There can be little doubt that the plight of the everyday inventor has had its challenges for a long time, with difficulties in obtaining funding to get the project off the ground being an oft-repeated cause of sleepless nights. The recent economic plight in the US and throughout the globe has done little to help inventors unlock capital with investors’ purse strings on the whole becoming tighter than ever. However, the increasing prevalence of crowdfunding initiatives is offering hope for social entrepreneurs and inventors alike. So what is crowdfunding?Crowdfunding is when an entrepreneur appeals to a group of people, usually over the Internet, and asks them to pool their money by making pledges to support his or her business. Check out this infographic that helps breakdown the steps and what is involved with crowdfunding.