13

sponsored events. The Institute of Fundraising is a good source of information on what you need to consider when doing this, in particular on the legal aspects that need to be considered. Their website is http://www.institute-of-fundraising.org.uk/home/. Charities are making increasing use of the internet as a way of raising funds. Here are some examples of how this can be done: Crowdfunding. Crowdfunding seems to attract a lot of attention as a novel way of financing a project, whether it be a movie or a technological innovation, and the model is well-suited to community-based projects as it fosters a sense of ownership from the outset. Also, the nature of this kind of fundraising is such that the publicity machine for the project is in motion from the start and awareness and interest gets built over time. These factors can give the project a head start once the funding target has been reached. The following is paraphrased from ‘New Funding Sources: an introduction for Trustees’ produced by New Philanthropy Capital and the Clothworkers’ Company. What is crowdfunding? Crowdfunding is a form of alternative finance that enables the funding of projects or organisations from a large number of small contributions (typically individuals over the internet) rather than from a few large contributions (ie. mainstream lenders or funders). The process is enabled via online platforms (eg. Crowdfunder and Kickstarter), which host individual’s/organisation’s pitches for funding and connect them to potential supporters/funders. Individuals may then pledge sums of money to the cause. Peter Baeck, setting out evidence from NESTA’s research on alternative finance, identifies four distinct models: