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READING 2 Crowdfunding
CROWDFUNDING
Read the following article. Pay special attention to the words in bold. 9.3
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Have you ever had an idea for a business but no way to fund it? Have you asked relatives and friends for money to help you? If you have done these things, you know it isn’t easy to get people interested in investing in your dream. After getting money from relatives and friends, it’s hard to find more people willing to invest. Lately, people have found a different way to raise cash: through crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a method of “collecting small amounts of money from a lot of different people, usually by using the Internet.” While the idea has been around for possibly hundreds of years, the word crowdfunding has only existed since 2006.
Crowdfunding websites, which started to appear on the Internet in 2010, have helped individuals raise billions of dollars worldwide. So how does it work? A person demonstrates his idea in a short video and states his financial goal and the time frame for raising money. Usually the first investors are family and friends. Little by little, strangers become interested and donate money.
Not all crowdfunding plans are for profit. Some people have used crowdfunding websites that are specifically for philanthropic1 projects. These sites have attracted people who want to make the world a better place. The 97 Supermarket in Changchun, China, is one example of this. Jiang Naijun used crowdfunding to get the money to open a supermarket. She named her market 97 because that was her age when she did this. Since she became profitable, she has given at least half the money she earns to charity2, to help children in need. “I wanted to do more for society,” she said.
If you want more information, just google “crowdfunding” and you will find a number of different sites specializing in different types of projects.
Crowdfunding has become one of the most popular ways for people to raise money for a cause, project, or event. In 2017, $34 billion was raised globally. This number is expected to grow to more than $300 billion by 2025.
1 philanthropic: intended to help others 2 charity: an organization that helps people in need 98-year-old Jiang Naijun used crowdfunding to start her supermarket and donates the profits to charity.
