Crowdfunding has proven to be a fantastic alternative to conventional venture capital routes, but sadly it's not for everyone.
Kickstarter have certain criteria that needs to be met for a crowdfunding campaign to be valid. It has to be a project with a set goal, etc.
In Kickstarter's own words: "Kickstarter cannot be used to raise money for causes, whether it's the Red Cross or a scholarship, or for "fund my life" projects, like tuition or bills."
There are numerous not-for-profits out there doing wonderful things, supporting causes like digging wells in third world countries, feeding/clothing the homeless, providing financial assistance to families in the form of school books, uniforms and stationery, amongst others that support people and families with illness or disease. These organisations all rely on donations and grants (mostly donations).
A Kickstarter crowdfunding platform for charities and not-for-profits.
This crowdsourced platform would impose no fee on the organisation running a campaign, rather any fee is imposed on the person(s) donating the money to the campaign. If someone wants to contribute $10, the fee is added on-top of that base amount.
All organisations would be approved, their credentials checked and certain criteria needing to be met. Another interesting aspect is there would be no reward tiers. The reward? The satisfaction of knowing you've done a good deed, that your money will be used to fund something you think is worthy of being funded and not sme remake of a 90's computer game or futuristic iPhone dock. Maybe Charities can send a thank you email and of course, provide updates on how the money is being used, but no expectation of a reward of any kind.
Lets bring back giving without the expectation of needing to get something back.
Imagine the types of campaigns you could fund:
Help XYZ charity raise $10,000 to cloth the homeless this winter
Help ABC charity raise $50,000 to provide Christmas gift hampers to disadvantaged children this Christmas.
QWERTY wants to build ten fresh water wells in Delhi, will you help us? We need $50k
Of course, you could count Kickstarter, Indiegogo and other established crowdfunding platforms as existing solutions. I have seen other platforms that have tried achieving similar things to this idea and if it ever took off, Kickstarter could move in and expand into charitable campaigns.