Facebook Rolls Out Crowdfunding Platform for Education, Medical, Pets, Crisis Relief, Personal Loss, Sports and Community Needs

However, with a crowdfunding platform commission fee of  6.9% + 30 cents per credit card transaction fee Facebook’s Fundraiser Service will be considerably more expensive than competitors such as GoFundMe, Indiegogo and Kickstarter

By Robert Hoskins

Menlo Park, California – Facebook is a place where people come together to connect with their communities and support one another in meaningful ways. Today, we are giving people another way to mobilize around causes they care about by expanding personal fundraisers to everyone over 18 in the US and by adding two new categories – community and sports.

Facebook Rolls Out Crowdfunding Platform and Fundraiser Service for Education, Medical, Pets, Crisis Relief, Personal Loss, Sports and Community Needs

Facebook began testing personal fundraisers, a new product that allows people to raise money for a friend, themselves or a sick pet directly on Facebook, in March. Since then, they’ve been inspired by the response to create them and the support felt by those they benefit.

People can create a fundraiser to quickly raise money on Facebook and easily reach their friends in a few taps, without leaving Facebook, and can share fundraisers to help build momentum. People can learn about the person who created the fundraiser and the person benefiting from the fundraiser, as well as see which friends have donated. Now people can raise money for any of the following categories:

• Education: such as tuition, books or classroom supplies
• Medical: such as medical procedures, treatments or injuries
• Pet Medical: such as veterinary procedures, treatments or injuries
• Crisis Relief: such as public crises or natural disasters
• Personal Emergency: such as a house fire, theft or car accident
• Funeral and Loss: such as burial expenses or living costs after losing a loved one
• Sports: such as equipment, competitions or team fees
• Community: such as neighborhood services, community improvements or environmental improvements

Nonprofit fundraisers continue to be available for people on Facebook to raise funds and awareness for 501(c)(3) nonprofits.

It’s easy to get started:

1. On mobile, tap the menu icon and select Fundraisers, or on desktop, go to facebook.com/fundraisers
2. Choose to raise money for a Friend, Yourself or Someone or Something Not on Facebook
3. Give your fundraiser a title and compelling story, and start raising money

All fundraisers are reviewed within 24 hours. Personal fundraisers are available on all devices, and have a 6.9% Facebook commission fee + $0.30 fee that goes to payment processing, fundraiser vetting, and security and fraud protection. Facebook’s goal is to create a platform for good that’s sustainable over the long-term, and not to make a profit from our charitable giving tools.

We’re constantly inspired by the good people on Facebook do, and we’re excited to learn more about how people use this new product so we can continue improving the experience.

Find out more about Facebook fundraisers at facebook.com/fundraisers.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins runs one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing agencies that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.

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YouCaring.com Acquires GiveForward.com to Create World’s Largest Portal for Crowdfunding Critical Personal, Medical Expenses and Charitable Causes

Combined the two leading donation-based crowdfunding sites have raised over $750 million and have created the world’s largest free donation crowdfunding site

By Robert Hoskins

San Francisco, California  – YouCaring announced that it has acquired GiveForward. GiveForward has been a pioneer in crowdfunding medical expenses for individuals and has helped people raise nearly $200 million. Combined with YouCaring, which has helped people around the world raise over $550 million for critical personal, medical, and charitable causes, this acquisition will expand YouCaring’s fundraising and donor reach.

Combined the two leading donation-based Crowdfunding Sites have raised over $750 Million and have created the world’s largest free donation crowdfunding site

For the GiveForward community, YouCaring offers an optimized on-site experience, robust marketing tools for fundraisers, real-time customer support, and the ability to reach a donor pool of six million. GiveForward users can expect increased campaign performance and an expanded customer support system to meet their fundraising goals.

Unlike other crowdfunding sites, YouCaring does not charge fundraisers a fee to raise money on the platform and relies on voluntary donations from donors to fund their operations. As a Certified B Corporation®, YouCaring is committed to advancing social good and adheres to strict standards for consumer advocacy.

“We’re excited to welcome GiveForward users to the YouCaring community. GiveForward has been a leader in medical crowdfunding for nearly a decade,” said Dan Saper, YouCaring’s CEO. “With health care costs continuing to rise for consumers, building a platform that can help relieve that stress is critically important to us. The GiveForward brand and what it stands for couldn’t be more aligned with who we are and what we do here at YouCaring.”

