24 April 2013 Last updated at 19:39 ET <\/p>\n
As the Statue of Liberty was shipped from France, efforts to raise funds for its pedestal stalled. But thanks to a newspaper campaign and the small donations of hundreds of residents, the base was eventually built. Rodrigo Davies, a researcher at the Center for Civic Media at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, explores America's first major crowdfunding project. <\/p>\n
By the summer of 1885 the Statue of Liberty was in New York in pieces, awaiting assembly. <\/p>\n
Designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and paid for by the government of France, the statue was a diplomatic gift to the US. However, the US had been unable to raise $250,000 for a granite plinth for the statue - around $6.3m (4.1m) at today's prices. <\/p>\n
A group called the American Committee of the Statue of Liberty was tasked with raising the money but fell short by more than a third. <\/p>\n
New York Governor Grover Cleveland rejected the use of city funds to pay for it, and Congress could not agree on a funding package. <\/p>\n
Amid the uncertainty, Baltimore, Boston, San Francisco and Philadelphia offered to pay for the pedestal in return for the statue's relocation. <\/p>\n
It seemed as though New York had run out of options when renowned publisher Joseph Pulitzer decided to launch a fundraising campaign in his newspaper The New York World. <\/p>\n
The campaign eventually raised money from more than 160,000 donors, including young children, businessmen, street cleaners and politicians, with more than three-quarters of the donations amounting to less than a dollar. <\/p>\n
It was a triumphant rescue effort: in just five months The World raised $101,091 - enough to cover the last $100,000 to complete the pedestal and have money leftover for a gift for the sculptor. <\/p>\n
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Statue of Liberty and early crowdfunding<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 24 April 2013 Last updated at 19:39 ET As the Statue of Liberty was shipped from France, efforts to raise funds for its pedestal stalled. But thanks to a newspaper campaign and the small donations of hundreds of residents, the base was eventually built Continue reading