I was researching a local farm that I am interested in purchasing from and ran across an article about their recent BarnRaiser.us campaign to improve the sustainability and profitability of their livelihood. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more about BarnRaiser.There are so many things to love about this artisanal food crowdfunding site:
- The name is wonderfully evocative of the end goal, a community coming together to support the needs of farmers and food artisans
- The admirable mission statement is "To put a billion dollars into the hands of food innovators as they reshape a healthy food world."
- BarnRaiser fees are based solely on fully funded goals. No goal = no fee for trying
- And like the other crowdfunding sites, the farmers and artisans looking to get funded offer up little goodies for supporting them at different levels
- Projects seeking funding are listed in a gallery format with name and photo, a status bar showing how much money has been pledged and how much money and how many days are left to fund the project and, last but not least, location for the project
- According to the FAQ, Project Creators are subject to some level of identity verification
- The site is great exposure for the farmers and food artisans whether they reach their funding goals or not
Let's go raise some barns!