List of Top 19 Crowdfunding Websites in USA

Crowd Funding, as the name clearly suggests, is something where typically a crowd comes together, and funds a specific cause or a project, for various reasons, mainly via social media platforms or websites. It is currently busy changing the outlook of how project financing is generally perceived globally, by growing at exponential rates. It was estimated that the industry would reach USD 34.4 billion in the year 2015, and it did so quite easily. List of Top 19 Crowdfunding Websites in USA

It might come off as a surprise for few, but crowdfunding is not something that is relatively new. It is said that the first project that was funded by locals, in huge numbers, was in 1997, when fans of a specific band came together to raise a sum that would allow it to tour the entire country. This set the trend, and today, approximately 30 years later, we see that crowdfunding is an ever-growing industry.

Much of its success can be attributed to the economy and market of the United States of America, where this phenomenon first happened to appear. There was huge scope, which individuals exploited rightly. Even though, United States of America is one of the first world countries, with an economy that is deemed as infallible and some of the strongest, it does not help much with the fact that there is, nevertheless, a huge population that suffers at the hands of the cons of uncontrolled capitalism. Poverty is more commonplace than one assumes, and individuals find themselves endlessly stuck in generations of financial incompetence, despite having the talent and the skills to make it big. Traditional investors, would prefer to finance projects that deemed lucrative to them and would ignore the ones that seemed too out of the box, and risky. Hence, people who dared to innovate found themselves in short of funding and could not ever properly realize their projects. However, this has changed significantly since the rise of crowdfunding, and the unprecedented growth of the Internet, the latter of which has only served to further expand the horizons of opportunities for the former. Crowdfunding websites have become more common than ever, and every day they help people achieve their goals.

In clear contrast with the traditional mode of seeking investors for a venture, in crowdfunding, the one who pitches his/ her idea, does so to a larger crowd of people. Typically, a small, foretold sum is collected from many individuals, which provides businesses with the necessary boost of funds that they require to grow and develop properly. This is one of the fastest ways to get the economic support one’s venture demands to set off from the ground level and reach the skies. Quite interestingly, monetary assistance is not the only form of support one can get if one is seeking investors on crowdfunding websites. One can also very easily get expert advice, and valuable feedback. Moreover, it is also one of the best ways to market ideas that would not generally garner much investor attention.

If the truth be spoken, it is true that not all crowdfunding websites that are there on the Internet, are authentic. Recently, it was found that a lot of domains active on the Web were, in fact, fake, and garnered money for causes that had no reality to them. Therefore, it is important that one be very careful while selecting websites to donate on. To save you of the hassle, attached below is a list of 19 top crowdfunding websites currently active in the United States of America.

List of Top 19 Crowdfunding Websites in USA

1. Transparent Hands

2. Kickstarter

3. Indiegogo

4. Crowdfunder

5. Rockethub 

6. Crowdrise

7. Somolend

8. Appbackr

9. AngelList

10. Invested.in

11. Quirky

12. Patreon

13. GoFundMe

14. LendingClub

15. Funding Circle

16. Kiva 

17. Seed&Spark

18. Barnraiser

19. Wefunder

1. Transparent Hands

Free Healthcare Services for those Who Cannot Afford : 

“Transparent Hands” is the largest technology platform for crowdfunding in the healthcare sector of Pakistan. It offers a complete range of free healthcare services including medical and surgical treatments, medical camps and tele-health facility, to the underprivileged community of Pakistan.
The platform provides visibility of needy patients and builds a personal and trusted bond between patients and donors while ensuring complete transparency. It also sets up free medical camps in the rural areas of Pakistan in which, free medical consultation, free medicines and free diagnostic tests facility is provided to the deserving patients.

Committed to Provide Free Healthcare Services to People in Need :

Transparent Hands provides, free medical and surgical treatment facility to the deserving patients across Pakistan in private hospitals. It also sets up free medical camps in rural areas of the country. Transparent Hands is also providing healthcare at doorstep through its advanced tele-health service.

Donors from all over the world can use our online Crowdfunding web portal and donate through 100% secure payment modes. They could select any patient, fund the treatment and receive regular feedback and updates until the patient is recovered completely.

Download our TransparentHands iPhone Application for Online Donation

2. Kickstarter

“Kickstarter” is a site where creative projects raise donation-based funding. These projects can range from new creative products, like an art installation, to a cool watch, to pre-selling a music album. It’s not for businesses, causes, charities, or personal financing needs. Kickstarter is one of the earlier platforms, and has experienced strong growth and many break-out large campaigns in the last few years.

3. Indiegogo

While Kickstarter maintains a tighter focus and curates the creative projects approved on its site, “Indiegogo” approves donation-based fundraising campaigns for most anything — music, hobbyists, personal finance needs, charities and whatever else you could think of (except investment). They have had international growth because of their flexibility, broad approach and their early start in the industry.

4. Crowdfunder

“Crowdfunder” is the platform for raising investment (not rewards), and has one of the largest and fastest growing network of investors. It was recently featured on Fox News as the new breed of crowdfunding, due to the story about a $2 Billion exit of a crowdfunded company. After getting rewards-based funding on Kickstarter or Indiegogo, companies are often giving the crowd the opportunity to invest at Crowdfunder to raise more formal Seed & Series A rounds.

5. RocketHub

“Rockethub” powers donation-based funding for a wide variety of creative projects.

