So, we secured the domain HelpersUnite.com and went to work! We launched on September 20th to awesome praise, media coverage and thoughtful projects.
We are the only site that facilitates creative and charitable fundraising in parallel. All is done through our platform and the artist simply needs to choose which of the 1.5 million U.S.-based charities to which to share a small portion (we ask for a minimum of 5%) of their funding.
Crowdfunding is an incredibly difficult task. It doesn’t matter what site you launch your campaign on you will have to do the bulk of the work. This means constantly reaching out to friends, family, fans and using social media throughout the campaign. Given this difficulty, why not align your efforts alongside something that extends the benefits to the greater good?
I thought the below excerpt from an article written about us by crowdsourcing expert Casey Armstrong was on point and worth folks considering regardless of which site you choose for your crowdfunding.
“When you are thinking of launching a crowdfunding project, how can it positively affect your experience to launch it attached to a cause? Here are a few thoughts to consider:
- The anxiety from asking the crowd for money for your project might be lessened because you are no longer just asking for yourself, but for something others and you already believe in: fighting animal suffering, for example.
- You increase your audience not only to your crowd and your project’s related subject, but now to the supporters of a cause.
- You feel that you are helping not only yourself and your project’s goals, but you are in effect doing work for charity, a big motivation boost!
- You can advertise, if you are funded, that your project not only was crowdfunded, but that it has raised money for a cause – not something many other freshly funded projects can say!”
Another really interesting aspect of aligning with a charity is that the entrepreneur gets another “evangelist.” For every project that launches, we let the charity know that an aspiring business cares about them and this creates a synergistic relationship between entrepreneur and charity that may not have existed before.
HelpersUnite.com attracts a type of “Creator” who is looking to fund their lifelong dream project along with helping the greater good. The fact that an entrepreneur has chosen the only platform in the world that, doesn’t suggest they help another rather, requires a charity be selected says a lot about who they are. Crowdfunding is hard work, these people reach out to friends, family and followers to help support their dream and they are asking that same network to help the world along with them.
With HelpersUnite.com, our vision is to help entrepreneurs extend their impact on a potentially global scale. By sharing a portion of their raised funds, not only do they literally ‘pay it forward’ immediately, but they also gain a potential partner in (the charity) in the process. We’ve had tremendous positive feedback, both from the creative and non-profit communities, on this aspect of the platform.
About the Author
This is a guest article written by Luan Cox, Co-Founder and CEO of HelpersUnite.com