What is crowdfunding?
Many contributions towards a common kaupapa. That’s what Hikurangi Cannabis’ crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMe earlier this year was all about. Inviting those that believe in their mission of transforming lives in Tairāwhiti, whilst improving the health of people across the world, to invest in that mission.
Crowdfunding is as simple as it sounds. Going out to your crowd – your whanāu, hapū, iwi, customers, fans, and the wider public – for funding. You set a goal of how much you want to raise, you set a deadline of when you need to raise the money by and you offer something to your crowd in return. If you collect enough pledges from your crowd to reach your goal by your deadline, you keep the money. Together, your crowd fill your kete.
There are three flavours of crowdfunding: project crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding and crowdlending. They each share the same philosophy of many contributions – big and small – going towards a common purpose. How they differ is in what you, as the crowdfunding campaigner, offer to your crowd.
With project crowdfunding you offer rewards – products, experiences, tributes – like Ngahere Communities’ current campaign. With equity crowdfunding, you offer shares in your company – your crowd become co-owners and ambassadors – like Hikurangi Cannabis’ campaign. With crowdlending, you offer to pay back your crowd with interest and you get to decide the terms of the loan – like Eat My Lunch’s campaign.
Funding your mission and making your growth plans come to life is a challenge. 57% of Māori SMEs say that access to putea is a barrier to innovation. There are many options out there – bootstrapping, grants, loans, angel investors – and now there’s a fresh way for Māori entreprepreneurs to fund the things they care about.
The first wave of pioneering Tā Koha campaigners
Tā Koha is a crowdfunding platform and supportive education programme co-created by Māori Women’s Development and PledgeMe. The platform will be officially launching at the end of August. You can find out about the first wave of pioneering Tā Koha campaigners here, and keep in the loop as they launch their crowdfunding journeys over the coming months by signing up to the Tā Koha newsletter.