Desiree Vargas Wrigley, a co-founder of GiveForward, added, “We started GiveForward to help change the way people care about each other. We’re happy to see that vision expanded to the tremendous global community of supporters YouCaring has built.”

YouCaring focuses on Compassionate Crowdfunding™ and believes that no one should have to face hardship alone. Their community of worldwide donors is more than six million strong, and to date, have raised over $550 million. The company does not charge platform fees to fundraise, and like its fundraisers, relies on donations from generous supporters to finance its operation.

GiveForward has been a leader in medical crowdfunding. Since inception in 2008, GiveForward has raised nearly $200 million for people in need, and has empowered 270,000 people to raise money for their causes.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation, rewards and equity crowdfunding campaigns.

Mainstreet Student Living Launches $1.8 Million Crowdfunding Campaign to Fund New Student Housing Community at Southern Wesleyan University

Dedicated to a student-centric approach, Mainstreet Student Living develops communities that allow students an opportunity at a true live and learn environment

 By Robert Hoskins

Carmel, Indiana – Mainstreet Student Living has announced a new initiative to raise funds for a new student living community in Central, South Carolina. Helping with this effort is Oregon-based CrowdStreet, a crowdfunding marketplace and software platform that connects accredited investors with institutional-quality real estate investments, and Mainstreet Capital Partners, a U.S. registered broker-dealer that is focused on, but not limited to, opportunities in health care development, health care acquisitions, health care operations and student housing.

Mainstreet Student Living is an innovative investment, development and management firm of student housing communities throughout North America

Mainstreet Student Living is the premier investment, development and management firm of student housing communities throughout North America. Dedicated to a student-centric approach, Mainstreet Student Living develops communities that allow students an opportunity at a true live and learn environment. Our redefinition of the student experience fuels design innovation, creative investment opportunities and provides students with a life-changing experience.

Mainstreet Student Living is seeking upwards of $1.8 million on behalf of MS Vita SWU, LLC through a private placement offering solely to accredited investors under Rule 506(c) of Regulation D promulgated by the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933.

“We are excited about our first online fundraising experience and to partner with CrowdStreet for this initiative,” said Justin Farris, managing director of Mainstreet Student Living. “Our mission is to transform collegiate lives and, with this initiative, it enables us to pursue high-quality opportunities to further growth and innovation in student housing.”

The 68,000 square-foot, on-campus student living development at Southern Wesleyan University will boast 114 units, 243 beds and feature a state-of-the-art clubhouse, study lounges, a resident lounge with television, a fully-functional kitchen and much more. The $9.3 million community is projected to be complete in August 2017.

Southern Wesleyan University was founded in 1906 and is a student-focused learning community devoted to transforming lives by challenging students to be dedicated scholars. The main campus totals approximately 350 acres and current enrollment totals 1,883 students. In addition to the main campus, Southern Wesleyan University has six other satellite campuses located throughout South Carolina.

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Robert Hoskins
(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

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Mr. Robert Hoskins is a seasoned marketing veteran with a proven track record of helping entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses as well as Fortune 500 corporations launch successful marketing communications campaigns to gain market traction for a wide variety of products and services.

On a regular basis, Mr. Hoskins consults with crowdfunding campaign managers as well as crowdfunding sites, portals and platforms to deliver successful crowdfunding marketing campaigns.

Google search “Robert Hoskins Crowdfunding” to see why Mr. Hoskins is considered one of the industry’s foremost crowdfunding experts that has amassed a huge social media following, which is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns.

Miami’s ClassWallet Raises $1.9 Million to Fund Ed-Tech Digital Wallet Technology

Investment Signals Introduction of Digital Wallet Technology in Education; Another Success Story Emeres from Miami’s Startup Scene

By Robert Hoskins

Miami, Florida – ClassWallet, fast-becoming the leading platform for school funds disbursement and tracking, has closed a $1.9 million round of seed financing. Total funding raised to date is $2.53M. ClassWallet is a leading end-to-end digital solution to manage funding within school systems.  The platform combines funds disbursement, e-commerce, a reloadable debit card and tracking in a fully integrated manner designed for maximum simplicity and accountability.

ClassWallet brings accountability to a $23 billion system that relies heavily on cash, checks, and purchase orders that add up to 40 percent transaction costs and a fund-spend-track lifecycle that takes weeks. ClassWallet reduces these transaction costs to less than 5 percent, and the transaction lifecycle to same day.

