Funding with a difference...

Trying to find funding for a project is hard. Really hard. This is spoken by someone who spent a year of her life trying to get a community project off the ground, and now works for a charity where funding comes and goes year to year, project to project.

With the recession reducing a lot of Government funding, and leading to a lot of belt tightening. This means, that competition for charitable funding has increased, and therefore the likelihood of getting any funding has decreased.

As a result of this, people and projects are finding new and different ways to fund themselves. A few of these have really inspired me. More to come over the coming weeks, but right now, I want to talk about Crowd Funding...

So you have an awesome idea for a project, but no money (or chance of getting any funding). There are a lot of people out there who might support your project, but each of them only have a bit of money. The solution? Crowdfunding.

The premise is simple. You set an amount you need for the project to go ahead. You set different pledge amounts, for which people get different things (e.g. for £5 you might get a thankyou on a film credit, for £20 you might get a copy of the film, and for £100 you might get invited to the premier). You then set a timeline, and people start pledging. At the end of the period, if you have reached your target, people pay their pledge amount and your project goes ahead. If not, you're back to square one - your pledge won't be taken for a project that isn't 100% funded.

I had a vague knowledge of the idea, mostly following a conversation with a friend earlier in the year. However, I was yet to actually support any projects. And then I came across Kulturpark. In the heart of Berlin, there lies an abandoned amusement park, complete with ferris wheel, giant dinosaurs and a working train ride. And people came up with a vision to turn this into "a place for creative exchange, site-specific art, urban design, historic memory, social connection, and public imagination".

I love it. I don't know if it's my obsession with abandoned structures, my love of urban art or the social exchange side of the project, but I was really captivated. So I pledged, and the project was successful, and so I am now an official supporter of the project.

Yes, I don't live in Berlin. Yes, it's unlikely I'll get to go and see what they create. But I'm really excited about helping to create something inspirational. The £18 odd quid that I pledged isn't much to me - a meal out of a couple of CD's/DVD's, but it's helped make something exciting happen, and that's an addictive feeling.

For me, Deconsumerism isn't just about spending less on certain things, it's about spending more on others. And helping creative, inspirational projects to happen should surely be on that list.

So I've already got my eye on another project...