SteemFund Review: is Steemit crowdfunding possible?

Two weeks ago @steemfund was created and its goal was simple:

"Crowdfund projects using community votes."

I also wanted to organize projects and verify the identity and veracity of those asking for funding, in this way voters could feel safe that their contribution will be well spent.

We started with a donation campaign for Logan, who suffered a car accident and is on critical condition. That post only raised 12 SBD but I decided to make a 20 dollar donation in the name of all the voters.

Our first crowdfunding campaign would come in the hands of @matthewtiii, who asked for 790 SBD to build organic soaps. Unfortunately, the campaign did not reach that target and despite its 90 voters (special thanks to @svk ) it only reached 30 SBD.

Given the poor results we have obtained so far I think it is important to analyze the challenges we face as a crowdfunding platform:

• Only half of the money raised can be given to the author.
• With these low prices it is very difficult to raise significant amount money, so the expectations should be lower. I wonder if “micro-funding” would be a better option.
• With current distribution we need the support of so called “whales” in order to have a better chance of funding campaigns.
• We face the risk of disillusion by our applicants.

Knowing the hurdles we face can help us take appropriate actions to improve @steemfund, this is why I have decided to lower the maximum requested SBD to $500. I would also like to ask large holders for their support of this worthy initiative, if you hold a lot of SP you can make a difference to our applicant’s life so please follow @steemfund and vote on our projects.

Regardless of all the challenges ahead I believe is still too early to determine the success of @steemfund and I am definitely willing to keep going.

Regards.
@chitty
steemfund.github.io