I followed the, quite successful, foundation and raise of the Pirate Party of Germany very closely. Many of my friends and follow activists from our privacy movement, AK Vorrat, became members.
I can not recall, money ever having been a major problem. This was certainly true for AK Vorrat* and I think it was true for the PP as well.
Sure, you would always like to have more money, but it never stops you from doing sensible moves. On top of that, not having boatloads of money makes you look authentic and fresh.
When you campaign, you spend so much of your own time and energy, that you happily spend some of your money as well. The listed costs in this article are peanuts for any group of people that can afford to start and propel a political movement. You certainly don't need Internet crowdfunding for that though it might be a good idea for financing an election campaign.
In my experience, there are many, many people who want to support your politics but don't think they have the time. Those people are very willing to support you financially with what ever amount they can easily afford.
So, at least in Germany, starting a political movement is not limited by money.
PS: There was actually some crowdfunding. The company Spreadshirt included donatations for every T-Shirt with the popular Stasi 2.0 logo. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi_2.0
About 11,000 Euros were raised very quickly and I remember the many discussion on "How shall we spend all this money."
Fair point. But again, even if you are not a party, your political movement will have to overcome a lot of major problems. I wouldn't count money as one of them.
Sure, you would always like to have more money, but it never stops you from doing sensible moves. On top of that, not having boatloads of money makes you look authentic and fresh. When you campaign, you spend so much of your own time and energy, that you happily spend some of your money as well. The listed costs in this article are peanuts for any group of people that can afford to start and propel a political movement. You certainly don't need Internet crowdfunding for that though it might be a good idea for financing an election campaign. In my experience, there are many, many people who want to support your politics but don't think they have the time. Those people are very willing to support you financially with what ever amount they can easily afford.
So, at least in Germany, starting a political movement is not limited by money.
PS: There was actually some crowdfunding. The company Spreadshirt included donatations for every T-Shirt with the popular Stasi 2.0 logo. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi_2.0 About 11,000 Euros were raised very quickly and I remember the many discussion on "How shall we spend all this money."