Crowdfunding is a collective collaboration of people who voluntarily pool their money or other resources together, usually over the Internet, to support the efforts of other people or organizations. Fundraising can serve a variety of purposes - disaster relief, fan support, political campaign support, funding start-ups and small businesses, free software development, profit-sharing, and more. There are also persistent expressions in this type of financing. A project coming out for collective financing is usually called a startup. The applicant for funds, the representative of the project is called the founder. And investors, people who make a material contribution to the project, are backers.
Initially, the goal must be declared, the required amount of money must be determined, a calculation of all costs must be drawn up, and information during the fundraising process must be open to everyone.
Crowdfunding can also refer to the financing of a company through the sale of small shares of the business to a wide range of investors. This type of crowdfunding has recently received particular attention from US officials.