Definition of crowdfunding
:the practice of obtaining needed funding (as for a new business) by soliciting contributions from a large number of people especially from the online community
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Recent Examples of crowdfunding from the Web
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GlobalGiving, a crowdfunding site for charities, is trying to raise $2 million for local relief and recovery efforts.
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Both Apple Pay and PayPal have cut off white supremacists from using their services, as have crowdfunding platforms GoFundMe and Kickstarter.
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GoFundMe, one of the largest crowdfunding sites, shut down several campaigns to raise money for the Nazi sympathizer who allegedly crashed his car into a crowd of activists protesting the hate rally, killing one woman and injuring dozens.
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Five days after white nationalists and counterprotesters clashed in Charlottesville, more than $800,000 has poured into crowdfunding campaigns for the medical expenses of some of the victims, according to GoFundMe.
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Sean Basinski, the director of the Street Vendor Project at the Urban Justice Center, raised more than $30,000 though crowdfunding to assist Mr. Porgo’s family.
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The crowd is fans on Indiegogo, a crowdfunding platform that lets companies solicit donations, with promises of thank you gifts, generally the products themselves, in return.
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A far-right crowdfunding site soon raised more than $80,000 for Chapman’s legal defense.
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The Male Contraception Initiative, a nonprofit, has also run a crowdfunding campaign for researchers.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'crowdfunding.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Did You Know?
Crowdsourcing and crowdfunding are two words that have recently found their way into the crowded pool of English. Crowdsourcing, which typically refers to the practice of soliciting services, ideas, or content from a large group of people online, was coined by Jeff Howe in a 2006 article in Wired, and crowdfunding was created by entrepreneur Michael Sullivan in that same year. Both words conceptualize "the crowd" as a vast online community from which something needed may be obtained. In crowdsourcing, the crowd is called upon for needed assistance or information. A well-known use of crowdsourcing is Wikipedia, whose content is the result of various contributors. Crowdfunding, on the other hand, involves a more specific request: the crowd is solicited for financial contributions to a particular venture or cause, such as a film project or cancer research.
First Known Use of crowdfunding
2006
Seen and Heard
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