[by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51VOA.COM [00:00.48]A great idea is never enough. [00:04.46]You need money to turn your idea into a reality. [00:11.24]Your friends and family may give you money for your idea. [00:17.40]But you are going to need more people to invest, [00:21.64]unless you have very rich friends and family. [00:27.16]Crowdfunding is a popular way to raise money using the Internet. [00:33.84]Businesses can use crowdfunding to start projects or products. [00:40.08]Backers, who donate money, support those products. [00:45.48]Sometimes they get the earliest model for a discount. [00:52.08]Not all crowdfunding is used to raise money for profit. [00:57.72]Many people and groups use crowdfunding to help the needy. [01:02.88]This week, President Obama called on tech [01:06.68]and crowdfunding companies to help raise money [01:10.88]for Syrian refugees. [01:13.36]Kickstarter and the United Nations [01:16.76]High Commissioner for Refugees [01:19.36]responded by starting a Kickstarter project [01:23.65]to raise money to help the Syrian refugees. [01:28.60]Also, not all crowdfunding projects are successful. [01:34.24]The crowdfunding site Kickstarter only funds projects [01:39.20]that meet their goal. [01:41.28]According to Time magazine, [01:43.72]Kickstarter has had over 200,000 projects. [01:49.32]About half of those projects didn't meet their goals, [01:54.04]so they were not funded. [01:57.12]Some crowdfunding projects don't get funded for good reasons. [02:02.80]The magazine Digital Trends [02:05.20]listed "The 10 most hilariously awful Kickstarter projects of all time." [02:12.72]Only some crowdfunding projects are funded. [02:17.20]According to Kickstarter, about 36 percent of its projects [02:22.80]reach their goal and are funded. [02:26.80]Some projects earn much more money than anyone expected. [02:31.76]Here are the five crowdfunding projects [02:35.20]that have raised the most money to date: [02:38.16]5. Coolest Cooler [02:42.12]Crowdfunding site: Kickstarter [02:44.44]Promised ship date: February 2015 [02:49.20]Actual ship date: July 2015 [02:53.12]Goal: $50,000 [02:56.68]Raised: $13,285,226 [03:06.28]The Coolest Cooler raised over $13 million dollars [03:10.92]from 62,642 backers for an insulated box [03:17.80]that keeps your food and drinks cold. [03:21.56]But the Coolest Cooler does more than keep things cold. [03:26.12]The Coolest Cooler has been called "the Swiss Army knife" of coolers. [03:31.32]The cooler has a charger, light, speaker and much more. [03:36.80]This video shows more about the Coolest Cooler: [03:40.88]4. Ethereum [03:44.33]Crowdfunding sites: Bitcoin and the company website [03:51.16]Raised: $18 million [03:54.48]Launch Date: July 30, 2015 [03:59.60]According to the Ethereum website, [04:02.92]"Ethereum is a decentralized platform [04:06.40]that runs smart contracts: [04:09.52]applications that run exactly as programmed [04:13.24]without any possibility of downtime, censorship, [04:18.09]fraud or third -party interference. [04:21.73]Ethereum is how the Internet was supposed to work." [04:25.84]Businesses can use Ethereum to communicate over the Internet. [04:31.00]It gives them a record of their communications. [04:35.24]Ethereum applications can include exchanging money on the Internet. [04:40.96]It also includes message programs. [04:44.68]This article in Tech Crunch explains [04:48.08]how the Ethereum product is different from Bitcoin. [04:52.56]3. Pebble Time [04:55.12]Crowdfunding site: Kickstarter [04:58.68]Goal: $500,000 [05:02.60]Raised: $20,338,986 [05:10.64]Promised ship date: May 2015 [05:14.60]Actual ship date: June 2015 [05:19.00]Pebble funded its first watch using Kickstarter. [05:23.72]Pebble went back to Kickstarter [05:26.24]to fund its Pebble Time watch [05:28.92]with a color screen in February 2015. [05:33.08]Pebble Time raised over $1 million [05:36.88]in less than an hour and $8.5 million [05:42.52]by the end of the first 24 hours of the project. [05:46.92]Pebble Time raised over $20 million [05:50.68]and is the most successful Kickstarter project so far. [05:55.96]This watch works with both iPhone and Android, [05:59.68]and has a one-week battery life. [06:02.48]Learn more about Pebble Time in this video: [06:06.28]2. Elio Motors [06:09.28]Crowdfunding sites: StartEngine and the company website [06:15.04]Raised: $37 million to date [06:18.96]Promised ship date: 4th quarter 2016 [06:24.08]Elio Motors has a goal of raising funds for a new type of car. [06:30.32]The Elio car gets 84 miles per gallon (35.7 km per liter) on the highway. [06:40.04]The driver sits in the front seat and the passenger sits in the back seat. [06:45.80]The car has a base price of $6,800. [06:51.68]The company is still taking deposits f [06:54.32]or its three-wheeled, two-passenger car. [06:58.52]So far over 46,000 cars have been reserved. [07:03.80]You can learn more about the Elio Motors vehicle in this video: [07:08.72]This article in Tech Crunch [07:11.36]explains how the motor company used [07:14.04]the fundraising method to produce the new car. [07:18.32]1. Star Citizen [07:24.24]Crowdfunding sites: Kickstarter and Company website [07:29.28]Goal: $500,000 [07:33.72]Raised: $90 million to date [07:39.04]Promised ship date: November 2014 [07:43.64]Actual ship date: Unknown [07:46.64]Star Citizen is a multi-player Internet video game set in outer space. [07:54.40]This crowdfunding project [07:56.16]started on Kickstarter in 2012 with a goal of $500,000. [08:03.08]Star Citizen raised over $2 million on Kickstarter. [08:08.24]The company also uses its own website for crowdfunding [08:12.92]and has raised over $90 million in total to date. [08:18.68]This CNBC article explains why the game designer [08:23.12]of Star Citizen started a campaign outside of Kickstarter [08:29.08]This video gives you a preview of Star Citizen: [08:32.40]Star Citizen has had troubles even though it raised a record amount of money. [08:38.84]Some are wondering what the company has done with all the money it raised. [08:43.40]An unhappy backer has threatened a lawsuit against the company. [08:49.36]Now, it's your turn. Have you ever backed a crowdfunding project? [08:54.52]Are you surprised by the success of these crowdfunding projects? [08:59.72]Have you ever wanted to crowdfund an idea? [09:03.44]Share your thoughts in the Comments section or on our Facebook page!