ClassWallet platform for school funds disbursement and tracking

Investors include NewSchools Venture Seed Fund, Kaplan Ventures, William Guttman, as well as several edtech and fintech angel investors. Accelerated Growth Partners and other leading Miami-based angel investors, including MaverixLab, founded by former Noodle CEO Joe Morgan, continued their support by contributing to the round. ClassWallet is a graduate of the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, powered by Techstars.

ClassWallet is a platform for school systems to disburse and track funds. The company will use the funding to fuel sales and accelerate its product roadmap. The team plans to release the next version of its platform this summer, which will include a reloadable ClassWallet debit card and a Pay by ClassWallet API for vendors to integrate.

“As school budgets shrink, an increasingly larger portion of procurement is being funded by corporations, foundations, parents and teachers to meet student needs,” said Jamie Rosenberg, ClassWallet’s founder and CEO. “The size of this market, up to $23 billion annually, and the amount of inefficiency and lack of transparency is staggering.”

Organizations and school districts using ClassWallet include Harrington Park School District, Albuquerque Public Schools Education Foundation, Reading is Fundamental, Broward Education Foundation, as well as many others.

Companies including Amazon, Office Depot, Best Buy, School Specialty, Scholastic and 40 more accept ClassWallet as a form of payment. Each provides ClassWallet with SKU level purchasing data, which makes tracking and reconciling of purchases seamless. Most recently, Marqeta, the program manager behind Facebook and eBay’s card platforms, joined forces with ClassWallet to power the ClassWallet debit card for offline purchases such as professional development, field trips and more.

“Getting accurate accounting from all of the cash and receipts that come through the business office is time as a school leader I would like to use moving the agenda forward,” said Adam Fried, superintendent, Harrington Park School District, Harrington Park, N.J. “ClassWallet has created a solution to a problem that we thought could never be resolved. It is giving me the ability to lead my district rather than manage a problem.”

Founder Jamie Rosenberg is no stranger to tackling school funding issues. His first venture, AdoptAClassroom.org, which he launched in 1998, is considered to be the first crowd funding site on the Internet and the first national education philanthropy online platform. ClassWallet President Neil Steinhardt has 20 years payments experience, most recently as managing director of the U.S. division of Skrill, the second largest digital wallet platform in the world, behind PayPal.

“What excites us the most,” stated Mr. Rosenberg, “is being able to leverage digital wallet technology to more closely align education procurement decisions with the actual users and beneficiaries….the teachers and students.”

“When ClassWallet approached us, we were able to look at the current process with a fresh perspective and realized how inefficient it was. Literally, ClassWallet took an entire box of paperwork from my desk and made it go away,” said Coco Burns, program coordinator, Broward Education Foundation, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

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IndieGoGo Crowdfunding Campaign Seeks Starting Goal of $50,000 to Spread Early Literacy Skills to One Million Preschoolers Through Storybooks, eBooks, Smartphone Apps, and Ed-Tech Website

Teaching Preschoolers Pre-Reading Skills Improves Academic Development, Promotes Lifelong Learning, Increases Family Engagement, and Instills Confidence and Perseverance When Faced With Challenges

By Robert Hoskins

Toronto, Ontario – Ruth Rumack’s Learning Space (RRLS) launched a $50,000 IndieGoGo Crowdfunding campaign that will pre-sell a set of five Alpha-Mania early childhood learning storybooks and other perks that will make teaching pre-reading skills fun for children, parents, teachers and caregivers. The Alpha-Mania storybooks are the result of teaching early literacy programs to thousands of young children over the past 16 years. Click here to watch the video.

Ruth Rumack’s Alpha-Mania Crowdfunding Campaign to Promote Early Childhood Literacy

All five of the Alpha-Mania books are written and ready to publish. The goal of the crowdfunding campaign will be to pay for large publishing production runs of the Alpha-Mania storybooks, and then digitize the materials and turn them into eBooks and Smartphone apps, and eventually expand the program to an online educational web series and website where caregivers, parents and teachers will be given access to a full library of ed-tech early literacy games and reading resources. The plan is to make ed-tech materials easy to download and use on a wide variety of Smartphones, iPads, tablets and other types of eLearning devices.

Over the years, the Alpha-Mania pre-reading program has given thousands of young children a head start in developing their early literacy skills at RRLS as well as numerous established daycares, preschools, and nurseries throughout Canada. The plan is now to expand the RRLS learning experience and share it with a global audience.

