Not that long ago, crowdfunding was novel. Today, there are an estimated 450 crowdfunding platforms available.

They’re not only for nonprofits and charitable causes; now investors are in the game as well. Startups and established businesses are raising significant capital using crowdfunding platforms. How much money is changing hands? About $34 billion was raised through crowdfunding in 2015. About $5.5 billion was reward- and donation-based, including contributions to charitable organizations and to individual creators and causes, according to industry research firm Massolution.

Sources credit the creation and spread of current forms of crowdfunding to early uses of internet-based fund-raising by artists and musicians. It has been seven years since the launch of Kickstarter, a widely known crowdfunding platform that focuses exclusively on creative endeavors such as art, design, photography, games and journalism. It’s limited to projects with a clear goal, with a beginning, middle and end. Kickstarter is also an all-or-nothing platform. Project creators set their own financial goals and deadlines, and contributors’ credit cards only are charged if and when the goal is fully met by the due date. Otherwise the creator gets nothing.

When this column went to press, Minnesota-based Kickstarter projects were plentiful, and included projects such as the production of a new album for a musician based in Embarrass, Minn., completion of work for a photo exhibition in Minneapolis, and the opening of a new cupcake shop in Rochester.

Kickstarter has become a big business. The B-corporation employs more than 100 people in its Brooklyn headquarters, and has sponsored more than 113,000 projects to which more than 12 million people have contributed over $2.7 billion.

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