What’s unique about RocketHub, is their FuelPad and LaunchPad programs that help campaign owners and potential promotion and marketing partners connect and collaborate for the success of a campaign.

6. Crowdrise

“Crowdrise” is a place for donation-based funding for Causes and Charity. They’ve attracted a community of do-gooders and fund all kinds of inspiring causes and needs.

A unique Points System on Crowdrise,” helps track and reveal how much charitable impact members and organizations are making.

7. Somolend

“Somolend” is a site for lending for small businesses in the US, providing debt-based investment funding to qualified businesses, with existing operations and revenue. Somolend has partnered with banks to provide loans, as well as helping small business owners bring their friends and family into the effort.

8. Appbackr

If you want to build the next new mobile app, and are seeking donation-based funding to get things off the ground or growing, then check out “Appbackr” and their niche community for mobile app development.

9. AngelList

If you’re a tech startup with a shiny lead investor already signed on, or looking for for Silicon Valley momentum, then there are angels and institutions finding investments through “AngelList”. For a long while AngelList didn’t say that they did crowdfunding, which makes sense as they have catered to the investment establishment of VCs in tech startups, but now they’re getting into the game. The accredited investors and institutions on AngelList, have been funding a growing number of top tech startup deals.

10. Invested.in

You might want to create your own crowdfunding community, to support donation-based fundraising for a specific group or niche in the market. “Invested.in” is a Venice, CA based company that is a top name “white label” software provider, giving you the tools to get started and grow your own.

11. Quirky

If you’re an inventor, maker, or tinkerer of some kind, then “Quirky” is a place to collaborate and crowdfund, for donation-based funding with a community of other like-minded folks. Their site digs deeper into helping the process of bringing an invention or product to life, allowing community participation in the process.

12. Patreon

Unlike the other platforms, which are all one-time donation sites, “Patreon” is a monthly subscription platform where supporters and donors provide regular monthly contributions, rather than one bulk payment.

Their goal is not to support a particular project, but to provide ongoing support for a creative venture or artist, such as supporting your favorite webcomic, band or musician, or even your favorite podcast.

13. GoFundMe

“GoFundMe” is a donation crowdfunding site where people have raised more than $5 billion. This means there is no equity to give up, no debt to repay, and no rewards to ship. It’s easy to see the appeal already, but to make it even better, GoFundMe doesn’t charge any fees. You’ll only be responsible for the transaction fees when you receive the funds, but getting your campaign noticed is difficult.

14. LendingClub

 

“LendingClub” has raised more than $20 billion for applicants, and offers small business loans up to $300,000 with terms up to five years through debt crowdfunding. One of the great things about its platform is how quickly you can get access to funds like one week, and the relatively low starting rates of just 5.99% per year.

15. Funding Circle

 

“Funding Circle” offers small businesses debt crowdfunding, up to $500,000 with terms of up to five years that has successfully raised more than $8.6 billion. Its rates start at just 4.99%. However, this doesn’t include the fee it charges once the loan is funded of up to 8%. To qualify you will need to have good credit and have recent business growth with good annual revenue.

16. Kiva 

 

“Kiva” offers debt crowdfunding to any small business in America. The twist is there is no interest and loans typically don’t exceed $10,000. You’ll have to plan a campaign and work with a Kiva representative to qualify for funding, but it doesn’t check your credit. Instead, it relies on support from your peers to determine your creditworthiness. Since its founding, more than $1.25 billion in loans have been made worldwide.

17. Seed&Spark 

“Seed&Spark” is an industry specific Crowdfunding platform for the tv and film industry and is based in Los Angeles. It was launched in December 2012 and within an overall aim to build an independent film community, it provides filmmakers with a reward-based Crowdfunding facility. They claim a 75% success rate.

Projects must reach a minimum 80% of target to keep the money pledged by backers. Then upon completion of a film, any project that also gathered over 500 backers is automatically eligible for distribution through Seed&Spark and their partners including all major cable and digital platforms such as iTunes, Comcast, Verizon, Netflix, and Hulu.

18. Barnraiser 

“Barnraiser” is a platform for artisan food producers, small farmers and exponents of sustainable, healthier living. It encourages its community of over 30,000 like-minded people to crowd-source advice and contacts from each other, and also provides a rewards Crowdfunding facility they claim has a 65% success rate.

It was launched in 2014 and 187 projects have been successful. The largest amount raised was $93,190.

Successful projects are charged a 5% fee based on the amount raised plus payment processing fees of 3-5%.

19. Wefunder 

“Wefunder” is the early market leader and it was launched in 2012. The minimum investment size is $100, and Wefunder has created internal Investor Clubs in order that part-time investors in its network can access the wisdom and leadership of more experienced and professional investors and combine their investments with them on equal terms.                       

Download our  Transparenthands Andriod Application for Online Donation

There are many reasons why people choose to donate to these websites. They might be looking to play their part in a social cause they believe in, or they might be seeking a share in some business or might just be attracted by the idea of lending loans with a certain percent of interest on it. Whatever the reason may be, investors usually find something that suits their needs, and a website with exactly what they are looking for, hence incentivizing crowdfunding. By far, this activity is one of the most productive activities in the market, which ensure two-way satisfaction. Hence, if you are looking for a business or an idea to invest in, you must visit the sites aforementioned and find something that fits your taste.