Fund Raising - Think Global, Act Local

Many people have great ideas for a business. While many startups require major funding, most don't need large influxes of cash at one time. Some people work at other jobs while creating their startup. Others break the process into discrete steps and are happy raising enough cash to complete a specific task. When that task is complete, they begin raising cash for the next step of their business venture.

Communities and organizations need money for many worthy projects. It may be buying swings and other items for a playground, raising money for an educational program, or requiring money to continue a youth program.

Where does this money come from? Communities, neighbors, friends, and family only have so much money to donate. Sometimes, at least with a startup, you don't want to ask friends and family. Aren't they the ones that say, "It will never work!"

Think global, act local. Think global for fund raising while your business or community improvement remains local. For example, I am a certified English as a Second Language teacher. My goal is to create an online learning environment where anyone can learn English as a Second Language. Classes and learning materials will be free of charge. Students have the option to make a donation through Pay Pal but this is not required. Anyone can take classes free of charge. The learning materials include either existing Web materials that use the Free Documentation License or a copyright license from Creative Commons. All newly written or recorded materials also use these copyright options. This allows students to freely share, photocopy, and distribute these materials to others that need them. Internet-based phone services like Skype or Vonage provide free or low-cost long distance voice communication.

Fundable.org is a site that allows you to advertise for pledges. Maybe an education program in your community needs $500.00 for books. Because of previous fund raising efforts, you feel it makes sense to give your community a rest from your sales pitch and try others sources of fund raising

Create an account on fundable.org and tell your story. You can set a minimum pledge of $10.00 and see if 50 people will help you with your cause. Set a minimum pledge of $20.00 and 25 people who believe in your goal make your fund raising effort a success.

Pledges are made with a credit card or through Pay Pal. The person requesting the money only receives the pledges if the complete amount is raised. No credit card or Pay Pal account is charged until the complete amount is raised.

Fundable.org takes 10% of the total amount only if the goal is met. There is no charge to you if your goal falls short. In our previous example, fundable.org receives $50.00 and you receive $450.00 for your organization.

In their own words,

"Fundable.org lets groups of people pool funds to make purchases or raise money. Similar to online auctions, Fundable's pages, called 'group actions,' are created by people who use this site. Each group action has a description of how much money needs to be collected and what it will do. Once enough pledges (not payments) have been collected, Fundable turns them into real payments and sends the total to the group action's organizer.

No one takes a risk when making a pledge: if a group action expires before reaching its total in pledges, Fundable deletes all pledges and never charges money. This lets you participate in a group purchase or fund raiser without worrying about what other people will do. No one pays until and unless everyone else makes a pledge."
Who uses fundable.org? What type of organizations or business ideas are seeking funds?

As previously mentioned, I am using this site to raise money for my Learn English Online project (https://www.fundable.org/groupactions/learn_english_online). However, there are a variety of other interesting causes seeking pledges. Some of these include: scholarship funds, using technology for education, funding for independent filmmakers, and business startups.

Fundable.org provides an interesting use of the Internet. It uses technology to help people make the world a little bit better. Maybe it will help you start that business or action that you've been thinking about.