“Using the power of crowdfunding, we would like to not only pre-sell these lifelong learning materials to people and schools that can afford them, but also use a significant portion of the fundraising campaign’s proceeds to ship storybooks to educational centers where they will have the greatest impact,” says Ruth Rumack, RRLS’ Founder and Director of Education. “Regardless of a child’s living environment, many parents are simply not aware of the tremendous benefits that all children receive from learning phonological awareness at an early age.”

“Printing and shipping storybooks to customers is very expensive and time consuming,” adds Evan Brooker, RRLS’s CEO. “But once we raise enough money to digitize our materials and turn our pre-reading games and interactive activities into Smartphone, tablet and laptop apps, we can sell and distribute them worldwide for a fraction of our current costs. Instead of educating thousands, our goal is to raise awareness and teach millions of people the benefits of engaging their children with early literacy skills in order to build a strong foundation for reading and problem solving before they enter kindergarten.”

Crowdfunders who donate to the Alpha-Mania crowdfunding campaign will receive many valuable perks/rewards that will be sold in singles, multi-book packaged deals for small schools and will provide large school districts discounts when materials/training classes are purchased using licensing agreements.

Students, parents, teachers and schools who contribute money to the crowdfunding campaign can choose between unique perks such as attending the launch party, chatting with the author, or naming a character in one of the upcoming stories. Check out the crowdfunding campaign for more details.

Please buy one of the following Alpha-Mania perks to raise awareness for the benefits of teaching preschoolers early childhood learning skills:

• Alpha-Mania eBooks for Smartphones and Tablets
• Alpha-Mania Printed Storybooks for Parents
• Alpha-Mania Book, Tote Bag & T-Shirt
• Alpha-Mania 5-Book Story Book Series
• Alpha-Mania Skype Chat with Author
• Alpha-Mania Name a Character
• Alpha-Mania Family Portrait and Summer Camp in Toronto
• Alpha-Mania Training Classes for Teachers
• Alpha-Mania License for Daycares, Preschools & Kindergartens
• Alpha-Mania Mass Volume Book Deals for Large Schools

Early childhood learning years are critical for preschoolers because research shows that children gain a tremendous advantage in their ability to learn when they are taught to develop, not only academic skills, but also non-cognitive social and emotional skills and behaviors that lead to their long-term success.

There are many non-cognitive skills that are critical for an individual to strive for and succeed in when reaching long-term goals. Researchers have found that habits such as tenacity and perseverance can have just as strong an influence on achievement as intellectual ability.

What attitudes do children have about learning? Do they feel like their abilities in a subject are fixed — “I’m just not good at reading!” or do they recognize they can grow — “I can learn to read, but I need to learn some Alpha-Mania strategies to figure out tricky sounds and words in order to master the fun puzzle of reading.”

“Growth mindset,” for example, is more likely when students believe they can achieve and when they believe that intelligence is malleable rather than fixed. This also helps develop non-cognitive skills such as perseverance, self-regulation, and effective strategies for enhancing student motivation and engagement.

A large portion of the crowdfunding donations will be used to provide Alpha-Mania to underfunded schools and libraries. Donors will receive the satisfaction of knowing that they helped a small child develop pre-reading skills regardless of their current position in society and give them a head start in developing academic skills that will lead to a lifetime of learning as well as arm them with the confidence, tenacity and perseverance they will need when faced with tough lifetime challenges.

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Understanding the Best Type of Crowdfunding Site to Support a College or University Campus

What’s the Best Type of Crowdfunding Platform to Serve a College or University Entrepreneurship Center, Co-Working Space, Incubator or Accelerator Program?

By Robert Hoskins

Understanding the Crowdfunding Funding Process

The first step in building a crowdfunding business model is to understand the various forms of crowdfunding and at what step of the business creation process each should be used.

This crowdfunding infographic is a good representation on each step of the business creation process from the business idea, generating revenue, validating marketplace demand, expanding operations and maturing into a fortune 500 company.  It also shows what type of crowdfunding is usually best to fund startups and each step of the business’ evolution.

The Crowdfunding Escalator by Crowdfund Suite Shows the Different Types of Crowdfunding

Source: CrowdfundSuite.com

Donation-based Crowdfunding – At kitchen tables, dinner parties, happy hours and dorm rooms around the world many brilliant ideas are born and discussed for the very first time. Once an idea has been pitched and vetted among friends and family and it begins to gain momentum toward the first step of crowdfunding, Donation-based Crowdfunding, which is used to scrape enough money together to begin building a business plan to figure out how much it will cost to bring a business idea to fruition and/or develop at one or more prototypes. Donation crowdfunding sites make it easy to collect money for new creative ideas as well as expand the crowdfunding campaign’s reach from just family and friends to a global audience of potential supporters.

