There are several organizations which are active globally in the field of CCS. The most important one is UNESCO. They have an International Fund for the Promotion of Culture which can be consulted here. To achieve their aims, the Fund’s resources will provide financial support on the basis of a call for proposals for:
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the cultural and artistic projects of creators in developing countries;
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culture and development strategies and programmes;
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the reinforcement of national mechanisms, structures and facilities whose purpose is to support cultural activities and artistic creators in developing countries;
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the organization of exchanges to foster international cooperation support cultural and artistic projects.
Besides, priority is given to young artists/creators (18-30 years old) and to projects benefitting youth.
Some other organizations, such as Performa 15 Institute, are also active internationally and are worth checking. Moreover, national, regional and local governments from outside the European Union also have specific programmes for arts and culture. For instance, the city of Austin (USA) has a dedicated website for their opportunities.
Crowdfunding opportunities
Nowadays, one of most interesting options when you want to start up a new project is to use crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising monetary contributions from a large number of people, today often performed via internet-mediated registries, but the concept can also be executed through mail-order subscriptions, benefit events, and other methods. Crowdfunding is a form of alternative finance, which has emerged outside of the traditional financial system.
The crowdfunding model is based on three types of actors: the project initiator who proposes the idea and/or project to be funded; individuals or groups who support the idea; and a moderating organization (the “platform”) that brings the parties together to launch the idea.
Here you have some crowdfunding platforms:
1- Kickstarter is a crowdfunding platform for non-profit organizations, businesses, and individuals, which has already achieved five million donors. Created in April 2009, this site has managed to finance 50,000 projects with campaigns over one million dollars, although the most common is to fund projects around 10,000 – $ 15,000.
Kickstarter only considers that a campaign has been successful when the donations exceed a targeted threshold only then donations are made effective. Unlike many fundraising platforms, Kickstarter claims no ownership over the projects and the work they produce.
2- Indiegogo is an international crowdfunding platform based in San Francisco, California, founded in 2008 by Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin and Eric Schell.
This site allows you to create a page for a specific campaign in which money is raised through a PayPal account, establishing a list of “extras” for different levels of donation. Users promote the project through Facebook, Twitter and similar platforms.
Unlike similar sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo transfers funds immediately when the contributions are collected through PayPal user accounts. The site charges a 4% fee for successful campaigns.
3- Lánzanos is a Spanish platform specializing in cultural projects, technological or solidarity enterprises. Despite having reached 100% of the funding, the creators of the projects will continue raising money as long as the funding period has not closed.
4- Crowdthinking is a “collective support platform for ideas, projects, and companies”. They finance all kinds of campaigns, focusing on exposing your business to as many people as possible.
Sources:
http://www.meetbcn.com/6-plataformas-de-crowdfunding-espanolas-para-financiar-tu-proyecto/
Traditional banking system
If your project is economically viable, you can of course use the traditional banking system for funding. The conditions may vary very much depending on banks and countries, so we advise you to get as much information as possible in different banks before signing any contract.