Web's Largest listing of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding events

Events

Advertise

Web's Largest Directory of Sites

2,412 crowdsourcing and crowdfunding sites

Start Some Good

document Crowdfunding, Distributed Knowledge, Open Innovation

StartSomeGood.com
Helping Social Entrepreneurs Do Good in the World

January 17 Update: 60 Hours to Go! Thank you everyone for the incredible support. Your donations, offers to volunteer and suggestions of ideas and connections mean so much to us.

We're thrilled to have surpassed our initial goal, but we are still raising funds beyond our $2,000 target. Why? It's simple: there's still so much

more good to accomplish. Your donations to our campaign are more than just financial help: they are a vote in support of social innovation. Because your donation comes with a FREE giftcard to use on our site, it's a way of proving that there's a community ready to help other great social enterprises launch. These last 60 hours provide you with a chance to do double-the-good with your donation: you will help our dream of StartSomeGood become a reality, while simultaneously creating an initial community-driven commitment to our launch-partner ventures.

A heartfelt thanks to everyone for truly helping us "Start Some Good!"

Our Story We are four UCLA Bruins and an Australian dude, and we are building StartSomeGood.com to leverage the power of the crowd to empower people from around the world to launch their own social enterprise.There are so many people with ideas for how they want to make a difference in the world, yet they lack the resources that they need to get started. StartSomeGood connects budding social entrepreneurs with the financial and intellectual capital that they need -- all in a fun, engaging and community-driven way. Our site taps into the power of the crowd, allowing social entrepreneurs to ask for small amounts of money from lots of different people -- just like here on IndieGoGo -- rather than hope for one lump sum. It's crowdfunding for social enterprises, but we've also got a few tricks up our sleeve!

What Makes Us Unique The crowdfunding model is becoming increasingly popular -- especially in the arts-world -- and we believe it is perfect for supporting the growth and development of social enterprise. Here's what makes StartSomeGood stand out from the pack:

We focus on social enterprises and organizations, as opposed to other "social good fund-raising" sites where people raise money for things like running a marathon for charity. Though those sites are great too, we are looking to help launch the type of organizations that will create long-term, meaningful change in the world. We have created a hybrid crowdfunding model unique to the needs of a social enterprise. Social entrepreneurs select a "tipping point" -the amount of money that is necessary to start doing good -- and fund-raising up until this point is done in an all-or-nothing way. Supporters pledge funds, but are only charged if a venture reaches its tipping point goal by its deadline. Beyond the tipping point, though, we allow the venture to raise additional funds -- limited only by the same time deadline -- and keep all funds raised beyond the tipping point. This empowers social entrepreneurs to tap into the power of the crowd to launch their venture as well as to begin creating real change in the world. We provide a platform for launching brand new social enterprises, unlike other sites that focus on fund-raising for already-established organizations.

In addition to launching a social enterprise on our site, we support the ongoing launch of projects and new endeavors by a social enterprise using the same hybrid, tipping-point crowdfunding model. We give social enterprises a dynamic home for launching their crowd-powered projects both at the start and into the future. We recognize that starting a social enterprise takes more than just money; it takes people! We connect social entrepreneurs with people from around the world who want to use their talents for good. Are you a social enterprise looking for an hour or two of pro-bono legal help? Maybe you're a graphic designer looking to use your

Photoshop skills for good. We connect do-gooders with social enterprises that need help getting launched, creating exciting opportunities to contribute.

By focusing on the combination of these things, we make StartSomeGood stand out from the pack, and well-positioned to be a force in driving meaningful change in the world through social enterprise.

The Impact Social entrepreneurship is a movement that is growing rapidly in popularity and awareness, yet according to Change.org, 72% of social entrepreneurs say that access to capital is their greatest challenge. Though funds exist for organizations that are already off the ground, so many brilliant, gamechanging ideas never come to life because of the hurdles that exist for starting a social enterprise. StartSomeGood seeks to simplify things,

based on the premise that we want more people to do more good in the world. We lower the barriers to entry of starting a social enterprise, and connect social entrepreneurs with the people, passion, ideas and support they need to do great things in the world.

