Spot.us funds citizen journalism, SellABand allows fans to help out their favorite musicians and Contenture allows sites to monetize their web traffic, three interesting ventures that enable potentially innovative ideas the chance to reach a much wider audience. And while these models are no guarantee of success, given the small cost of participation, they also carry very little to no expectations either. This is because none of them are built with any returns in mind, making them essentially donations as opposed to actual investments, but the possibility of adding that component exists. Which could create an interesting subculture around micro-investments.

While the likelihood that it would ever replace the venture capital system is extremely small, considering the significant amounts traditional startups need to raise, this doesn’t mean it couldn’t have its place, particularly on a local level. It simply requires developing the proper risk/reward structure and determining what kind of oversight (if any) would-be investors would have. Entrepreneurs are by their very nature resourceful so I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw a model along these lines released sometime soon.

[image via Library of Congress]