Most donation-based crowdfunding sites are usually built to provide fundraising activities for campaigns that do not offer any rewards or perks.  They are also used to support non-profit causes.  Donations to 501(3)(c) are tax deductible and can be written off at the end of the year.  

Most universities will only build donation-based crowdfunding sites that can be used by students and faculty to collect money by students and faculty for a wide variety of projects including college educations, scholarships, research and development, campus improvements and all kinds of not-for-profit endeavors. Crowdfunding can be used for very small fundraising efforts to raising millions of dollars from alumni, foundations, institutional investors and corporate sponsors.

Donation-based crowdfunding sites will make it easy for anyone to search for, discover, research and fund their favorite pet projects on their alma mater’s campus.

Rewards-based Crowdfunding – Surprisingly enough 90% of people in the world still are not familiar with the term crowdfunding. Mention Kickstarter or IndieGoGo and most people do recognize the brand name and know its purpose and have heard of popular crowdfunding campaigns such as Oculus, Star Citizen, Coolest Cooler and the return of the Pebble Time SmartWatch.

Rewards-based campaigns are used to take ideas, concepts and prototypes to the next level. They are used in a similar fashion to how typical marketing campaigns are used to support product/service launches and rollouts with an added twist.

People with ideas build a crowdfunding profile, shoot a crowdfunding pitch video and build a list of up to 20 perks or rewards that are pre-sold to raise enough money to develop a prototype or pay for the very first manufacturing production run.  Not only do rewards-based crowdfunding campaigns validate industry demand, but they allow businesses to test market various product versions, colors and price points to gauge public interest. More importantly, they help startups generate their first revenue by pre-selling their products and services in order to raise enough money to get the business started. Gaining this type of market traction is very important to angel investors because it shows that there is an audience of people who are willing to pay for the company’s products and services. 

The best way for universities and colleges to cut their teeth on the crowdfunding business model is to launch a rewards-based crowdfunding site, which usually collects a 5% commission on the crowdfunding campaign’s total amount raised. That may not sound like much but since 2009, Kickstarter alone has raised $1.6 billion, which at 5% means $80 million over 5 years in gross revenue or an average of $16 million per year that could be used to fund a wide variety of college/university projects.

Not only are crowdfunding platforms a good source of revenue, but with the right marketing resources crowdfunding campaigns have the potential to raise a huge amount of marketplace awareness for the university’s projects, business development goals, research and development labs and technology transfer programs. All at no cost to the university because the crowdfunding campaign managers are the ones that spend money to market their crowdfunding campaign to the world.

The other reason to consider launching a rewards-based crowdfunding program is that they are easy and do not fall under the jurisdiction of the SEC or state securities board regulators because no securities are being sold. For new startups it also means that raising money does not involve selling any equity shares or giving up any control of the company’s administration.

Rewards-based crowdfunding campaign commissions can also be used by colleges/universities to establish co-working spaces and to fund college incubator and accelerator programs. Co-working spaces with at least 25,000 sq. ft. can generate millions of dollars per year in additional revenue from rent and mentorship programs.

It is important to note that rewards-based commissions combined with co-working space revenue can provide millions of dollars in seed investment capital to begin funding the next step in the process, equity-based crowdfunding sites, where schools, students, faculty and alumni can become equity investors in new startups.

Equity-based Crowdfunding – Setting up equity-based crowdfunding websites will allow schools to play the role usually enjoyed by Angel Investors, Venture Capitalists and/or Broker-Dealers. They will allow students to raise money for startups by selling debt, such as convertible notes, or selling equity shares for a certain percentage of the company to raise enough seed investment capital to produce prototypes, fund early manufacturing runs, setup distribution agreements and hire manufacturer representatives. 

Other types of equity crowdfunding involve sharing 20% of the gross profits with investors or making royalty payments on a per item sold basis until the investors receive a 3x to 5x payback on their initial investment.

Investing in startups is a risky business, but with the right education and building a small group of experienced Super Angel investors to follow, a large group of novice accredited investors can invest smaller amounts of money along side seasoned experts with a proven 25-30 year track record.

In states like Texas, Michigan, Georgia and 11 others non-accredited investors can also pool their money together to purchase equity shares of stock. This is something that has been illegal for the past 80 years, but intrastate crowdfunding exemption laws are now allowing average people to begin investing in startups just like angel investors and venture capitalists.