What We Need & What You Get We've got a great team, ambitious plans and a ton of energy, but your support will allow us to get the word out and conduct innovative and exciting outreach strategies. Your financial support will be used to found our StartSomeGood Ambassadors program which recruits people

passionate about social enterprise and allows them to leverage our platform to reach out to their networks to help people start their own ventures. Your support will be especially key in our outreach to University students where we seek to get ambassadors from leading colleges to help grow the social entrepreneurship movement via StartSomeGood on campuses nation-wide. Additional funds will be used for smart and targeted advertising campaigns, including Google Adwords and Facebook ads. Your support will bring the results of our countless hours of outreach and marketing brainstorming to life!

Your donation today has the ability to start good in more ways than one. In addition to recognition on our site as an early supporter, you'll also get a gift certificate to use on our site! Once StartSomeGood is launched, you'll be able to use your gift credits to find the venture that speaks to you and give them a boost just like you did with us. You'll help get our site off the

ground today so that we can help others start good. Then, once our site is launched and filled with lots of ventures for improving the world, you'll be able to reinvest part of your initial donation via a gift certificate to help others do good as well. Your support today is an investment not only in us, but also in other great social enterprises that will launch on our site. StartSomeGood by paying it forward!

Sneak-Peak As an early supporter of StartSomeGood, we're excited to show you a glimpse at what our site will look like once it is built (with your support, of course)!

Other Ways You Can Help We are a social enterprise ourself, and we wouldn't be where we are today without the incredible support from our family and friends who have provided us with ideas, support, legal advice and more. Are you as excited about StartSomeGood as we are? We'd love to hear from you.

Email alex@startsomegood.com to learn more about the roles we have for people that want to be a part of our mission, or tell us what YOU do best.

Questions? We're happy to answer them! Ask your questions in the comments section, and we'll answer them here for all to see.

Question: Are you a 501(c)3? Answer: Nope, we are a socially-conscious for-profit business. We plan to apply for B-Corporation certification shortly to signify this status.

Summary The site will be launching in February. But the following details are provided:

1. January 17 update
2. The story of the group
3. What makes the group unique
4. The Impact of the project
5. What the group needs and what the donors can get
6. Sneak peek of what the site will look like
7. Other ways by which people can help
8. Questions

Description There are lots of people with bigger and creative ideas but they just don't have sufficient resources. So, that's where StartSomeGood comes in. The group is composed of four UCLA Bruins and an Australian dude and are leveraging the power of the people all over the world to help them launch their own social enterprise. Through StartSomeGood, people can hopefully have both financial and intellectual capital that they need to make their enterprise a reality.

Tags: Crowdfunding, Entrepreneurs, IndieGoGO, social enterprise, Social Innovation

Posted by Luis Enrique Morales

Jan 18, 2011 01:32 am GMT Viewed 4043 times

Author: StartSomeGood Source

Contact us if you are owner of this content and want to make changes.

Download Flag This

Comments

Ronnie Jan 28, 2011 10:12 pm GMT

Hey - I'm confused - but I guess I'll figure it out - are y'all "start some good" or "crowdfunding?
I'm going to go through your site a little deeper...But just on a brief look it seems to me we all need this!!!
Carl Esposti Jan 28, 2011 11:44 pm GMT

Hi Ronnie - We are not the site "Start Some Good" nor are we crowdfunded... unfortunately!

We just love crowdsourcing and crowdfunding and thought we would build a place where anyone can see what it's all about!

Events

Start Some Good

Comments

Crowdsourcing.org

Categories

Content

Crowdsourcing.org, an initiative by massolution®

Events

Related Content

Start Some Good

Comments

Crowdsourcing.org

Categories

Content

Crowdsourcing.org, an initiative by massolution®