Bellevate Launches Boutique Crowdfunding Site for Women Entrepreneurs, Startups and Inventors with Great Ideas

By Robert Hoskins

Bellevate.com launched a new crowdfunding site dedicated to helping women use the internet, and their social media currency to start or expand a business. Crowdfunding represents the next generation of alternative financing tools that allow women with creative ideas to open doors that have never been possible before.

Bellevate uses Dreamfunding^SM,  the next generation of Crowdfunding finance – a hot new way for entrepreneurs to raise funds through small individual contributions. It’s a way for businesses to use the Internet and their established social media networks to find the funding to launch new ideas or expand existing operations.

But, many times women’s ideas and business plans are often lost in the shuffle.

On most crowdfunding sites, businesses looking for funding are all pooled together. One artist is raising funds to write the next great American novel while two-clicks-away another is hoping to fund a movie. Entrepreneurs can easily get lost amidst a sea of others all clamoring for the same thing – money.

The inability to stand out from the masses can be especially harmful for women-owned businesses. According to Forbes magazine, women-owned businesses represent nearly 50% of privately held companies in the U.S., however, three quarters of these businesses are not able to grow their businesses past $50,000 in annual gross revenue.

Biz2Credit, an online matchmaker for entrepreneurs and lenders, found that women-owned companies were 15 percent to 20 percent less likely to be approved for small business loans during the last six months of 2012.

Bellevate.com is a platform that offers women a solution. Bellevate is dedicated to helping women owned start-up companies, new projects, and existing businesses find funding.

Bellevate.com expects to become a location where female entrepreneurs can find encouragement, guidance, and funding.

“Our unique approach to Crowdfunding allows each entrepreneur to be in the spotlight,” said Becca Sanders , spokeswoman for Bellevate.

Sanders continued, “Bellevate is a new word and we want it to represent a concept that everyone understands. Bellevate is a verb. It’s an action.  We want women to have their businesses Bellevated.”

The Bellevate site celebrates the courage it takes to say, “I am ready to launch my idea.”

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KrowdKidz Launches Crowdfunding Site to Help Raise Money for Infertility, Surrogacy and Adoption

By Robert Hoskins

KrowdKidz  launched a new  fertility crowdfunding portal designed to help families find donors willing to help defray the costs of infertility treatments, surrogacy and adoption. The portal launched today with three initial families seeking help. Donors have the ability to contribute as little as $10 to a family.

KrowdKidz Launches Crowdfunding Site to Help Disadvantaged Parent’s Crowdfund for Infertility, Surrogacy and Adoption

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 10% of women in the United States ages 15–44 years have difficulty getting pregnant or staying pregnant. This equates to 6.1 million women. Roughly one-third of infertility cases are due to women’s problems, another one-third are due to the man, and the remaining one-third are due to of a mixture of male and female problems or by unknown problems.

“Infertility brings tremendous emotional stress and financial strain. Costs for assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatments in the United States can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars. Surrogacy and adoption costs can be similar depending on a variety of factors,” said Jeff Crump , KrowdKidz founder.

Kara and Brian, an infertile couple from Myrtle Beach, S.C. said, “We are so thankful to have found KrowdKidz. This organization is truly a blessing!” The couple is seeking $16,000 to cover the cost of in vitro fertilization (IVF). The couple has no medication insurance and has spent more than $8,000 of their own funds attempting to have a child.

Crump said, “We know that crowdfunding works. In fact, actor Zach Braff — from Oz: The Great and Powerful and Scrubs fame — recently used crowdfunding to achieve a $2 million funding goal in three days from more than 28,000 backers to finance a follow-up film to his 2004, Garden State. However, unlike Braff, the families seeking funding on KrowdKidz don’t have the financial cushions a successful career in Hollywood provides.”

“This method of crowd funding is a great opportunity for those of us suffering from infertility to realize our dreams of starting a family. The fact that this is dedicated to family building makes this a premiere avenue for crowd funding to overcome the numerous financial setbacks that infertility introduces,” said Chris and Candace, an infertile couple from Portsmouth, Va.seeking $10,800 for surrogacy.

