When people pool together money for exploration it is called crowd-funding. This type of fundraising is also sometimes called crowd financing or crowd sourced capital.

Government backed financing is financing that has the promise of the government standing behind it. It is different from private investor financing or bank backed financing.

benefit of debt and equity financing

They are equity financing and debt financing.

The noun 'crowd' is a standard collective noun for a crowd of people, a crowd of onlookers.