips as well as an advice section from previous crowdfunders.

What To Consider: Pozible has an “all or nothing” approach. Each project owner is forced to set a funding goal and time limit (from 1-90 days) for their idea. If you are unsuccessful in raising your goal during the set time period, all pledges are canceled and the funds are not transferred. If you are able to estimate your projected funding, then this will not be an issue, but the race against time could deter you from your ultimate goal.

Ideal User: Pozible is developed for artists, musicians, filmmakers, journalists, designers, social change makers, entrepreneurs, inventors, event organizers, and software developers. The platform brings the creative-minded together.

Cost: There is a standard service fee of 5% as of June 6, 2012. Fees only apply to successful projects.

Mashable Business

Summary: Rock The Post is a business social network and crowdfunding platform for entrepreneurs looking to jump-start their start-up or small business by building a strong following and gathering funding. Entrepreneurs can post about their venture or idea and spread the word in an open forum to engage with like-minded individuals. Contributions can come in the form of pledges and/or investments.

Best Feature: The in-depth category list allows you to post your business idea specific to its industry. There are currently 36 different categories, many of which cannot be found on other crowdfunding platforms. The unique categories range from home and garden to real estate. By specifying your niche on Rock The Post, your chances of connecting will be maximized.

What To Consider: Although the site encourages collaboration and feedback on the open forum, posts require a detailed campaign with no holes or gaps, as well as a video pitch.

Ideal User: Small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to jump-start their startup by gaining the support and feedback of like-minded individuals will benefit greatly from this open-forum platform.

Full Story Here Mashable

Cost: There is no cost for standard services.