The monument to Steve Jobs in the Novosibirsk Academy Town, the Joseph Brodsky Museum in St. Petersburg, the oratorio in Elvish - there are many people who want to implement non-trivial projects. You can make money from this desire. Over the past year, several platforms have appeared on the RuNet that help crowdfunding projects raise money.

Text: Ksenia Shamakina

The group "Bi-2" recorded their latest album Spirit with money from fans. In June 2011, the musicians invited fans to finance their new record. In six months, 1 million rubles were collected. Everyone who gave money was the first to receive a digital recording of the album. Those who donated 1 thousand rubles. and more, also received tickets to the album presentation in December last year.

“Bi-2” were the first among Russian musicians to try out the crowdfunding scheme (from the English crowdfunding - “crowd financing”). The band's bass guitarist Max Latmus was so inspired by the project that in June 2012 he launched the crowdfunding platform Planeta.ru. At first, Max wanted only “people of art” to collect money there - in the era of the digital revolution, it is difficult for them to earn money in traditional ways. Then I decided that I needed to support all the “good causes,” so now the site also attracts money from charitable organizations.

In total, there are more than 40 projects on Planeta.ru. Their authors themselves determine how much they want to collect and in what time frame. On average this is 300 thousand rubles. in three months. For each contribution (their size varies from 100 to 50 thousand rubles) a reward is awarded. This could be a mention in the film's credits or a dinner with the creators of the project. If the project has collected the required amount within the specified time, the platform takes 5%. If not, all money is returned to the sponsors. Responsibility for the implementation of the project lies with its initiator.

In addition to Planeta.ru, a dozen similar sites have appeared over the past year. The most notable of them are “From the World by Thread” (Smipon.ru), Boomstarter.ru and SmartMarket.net. “A Thread from the World” was launched last fall by graduates of the physics department of Novosibirsk State University Artem Pavlov and Andrey Dunaev. Their project became known when, at the end of 2011, entrepreneurs began collecting money on their site for a monument to Steve Jobs. Now less than half of the required amount has been received - 60 thousand rubles, but Novosibirsk residents claim that the missing funds will be provided by sponsors. But over the past year, 15 other projects raised money on the site. Another 35 did not receive the required amount, although they were looking for small money - 15-20 thousand rubles.

The owners of crowdfunding platforms themselves require much larger sums. Novosibirsk residents invested about $100 thousand in their project. The founders of Boomstarter.ru, Evgeny Gavrilin and Ruslan Tugushev, who launched their website at the end of August, spent twice as much. Both of them are now negotiating with venture funds, expecting to receive at least $500 thousand. Planeta.ru has no problems with financing. According to the Federation Council , the owners of Interprogressbank invested about $1 million in it. According to PR director of Planeta.ru Ekaterina Chechulina, the investment is planned to be recouped within three to four years.

For now it’s hard to believe. Planeta.ru helped raise more than 3 million rubles, in particular, almost 700 thousand rubles. received Colta.ru - a new project of the former Openspace.ru team. However, the crowdfunding site from 3 million rubles. a maximum of 150 thousand will be received, and then only on the condition that all projects announced at it will collect the required amounts, and will not return money to sponsors. The American site Kickstarter.com, which is exactly copied by Russian followers, has raised about $350 million in three and a half years of operation. However, if on Kickstarter.com the average contribution amount is $130 (almost 4 thousand rubles), then, for example, on Planeta.ru - only 1 thousand rubles.

Konstantin Shabalin, a former manager of the Life financial group, believes that he has found a way to get people to donate more. In September, he launched the SmartMarket.net project with money from the Life.Sreda venture fund. The first round of investment amounted to $1.4 million. So far, SmartMarket.net is no different from its competitors, but from the beginning of 2013 its users will be able to receive a share in the projects they sponsor. Then it can be resold to venture investors, if they are interested in the startup, or to the main owner. Shabalin believes that users will be willing to pay an average of $1 thousand for a share in a business. MMM’s experience proves that there are many risky investors in Russia.

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