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Republicans and Democrats may finally agree on something: Small business owners and entrepreneurs need better and more plentiful opportunities to gain access to capital, grow their businesses, and create more jobs.

Last month, the House voted 407 to 17 to pass passed the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, which seeks to makes it easier for small businesses and entrepreneurs to raise capital through crowdfunding.

"This bill will make it easier for entrepreneurs to raise capital and create jobs," the White House noted in a statement.

The question is can scientists use crowdfunding to fund their research? Based on RocketHub’s success, it appears the answer is a resounding yes. The service is banking that science and education can do better asking an interested public to join with them in funding unique and worthy projects. Plus, the crowdfunding wave is nudging scientists to do what many artists and business owners have to do – engage directly with the public, with fans, with customers. The feedback mechanism also offers a benefit to the scientist that could help refine a project focus based on crowd support and ideas. The current rate of funding for science proposals in the U.S. is ~20%. Crowdfunding will likely increase that success rate.

The tool they use is called niche crowd-funding. Entrepreneurs set up websites for very specific types of charitable projects, like supporting small farmers in developing nations or helping victims of natural disasters. People who need backers can put fund-raising pitches on the site—and the entrepreneurs take a cut of whatever money they raise.

The owners of the niche sites are betting that people want smaller, more focused venues where they don't have to compete for attention with thousands of unrelated projects.

. FitFunder.com, which is based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., lets users connect their fitness goals with charitable causes. People who want to run a marathon for charity, for instance, can use the site to link up with a cause in need—and then solicit donations. The site charges 5% of funds raised.

But away from the crumbling of traditional structures that have for decades supported musicians, film-makers et al, there's been a feelgood story brewing online that suggests that our enthusiasm for giving money in exchange for creativity has far from disappeared. Crowdfunding is a modern spin on the ancient system of patronage, and the polar opposite of file-sharing

Slicethepie and Sellaband were pioneers that aimed to launch the careers of young musicians, and they've since been joined by start-ups such as PledgeMusic and My Major Company (MMC). Meanwhile, sites such as Feed the Muse and RocketHub have broadened it beyond music to any kind of creative project. But the biggest noise is being made by Kickstarter.

behind these headline-grabbing figures are a huge number of smaller projects that are seeing the light of day thanks only to crowdfunding

Chance Barnett says he founded Crowdfunder in order to give startups more options. Backers can choose to invest for more than just straight equity -- they could also buy a cut of revenue based on time or percentage return. So an investor could buy 5% of a company's revenue for three years, or 10% of revenue capped at a 200% return on their investment. "In equity-based financing, [investors] aren't guaranteed a return on their money unless the company is sold or offers dividends," Barnett says. "Revenue lets them get a return. It lets them really share in the incremental growth of a company as it happens." Crowdfunder is in private beta testing right now, which will serve as a holding pattern until the Act takes effect.

with little more than a month left before their deadline, several key questions remain unanswered.

“The law is better than it might have been … but there are lots of loose ends, a lot of inconsistencies.”

his will be brief as my head is still spinning from last night’s Pagosa Springs Community Development Corporation (PSCDC) meeting held at the Quality Inn and Suites — my first "public meeting" as editor of the Pagosa Daily Post. First of all, many, many thanks to those who took the time to intentionally seek me out after the meeting for the purpose of encouraging me, offering me help (so needed) and suggestions (a bit over-whelming).  I even appreciated those who came up to me, shook my hand, offered me an encouraging smile and simply stated “You really are crazy...” This may not be “newsy” enough or “investigative” enough for some, but it’s all I got for now. Please bear with me as I feel like I am trying to catch a run-away train.

There were two main topics of discussion last night. First up was Udgar Parsons with a brief update on the “Imagine Downtown” project. Mr. Parsons is leading the charge to implement many of the preliminary initiatives that resulted from the two day meeting with Downtown Colorado, Inc. (DCI).  DCI visited Pagosa Springs on November 12-13, 2012 to take a look at our community and make recommendations about how to improve the Pagosa experience.  There were numerous opportunities and invitations to attend sections of these meetings. Attendees were then e-mailed to come to an inaugural launch meeting which took place last Thursday night.  As a downtown property owner, this is a group I intend to follow. They are energized to dig in, doing simple, inexpensive projects to make a difference.  First up is to identify all the vacant downtown property owners and offer to assist them in “dressing up” their windows and properties so as not to look so… well… “vacant”. There are a variety of suggestions including Christmas themed decorations, historical information, restaurant menus, high school art work and maps.  It’s really a very simple project that requires minimal funds and a few dedicated souls to carry it out. The best part is it requires no government approvals. Property owners will be contacted and the service will be offered — free of charge. Now that’s new and different.

Mr. Parsons launched the project with a $1,000 donation from Growing Spaces (the company he co-owns with his wife Puja). The CDC voted to match those funds — so with $2,000 & no government red tape to cut through, the first initiative of the “Imagine Downtown” project is off and running in less than 5 days.  If you want to get involved or have suggestions, you can contact Mr. Parsons at udgar@frontier.net or Muriel Buckley at madamebuck@gmail.com. Next up was Anthony Edwards, founder of “Crowdfunding Offerings, LTD”. Anthony’s presentation consumed a majority of the time last night, but quite frankly, it was so chopped up due to constant questions and off-tracking from the audience, it was hard to follow. A “great” reporter would have come home and dug in researching everything he/she took notes on — and could perhaps write an intelligent summary of Mr. Edward’s presentation. I came home, cooked dinner, cleaned the kitchen and helped my son with his spelling test.  In the scope of life — exactly what I should be doing. I will continue to update Daily Post readers as the viability and sustainability of such an endeavor really unfolds.  You can read more about what “Crowdfunding Offerings”  by clicking the link. It offers some basic education re: who, what, why and how. I was a little perplexed by the PSCDC’s willingness to jump in with Mr. Edward's company as it has no active platforms at this point. But I will assume for now the PSCDC has done their homework... and there is nothing wrong with joining on prior to the masses.  I am sure the original shareholders of Apple, Dell and eBay would agree, there’s nothing wrong with being first.  (Facebook??? Not so much.)