SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) — You may want to do some holiday giving this year to support a local food bank, or a global charity. Or maybe you’re inspired to help a single individual fighting cancer, or an Entrepreneur trying to get an idea off the ground. All is possible with crowdfunding.
Silicon Valley venture capitalist Bill Draper took his wife’s story public in the name of raising money to fight the disease that plagues her.
“My wife has Parkinson’s and has for some 35 years,” he explained.
Draper planned to donate to the Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center, headquartered in Sunnyvale. But he realized he could do even more.
“I said, ‘Look, come on, let’s get together with Parkinson’s Institute, let’s do crowdsourcing, and I’ll put up $100,000 and suggest that it be matched up to that amount by as many people as want to participate,’” he remembered.
So Draper launched a crowdfunding campaign on San Francisco-based indiegogo, an online platform that collects and distributes contributions for almost any cause.
“Crowdfunding intrigues us. It’s been very exciting,” said Parkinson’s Institute Director of Development Chelsea E. M. Kasai. “We are so grateful to Bill Draper and the Draper family for sharing their personal Parkinson’s disease journey. They’re helping to inspire other families to find their own voice, to share their stories, and to raise funds.”
There are crowdfunding sites that cater to small businesses, authors trying to publish, scientists funding research, athletes, musicians… any cause you can imagine. Indiegogo is the world’s largest crowdfunding platform.
The company’s Director of Cause, Community, and Social Innovation Amy Lesnick says it supports campaigns to raise as little as $100 for dental work to $10,000,000 for a new tech gadget.
“The beauty of crowdfunding is you’re really rallying people around something to make it happen,” Lesnick said. “Crowdfunding is empowering. It’s social, it’s fun, it’s giving people the chance to feel that pride of participating.”
“It’s been an amazing program that has worked,” added Draper.
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Here are more crowdfunding websites that support different causes:
Parkinson’s Institute and Clinical Center: http://www.thepi.org/
Draper’s indiegogo campaign: http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/parkinson-s-we-re-in-this-together
Indiegogo (all causes) indiegogo.com
Kickstarter (creative projects) www.kickstarter.com
Pubslush (book publishing) www.pubslush.com
EquityNet (entrepreneurs) https://www.equitynet.com/
Fundable (small businesses) www.fundable.com
GoFundMe (life’s important moments) www.gofundme.com (Crowdfunding.com)
Microryza (science research grants) https://www.microryza.com/
RocketHub (creative projects) http://www.rockethub.com/
Crowdrise (causes & charities) http://www.crowdrise.com/
SoMoLend (lending to small businesses) https://www.somolend.com/
appbackr (mobile apps) http://www.appbackr.com/
AngelList (tech startups) https://angel.co/
Invested.In (create your own crowdfunding community) http://invested.in/
Quirky (inventors) http://www.quirky.com/
AdoptAClassroom.org (supporting teachers/schools) www.adoptaclassroom.org
Sell-A-Band (supporting bands/musicians) www.sellaband.com
RallyMe (supporting athletes/teams/organizations) www.rallyme.com
Razoo (any cause) – www.razoo.com
Giveforward (medical & other causes) – www.giveforward.com
Fundrise – (investment in real estate & business) – fundrise.com
Qikfunder – (personal projects/entrepreneurs) -www.qikfunder.com
EarlyShares (investment in business concepts) – www.earlyshares.com
YourStreet (personal projects) – www.yourstreet.com
PledgeMusic (supporting new musical talent) – www.pledgemusic.com
Crowdfunder (startups and small businesses) – www.crowdfunder.com
posted from :http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2013/12/26/crowdfunding-helping-holiday-giving-around-bay-area/
