Unless a museum has a collection owner with deep pockets like Paul Allen (the Flying Heritage Collection) or Jerry Yagen (Military Aviation Museum) they must turn to ever creative ways of raising funds for artifacts, aircraft restorations and acquisitions, and buildings.
A rising number of museums are now turning to “crownfunding”. Crowdfunding is a way for organizations to raise revenue to fund their projects by way of donations made through a crowdfunding web site.
Traditionally crowdfunding has been used to fund startup companies that are trying to bring a product to market or for artists seeking funding for a project. But now funding requests have shifted to requests from all sorts of organizations seeking funding for a variety of projects.
Some successful crowdfunded projects include the Pebble (smart watch), the Veronica Mars movie, and Oculus Rift (virtual reality head-mounted display for video games). In some cases, supporters receive some sort of “gift” for their donation either in the form of the actual product once released, discounts, or special access. However in many cases the donations result in nothing more than a warm and fuzzy feeling knowing that you helped the little guy.
Donations are typically collected though one of the many crowdfunding web sites like ingigogo.com and kickstarter.com and usually run for a specified period of time.
These sites usually collect a small commission for money raised and usually offer one of two types of funding models:
- – All or Nothing (AoN) – When the fund-raising period is over, money is only collected from the contributors if a pre-determined minimum amount of money has been pledged. If the goal is not met, no money is collected.
- – Keep it All (KiA) – Whether the project goal is met or not, all of the funds collected (minus commission) are handed over to the entrepreneur. If he or she has insufficient funds to meet the objectives, then it is up to the recipient to refund them to the contributors.
Some of the current and recent funding campaigns:
| Museum/Organization | Crowdfunding web site | Seeking funding for: | Funding goal: |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sawyer Heritage Air Museum | https://www.crowdrise.com/KISawyerMuseumBuildingPurchase | Building purchase | $350,000 |
| Mid Atlantic Air Museum | https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1473616645/the-p-61-black-widow-restoration-project | P-61 Black Widow restoration | $35,000 (ended – collected $39,815) |
| Canadian Air & Space Musuem | https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/the-new-canadian-air-space-museum | Building/aircraft restoration |
$500,000 (ended – collected $23,939USD)
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These sites are now popping up all over the internet. The danger of this is that it spreads out the funding opportunities and some of the sites might not be as well known and trust worthy as others. While some of the newer sites might take a smaller commission they might not be well know enough to get a large enough audience to collect a meaningful amount of cash. If your organization is seeking a large amount of funding in a relatively short period of time, one of these sites might be the way to go. However choose your crowding funding site wisely to maximize your exposure and funding results. |
Air museums increasingly turning to crowdfunding