Sponsume
Encyclopedia
Sponsume is an online
crowd funding
platform founded by Gregory Vincent in 2010. Its headquarters are in London
, United Kingdom. Creative individuals and organisations use Sponsume to raise awareness and funds for their projects. The site uses the power of social networks and the wisdom of crowds to help fund a variety of projects ranging from indie films to documentaries, music
, theatre
, photography
, green and social enterprise
.
and beyond that creatives raise the funds they need to make their project happen. Unlike many forums for fundraising
or investment
, Sponsume claims no ownership over the projects and the work they produce.
If the selected funding target is not reached by the deadline, the project owner is still able to keep the collected funds (unlike US site Kickstarter
). The site levies a 4% fee for successful campaigns, and 9% for campaigns that fail to reach their target amount. As of 2011, the site offers funding in both Great British Pounds and Euros.
, a pioneer of microfinance
. Vincent saw in microfinance
a brilliant alternative to traditional methods for funding innovative ideas. The 2009 financial crisis
and subsequent cuts to subsidies that hit the UK arts scene highlighted the need for an alternative, community-led way of raising funds for artists and innovators, prompting Vincent to launch Sponsume.
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
crowd funding
Crowd funding
Crowd funding describes the collective cooperation, attention and trust by people who network and pool their money and other resources together, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations...
platform founded by Gregory Vincent in 2010. Its headquarters are in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, United Kingdom. Creative individuals and organisations use Sponsume to raise awareness and funds for their projects. The site uses the power of social networks and the wisdom of crowds to help fund a variety of projects ranging from indie films to documentaries, music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
, photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
, green and social enterprise
Social enterprise
A social enterprise is an organization that applies business strategies to achieving philanthropic goals. Social enterprises can be structured as a for-profit or non-profit....
.
Model
Project owners choose a timeframe deadline and a target funding goal. They create non-monetary rewards generally linked to their project. It is by selling these rewards to their social networkSocial network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
and beyond that creatives raise the funds they need to make their project happen. Unlike many forums for fundraising
Fundraising
Fundraising or fund raising is the process of soliciting and gathering voluntary contributions as money or other resources, by requesting donations from individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies...
or investment
Investment
Investment has different meanings in finance and economics. Finance investment is putting money into something with the expectation of gain, that upon thorough analysis, has a high degree of security for the principal amount, as well as security of return, within an expected period of time...
, Sponsume claims no ownership over the projects and the work they produce.
If the selected funding target is not reached by the deadline, the project owner is still able to keep the collected funds (unlike US site Kickstarter
Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors, ranging from indie film and music to journalism, solar energy technology and food-related projects.-Model:...
). The site levies a 4% fee for successful campaigns, and 9% for campaigns that fail to reach their target amount. As of 2011, the site offers funding in both Great British Pounds and Euros.
History
As a PhD student at Oxford University, Vincent developed a keen interest in the works of Muhammad YunusMuhammad Yunus
Muhammad Yunus is a Bangladeshi economist and founder of the Grameen Bank, an institution that provides microcredit to help its clients establish creditworthiness and financial self-sufficiency. In 2006 Yunus and Grameen received the Nobel Peace Prize...
, a pioneer of microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
. Vincent saw in microfinance
Microfinance
Microfinance is the provision of financial services to low-income clients or solidarity lending groups including consumers and the self-employed, who traditionally lack access to banking and related services....
a brilliant alternative to traditional methods for funding innovative ideas. The 2009 financial crisis
Financial crisis
The term financial crisis is applied broadly to a variety of situations in which some financial institutions or assets suddenly lose a large part of their value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and many recessions coincided with these...
and subsequent cuts to subsidies that hit the UK arts scene highlighted the need for an alternative, community-led way of raising funds for artists and innovators, prompting Vincent to launch Sponsume.
Notable projects funded on Sponsume
- Undermining Justice by Michael Watts: an investigative documentary about human rights abuses allegedly committed by British miningMiningMining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
company Monterrico Metals in PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
. - Il Maestro by Jennie Paddon: a short film about competitiveness in the world of classical musicians.
- Three-Legged Horses and Five Six Seven Eight! by Felipe Bustos Sierra, made with Debasers Filums: the two most successful Scottish crowdfunded film projects.