Crowd Fund to Save the Earth
April 16, 2012 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Crowd Funding, Featured Articles, Front Page
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GreenUnite was launched for a niche it hopes can become a platform for anyone with great ideas and eco-friendly projects to get funding and make them a reality. You won’t find any fancy new iPad cases on this site, but you will find wearable recyclables. Every project saves the earth. GreenUnite describes itself a revolutionary crowdfunding and educational platform focused on helping to launch important products, technology and content dedicated to creating a more sustainable world.
They connect passionate individuals and organizations with green supporters devoted to making a difference in the world. They are creating a community that thrives on connections and interconnections that spark meaningful change to educate others on the effects of climate change. They also offer the option of donating portion of the funds raised to green U.S.-based charities that are personally selected by the project’s creator.
Got a green project? This might be a place for it.
Want to learn more? Click Here for some no cost events!
Book Project Cracks $1 Million Dollars By Crowd Funding
April 13, 2012 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Books, Crowd Funding, Featured Articles, Front Page
The third project get over $1 million dollars in financial support is also the first book to do so. Rich Burlew wanted to
raise $57,500 to reprint an out of print book from his “Order of the Stick” webcomic. He was able to get that amount in only 2 days. The money continued to come up so that the final amount was $1,254,120.00
Crowd Funding has been likened to the PBS or NPR drives for money for a project. These supporters get premium gifts for the amounts of money that they give. Each crowd funding site is different and has different rules. As the money came in, Burlew added to the rewards, in the end there were 64 different rewards. He was able to make adjustments to the campaign as it grew. When one goal was met, he set a new goal. Almost 15,000 people gave and over 25,000 books were sold. He fan base drove this campaign over the top. He used that leverage to reach out to additional audiences as the amounts of money came in
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- Crowd Funding a Dance TV Show (wrightplacetv.com)
Taxes and Crowd Funding
April 11, 2012 by Dr. Letitia Wright
Filed under Crowd Funding, Featured Articles, Front Page
Everyone always asks how is the money from crowd funding taxed. The answer is always- it depends. I know you hate that. I hate that too. However, everyone’s situation is different. First of all, you need to let your tax professional know you have gotten funds from crowd funding. You must explain to that person what you are doing and how you are using the money.
If you are a non-profit, the tax consequences will be much different than if you are a for-profit business. If you have actually started a business, the tax consequences will be different than if you do not own any type of business. You have to decide if it is part of your personal taxes or your business taxes. All of this can be done BEFORE you raise money using crowd funding.
In the near future, there will be plenty of tax professionals who specialize in crowd funding situations. Right now you may need to educate them on what you did and exactly how you did it. Have all your records available for them. Show them which websites you used. Have copies of your emails and any offline materials you used to assist them in becoming familiar with crowd funding. Because this is such a new area you have to give them everything they need to set up your taxes correctly. There is nothing wrong with paying what you owe, you just don’t want to pay more than you owe. It takes a forward thinking tax professional to make it work for you.
