Fundraising. It’s the purpose of all charity work, the lifeblood that keeps them alive and imperative for their future existence from one year to the next.

Charities can rarely afford to rest on their laurels- and especially in choppy economic climes such as these. The main cash cow for one financial year can just as easily be taken away in the next- and new sources of investment are hastily sought to fill the void.

And here is where Crowdfunding comes into its own.

At present, Kickstarter is one of the most influential Crowdfunded projects around. Kickstarter describes itself as “a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.”

So, a prospective charity can post a potential idea for a project on the website, and then place its fate into the lap of the Crowd. If enough donations are accumulated, the project goes ahead and if not, the financial backer doesn’t have to part with their money.

 If the project is successfully funded, Kickstarter impose a 5% fee to the funds raised. This has provided a unique opportunity for artists, designers, filmmaker, musicians, entrepreneurs, and inventors (etc!) to set themselves up and put their name into the mix for donations.

However, Kickstarter can only deal with domestic (U.S) projects at present because of their contractual obligations with their partners Amazon Payments, who deal with their transactions. Nevertheless, it’s a fair and democratic way of deciding which projects can be launched and supported for those who are able to get involved.

One example of a successful Kickstarter project includes the anti-Facebook renegades from Project Diaspora, who attempted to raise $10,000 back in April- only to surpass their wildest expectations after useful coverage in the mainstream media.

Kickstarter co-founder, Perry Chen said: “We focus on a middle ground between patronage and commerce. People are offering cool stuff and experiences in exchange for becoming backers of a creative project.

“People are creating these mini-economies around their project ideas. So, you aren’t coming to the site to get something for nothing; you are trying to create value for the people who support you.”

Over in the UK, JustGiving have adopted a harder social online strategy that enables them to harness the financial backing of a huge number of sponsors. 12 million people have backed the 9,000 registered charities through JustGiving, raising £700million in the process.

Unlike Kickstarter, JustGiving charges charities £15 month plus a 5% commission and VAT on each donation to exist on their site, but are able to reclaim Gift Aid (worth 28%), which would otherwise be taken away as a form of tax. Crucially, however, the fundraisers- the people behind the generation of the charity’s funds- are given access to a wide range of multi-media tools where they can set up (and later customise) a fundraising donation webpage in just 60 seconds. 

JustGiving aims to be as multi-media friendly as possible, offering users as many opportunities to promote their charitable campaigns throughout social media, apps (including iPhone and Facebook) and tools through smart-phone technology, using photos, videos, blog facilities and colour to their personal fundraising page.

JustGiving Managing Director Anne-Marie Huby said: “Charities are technology-poor and it’s hard for them to harness the resources to build complex systems. We have enabled lots of small charities and ordinary people to punch above their weight.”

The age of reliance upon one rich benefactor pumping large sums of money into a charity isn’t quite as relevant anymore. It’s far easier to raise £5,000 by asking 100 people to donate £50 than it is to get one bloke to the do the whole lot for you.

JustGiving and Kickstarter’s model enables ANYONE to donate to the causes listed- regardless of whether the donors never uttered a single word to the person behind the fundraising. It popularises charitable donation- and offers charities and causes to globalise their financial catchment.

Maybe, just maybe, there is a new term that we should all start getting our heads around – Crowdgiving?

Okay, so we already have Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding and lots else in between. But is there any point in trying to distinguish between the two types of charitable donation? They both effectively do the same thing- the only difference is there is a profit-space and a not-profit space.

Regardless of whether people are creating a mini-economy around their project idea, or simply generating cash for a wider charitable cause, these types of strategies are rooted in connecting and stimulating a Crowd. Crowdgiving defines project and cause- and whether the users of JustGiving realise it or not, they are the integral part of this new charity fundraising model.