Crowdfunding: What it is, and why Labour candidates should adopt it

Hey, you. Yes, you, enthusiastic Prospective Parliamentary Candidate (PPC). What if I told you there was a way in which you could help fund your campaign, without the need for party support and resources from H.Q?

And this is where crowdfunding comes in. Crowdfunding is a phenomenon where the public give donations toward a project that they are interested in. So, for instance, I could set up a project that says I would like to make a documentary on one of the various crowdfunding websites, such as kickstarter or crowdfunding.co.uk, the general public could search for it, and fund it if they liked.

Why is this relevant to politics? Well, recently I decided to search crowdfunding.co.uk . While doing so, I came across numerous MP candidates from the Green Party and UKIP who were financing their campaigns.

The success rate of such crowdfunding campaigns was staggering. One Green Party project run by the national party has already raised £30,000, to be used to pay deposits for Green candidates to stand in every single UK seat. I was astounded by how effective the campaigns were. Astonishingly, I found only one crowdfunding campaign from a Labour candidate, and that was from Oliver Coppard in Sheffield Hallam.

While crowdfunding is a relatively new phenomenon, with the way in which digital media is constantly transforming how we get our news and politics info, I expect this to really take off by the time of the 2020 general election.

The Labour Party is not a rich party. Candidates are often underfunded and have to rely on our historic advantage of having more people on the ground in marginal seats. Crowdfunding enables the Greens and UKIP to stand in nearly every seat this year, whereas in the past they may not have been able to field as many candidates, due to many fearing loss of deposits. This no longer happens, as deposits can be funded by supporters and the general public. This is nothing short of a revolution. Most people may not want to donate to a political party, but are they more willing to donate to individual, local candidates?

Crowdfunding suggests the answer is yes.

Here are some tips for anyone thinking of crowdfunding a campaign.

1: Don’t be overambitious. Set yourself a realistic timeframe, with a realistic target in terms of money. People who set smaller targets tend to get overfunded, because the people donating to them don’t see them as being greedy.

2:  Make sure you publicise it with your circle of friends. You would all be surprised to learn the kind of reach and donations such a campaign may receive, if just 10 of your friends share it. Message some.of your Facebook and twitter friends and ask them to do you a favour, and to tweet the link to your crowdfunding campaign.

3: Use a well known site. In practise, this means use either crowdfunder.co.uk, or Kickstarter. Crowdfunding campaigns on a personal candidate site are unlikely to be successful.

4: Have fun!

Crowdfunding is the future, and it’s about time Labour caught up to this digital revolution and started moving with the times.