Crowdfunding for education in Egypt: Funding for civil society democratised

In a country where the creative economy is challenged and where few opportunities exist for non-charitable civil society initiatives to raise money, crowdfunding is explored as a viable substitute by various independent artists and educational organisations.

Over the past six weeks, five crowdfunding campaigns have been launched - all raising money through the internet for education-related projects - with some already coming to a close.

Crowdfunding has been steadily growing in popularity around the world as an alternative fundraising tool; over the past three years, Egypt has been catching up with the global trend. In 2012 and 2013, several initiatives and artists successfully used crowdfunding platforms such as indiegogo, kickstarter and the Lebanon-based Zoomal to raise funds for their projects, such as independent media collective Mosireen, urban-discourse platform Cairobserver, revolution graffiti book Walls of Freedom and for films by Omar Robert Hamilton and Sherief Elkatsha.

Although simple, the crowdfunding process remains challenging for many. Initiatives and individuals post their projects’ information on the campaign page, usually alongside an inspiring video explaining their story, and people contribute in their chosen amounts directly on the page. Some initiatives offer their donors perks, give-aways and gifts, which are delivered after the campaign ends. The hosting platforms take a small percentage of the total amount donated, which increases if the campaign fails to reach its goal.