REAL-WORLD READING
READING: Practice
1 Read the article. What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding
Nat Kittredge wanted to
make some money. But
at 15, he was too young to
get a “real job.” He said to
himself, “Everyone else
my age washes dishes,
mows lawns, or babysits.
But I want a job that lets
me be my own boss.” Then he had an idea: He would build
a lemonade cart and sell freshly squeezed lemonade on
the city sidewalks in the summer.
In order to raise money to build his cart, Nat decided
to use crowdfunding. His older sister said, “Crowdfunding
never works. No one wants to donate money to those
things. You’ll be wasting your time.” But Nat didn’t listen.
He made a short video about his idea, posted it on the
Kickstarter crowdfunding website, and asked people to
contribute money. He received donations from friends,
relatives, and even some people he didn’t know. After
a couple of months, he had enough money to start his
business. With the help of a neighbor, he built his cart. Nat
knew there were a lot of carts on the streets in the summer.
So to make his cart stand out from the competition, he
painted it bright yellow and put his logo on its sides.
That summer, he sold a lot of lemonade!
Crowdfunding, the financing of a new company or
project with online contributions from other people, is a
fairly recent concept. The first successful crowdfunding
effort was in 1997, when a British rock band paid for its
reunion tour with online donations from fans. In 2007,
ArtistShare became the first crowdfunding platform.
1 Level 5 Unit 9 HIGH-LEVEL READING
Since then, the crowdfunding industry has been growing
rapidly.
For some entrepreneurs, crowdfunding is the perfect
way to raise money. The most obvious benefit is that
it allows you to raise money without investing your
own assets. Additionally, it provides market validation.
That is, it lets you see whether people are excited about
your product. It also provides exposure. People who
donated to your fund are likely to spread the word through
social media. Hopefully, by the time your product is ready
to sell, there will be a lot of customers waiting for it!
Crowdfunding isn’t right for everyone, though. Most
crowdfunding campaigns fail. Only a minority (about
one third) succeed. In addition to the low success rate,
there are some other drawbacks to crowdfunding:
1 It requires a lot of work. It takes a lot of time to put
together a campaign and advertise it.
2 As a rule, crowdfunding platforms charge a fee of 8 to
12 percent of the funds that you raise. So not all of the
money goes to your business or cause.
3 It can be uncomfortable to ask people to donate money.
As Nat said, “I felt a little guilty asking people to give me
money.”
4 In general, there isn’t much legal protection for people
who use crowdfunding. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs
sometimes find that their ideas are stolen and
developed by other people.
Despite these drawbacks, crowdfunding can be a great
way to raise money quickly and to generate excitement
about your product.
—from A Dictionary of Accounting, 5th ed., by Jonathan Law
© Oxford University Press
REAL-WORLD READING
2 Read the article again. Answer the questions.
1 Why didn’t Nat want to be a babysitter?

2 Why did Nat decide to use crowdfunding?

3 Was Nat’s business successful?

4 What are some advantages of crowdfunding?

5 What are some disadvantages of crowdfunding?

READING SKILL: Recognizing and understanding generalizations 9.1

3 Read the article again. Which three of the following statements from the article are NOT
generalizations?
1 Nat Kittredge wanted to make some money.
2 Everyone else my age washes dishes, mows lawns, or babysits.
3 Crowdfunding never works.
4 No one wants to donate money to those things.
5 With the help of a neighbor, he built his cart.
6 Most crowdfunding campaigns fail.
7 Only a minority (about one third) succeed.
8 As a rule, crowdfunding platforms charge a fee of 8-12% of the funds that you raise.
9 As Nat said, “I felt a little guilty asking people to give me money.”
10 In general, there is isn’t much legal protection for people who use crowdfunding.

2 Level 5 Unit 9 HIGH-LEVEL READING © Oxford University Press

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REAL-WORLD READING
Look at the generalizations in Exercise 3. Which ones are valid? Which are faulty? Write the
number of each generalization in the correct column in the chart

Valid generalizations Faulty generalizations

5 For each generalization, which words helped you decide whether it was valid or faulty?

Sentence # Word(s)

6 Rewrite the faulty generalizations to make them valid.

3 Level 5 Unit 9 HIGH-LEVEL READING © Oxford University Press