December 2015 - Parks & Recreation - 20

By the Numbers

With a Little Help From Friends

Forbes.com reported this past summer that by 2016, crowdfunding would account for more start-up monies than
venture capital. This is an amazing development since up until about six years ago, crowdfunding was a relatively new
phenomenon - the term " crowdfunding " was coined by entrepreneur Michael Sullivan in 2006. Now, even the Smithsonian Institution has embarked on its first crowdfunding campaign to raise the money needed to preserve Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 astronaut suit. In keeping with this trend, NRPA created Fund Your Park, a crowdfunding platform
designed exclusively for park and recreation agencies. Since its launch, Fund Your Park has helped several agencies to
either raise enough funds or created the momentum to help them reach their goals. Following are some interesting facts
about crowdfunding in general, and Fund Your Park in particular:

Crowdfunding:
+

160,000 :

Number of donors, including
young children, businessmen, street cleaners and politicians, to the Joseph Pulitzer fundraising campaign to
cover the final $100,000 needed to complete the Statue of
Liberty

1997: The year crowdfunding is said to have

started with the British rock band Marillion (the band
raised $60,000 online to fund its U.S. tour)

4:

The primary types of crowdfunding:
*	 Equity-Based: Investors receive a stake in the company
*	 Donation-Based: Contributions go toward a charitable
cause
*	 Lending-Based: Investors are repaid for their investment over a period of time
*	 Reward-Based: Investors receive a tangible item or
service in return for their funds

$26.1 million:

Amount raised on
#GivingTuesday, December 2, 2014 (up from $19.2 million in 2013 and $10.1 million in 2012, the first time this
campaign was held)

17 minutes: Time it took Pebble

Technology to raise $500,000 during a February 2015
campaign

308: Number of crowdfunding platforms world-

wide in 2013

Sources: www.virgin.com/entrepreneur/a-brief-history-of-crowdfunding, www.forbes.com/sites/chancebarnett/2015/06/09/
trends-show-crowdfunding-to-surpass-vc-in-2016, https://
doublethedonation.com/blog/2015/09/expert-advice-on-taking-advantage-of-giving-tuesday, www.crowdfunding.de/crowdfunding-wortschoepfer-michael-sullivan-im-interview, www.
mobilecause.com/statistics, and www.nrpa.org/fund-your-park
18	 Parks & Recreation

| D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5 | W W W. N R PA . O R G

Fund Your Park:

$625,646: Total amount of funds raised
30: The number of projects that have benefited from
Fund Your Park
19: The number of states represented by projects
featured on Fund Your Park
$401,630: The highest amount raised so
far for an individual project on Fund Your Park
39: Average number of participants per Fund Your
Park campaign
8: Number of playgrounds featured on Fund Your Park
through Fund Your Park
December 2015 - Parks & Recreation

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of December 2015 - Parks & Recreation
