Crowdfunding, Its Aim And Objectives

Background Information

Crowdfunding became quite popular recently but this fund raising platform has existed since 1700s. This can also be said to be a method which aids in financing a product or project. This implies in most cases that all individuals companies or people which have ideas and have access to the Internet can outsource the idea on a crowdfunding platform. The resolution towards crowdfunding is that the creator turns to people with small amounts of money. It can also be a method of collecting many small contributions, by means of an online funding platform, in order to finance or capitalize a famous enterprise.

Perhaps one of the most striking characteristics of crowdfunding is the geographic dispersal of investors. Over the years online crowdfunding has developed from an unusual way to develop interesting consumer products into a powerful way to invest in alternative asset classes. Crowd funding proffers a substitute to traditional bank loans, which have becoming increasingly difficult to obtain , especially for start-ups, Whilst crowd funding has proven itself invaluable to small business in recent years. There are several donations on countless crowdfunding platforms where entrepreneurs can without harm ask for capital such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo, RocketHub, and investment platforms like 1000 Angels. Whereas each site offers their exclusive spin, the overall concept is the same across board. Project creators generate a profile usually enclosing a short video which gives an introduction to their project, a list of rewards per donation, and also some images to broaden their knowledge. The idea is to generate a captivating message that readers will be drawn towards.

Statement Of Problem

CROWDFUNDING has provided a good platform for fund raising with different types of crowd funding such as donation/reward crowd funding, debt crowd funding, equity crowd funding, reward based crowd funding. This project would deal basically on school fees funding. For instance , during the beginning of a new session some students are faced with the problem of late resumption , missing 2 to 3 weeks of lectures sometimes it could even be more due to the problem of lack of complete school fees or in some cases withholding their and automatically gaining another year due to this major issue

Aim And Objectives

Aim

To develop a crowdfundng platform that would make it easier for students to donate/contribute some amount of money to students faced with the issue of being unable to pay the complete amount of school fees.

Objectives

• Gather system requirements
• Model and design the system requirements gathered
• Implement a crowdfunding platform through the use of various crowdfunding platforms and covenant university students as a case study
• Carry out a usability study to evaluate and validate the system

Research Methodology

For the purpose of this study, covenant university students were used as a case study:

1. Requirements gathering: A survey was taken on the existing problems students faced and it turned out that school fees was a major issue amongst many others
2. Model: UML diagrams, use case diagrams, sequence diagrams
3. Implementation: the system would be built using HTML and CSS for creating the web based user interface. python 3.5 for handling the backend Apache HTTP server, MySQL database

Significance Of Study

The significance of study is to help students faced with the issue of not having enough money to pay as school fees. Providing a platform which would be able to raise fees with no upfront

Limitation

Students reluctance to make funds on the platform and also students who have issues with school fees, feeding or possibly another project and their unwillingness to disclose information which could help raise funds.

References

Sigar, K. (2012). Fret no more: inapplicability of crowdfunding concerns in the internet age and the JOBS Act’s safeguards.

Administrative Law Review, 2 (64), p. 474-505. Sullivan, B., Ma, S. (2012). Crowdfunding: potential legal disaster waiting to happen. Retrieved from Forbes.com

Kitchens, R., Torrence, P. D. (2012). The JOBS Act – crowdfunding and beyond. Economic Development Journal, 4(11), p.42-47.(Agrawal, Catalini, & Goldfarb, 2013)