Can crowdsourcing raise money for an academic paleontology project?

I would like to begin a project that would require some funding, and I have been considering crowdsourcing, similar to your recent efforts on the anti-personhood campaign. My project is a systematic study of fossils found in various counties in the state where I live. Such studies are critical for paleontology, but the company I work for won't pay for it, and no one in a research institution has the time to do it. However, I have not done any crowdsourcing in the past, and my field of study does not include any training in this (most of my colleagues get most if not all of their funding from grants). What advice would you offer someone trying to raise money from ordinary people for such a project?