Unlike a generalized crowdfunding portal like Kickstarter, which Braff used, KrowdKidz serves families suffering from infertility exclusively. Due to this unique focus, donors have the opportunity to become emotionally connected. “Knowing a baby was born or a child adopted because of your support is felt on a much deeper level than backing the making of a film,” said Crump.

Donors have the ability to browse donation requests based on factors such as the category of the request (e.g. treatment type, surrogacy, adoption), parental orientation (e.g. gay, lesbian or straight) or religious orientation. “We felt it important to call out these demographic factors so it is clear that we support the uniqueness of families. As long as the funding request is relevant to our service, all the fields are completed in the request and the content is well-written it will appear on the site. We do not have a filtering or selection process,” added Crump.

Through its partnerships, KrowdKidz is able to provide additional benefits to families.  One example of this is author and infertility advocate, Fran Meadows , who is providing the e-book  version of her “The Truth Behind the Secret ‘Infertility'” for free during the first week of the site’s launch. Visitors can use a link available on the site to request a free copy. “Once a family opens up about infertility they begin to realize they are not the only ones going through it; they often feel the pain of emotion they’ve been holding in finally releases,” said Meadows.

Rick and Becky, a Maryland couple seeking to adopt domestically stated, “KrowdKidz is such a unique idea in the way that it’s not only an avenue to crowd source the funds for the very expensive and emotionally draining journey of adoption and infertility treatments, but there is also a sense of community with others who have been through a similar experience with trying to start a family.

“KrowdKidz has also partnered with the Los Angeles Surrogacy Center, which is providing a free 30-minute telephone consultation to all families who create a surrogacy donation request. “As a full service surrogacy agency, we regularly witness the financial challenges these families are faced with,” said Dawn Marmorstein , founder of the Los Angeles Surrogacy Center. “Our partnership with KrowdKidz enables us to extend our professional oversight and management support services to include this unique funding source. This is an exciting opportunity for our clients who dream of creating a family.”

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Crowdfund it Today Partners with CommunityLeader to Deliver Crowdfunding Solutions for Entrepreneurs, Startups and Small Businesses in Atlanta

By Robert Hoskins

Crowdfund it Today has partnered with CommunityLeader to educate, empower and encourage business owners to effectively grow their business with crowdfunding financial tools by leveraging the greater Atlanta metro business community.

Atlanta-based “Crowdfund it Today” expands its business development services for individuals and organizations that want to take a leadership role in the emerging Crowdfunding market

“Companies are chomping at the bit for new capital. With the rapidly emerging industry of crowdfunding, I have found that both individuals and organizations are searching ways to raise capital or play in this exciting market,’” said Rod Reed, founder and CEO of Crowdfund it Today. “I see hundreds of businesses, organizations and the community benefiting from participating in or supporting crowdfund raises through our platform.”

“I’ve been in the financial field for over 17 years, in various positions in the financial industry managing over 500 clients and more than $300 million in assets under management, so I know why investors invest,” Reed continues. “Now, I’m positioned to use this knowledge to assist entrepreneurs on how to grow their business through the effective use of crowdfunding.”

Crowdfund it Today can help businesses seeking to raise capital through crowdfunding; professionals expanding their business to include crowdfunding related services; financial advisors seeking to include crowdfunding in their portfolio of tools; and organizations seeking to support business development in their Atlanta community.

“We have found that local business and community leaders are overwhelmed with the process and rules surrounding crowdfunding,” said Joseph Barisonzi, CEO of CommunityLeader, Inc. “Crowdfund it Today provides an learning platform that removes the uncertainity and complexity surrounding crowdfunding, and show local business owners how they prepare for a financial boost today.”

CommunityLeader is an industry leading full-service provider of custom and private-labeled crowdfunding platform solutions for individuals, organizations and businesses seeking to sponsor, host and run their own crowdfunding portals. Crowdfund it Today is built on a CommunityLeader platform. Together, crowdfunding partners will make a positive impact in the greater Atlanta metro area helping businesses grow while creating new and sustainable jobs.”

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