The aggregation of novice accredited and non-accredited investors are known as Investment Syndicates, which is the process of following expert investors.  This allows students, faculty members and the general public to learn the equity investment business and enjoy the benefits of being an insider when a great business idea is transformed from a startup company to an Initial Public Offering (IPO).

For example, a $300 investment for a single share of stock and pair of Oculus virtual reality goggles would have paid investors a return on investment of $45,000 when Facebook bought the company for $2 billion dollars.

Equity-based crowdfunding is much more complicated than rewards-based crowdfunding due to the stringent requirements needed to meet the SEC and state securities board regulatory requirements.

Unlike rewards-based crowdfunding, equity crowdfunding provides a great opportunity for business administration, legal and finance students to get hands-on experience writing business plans, structuring deals, protecting intellectual property (IP) and planning real world product/service launches that are part of every single equity crowdfunding campaign.

Working alongside experienced angel investors and venture capitalists is also a great way for students and faculty to learn the finance industry from the inside out.

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

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Want to learn more about crowdfunding campaigns or how to setup a crowdfunding platform?

Please fill out this form to get started:

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Utilizing Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns to Cross Pollinate College Education with the Opportunity to Launch Real World Startups and Conduct Equity Fundraising Campaigns

Providing students with a way to contribute their skills to a steady stream of equity crowdfunding campaigns is a great way to gain valuable industry experience and make money

By Robert Hoskins

Real World Benefits of Equity Crowdfunding Campaigns

Depending on the strength of their various colleges, equity crowdfunding programs can help universities begin to leverage the resources from each college and begin to cross pollinate equity crowdfunding campaigns by harnessing the strength of the entire student body.  

Providing students with a way to contribute their skills to a steady stream of equity crowdfunding campaigns would be a great way for them to gain valuable industry experience while earning a college degree.

Instead of working in non-paid internships performing menial tasks, students can invest their time and sweat equity in real world startups by helping startups work their way through the seed investment raising process.  Getting paid with equity shares versus the opportunity to add one line-item bullet point to their resume is a much more attractive option for students worried about paying off their college tuition.

By providing any of the following services below to crowdfunding campaigns, students would benefit from the opportunity to practice their intended field of study as well as enjoy the potential payoff by aggressively seeking risk, innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities.  As a part of the mentoring process students and faculty could setup a management consulting firm that specializes in equity crowdfunding campaigns. 

• Research & Development
  • Recognition for discoveries made at the institution
  • Compliance with federal regulations
  • Attraction and retention of talented faculty
  • Attraction of corporate research sponsors

• Business Administration
  • Accounting/Audits
  • Finance
  • Business Planning
  • Investor Relations

• Computer Science
  • Ecommerce
  • Social Media
  • Programmers/Coders

• Law School
  • Private Placement Memorandums
  • Intellectual Property Protection
  • Copyrights/Patents
  • Legal Contracts
  • Corporate Structures
  • Licensing revenue to support further research and education
  • Technology Transfer Offices

• Mass Communications
  • Advertising
  • Film/Broadcast
  • Journalism
  • Marketing
  • Mass Communications
  • PR
  • Social Media

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

 

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Think about launching an Equity Crowdfunding Site?

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Starting a University Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystem to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

Crowdfunding Sites Provide Alumni with a Personal Way to Begin Investing in their Alma Maters’ Promising Startups and Reap the Benefit of Making a Lot of Money if They Invest in the Right Projects

By Robert Hoskins

Stimulating Alumni and Local Community Engagement

Establishing an Equity Crowdfunding Ecosystem is a great way for colleges and universities to reconnect alumni with their alma maters and engage them to begin investing in the school’s future.  

Unlike giving donations to a school with no idea of how the money is going to be spent, investing directly in equity crowdfunding campaigns not only gives alumni a way to give back to the university that that helped launch their careers, but also provides them with a personal way to begin investing in creative projects that are near and dear to their hearts as well as reap the benefit of making a lot of money if they invest in the right projects.

Building an Equity Crowdfunding site to market college and university projects to alumni and the rest of the world can help:

• Build Better Relationships with Alumni;
• Migrate Alumni from Blind Donations to Targeted Equity Investments;
• Generate Substantially More Revenue to Finance School Programs;
• Increase Long-Term Return on Investment; and
• Produce Much Better  Global University Marketing Opportunities.

Equity Crowdfunding Sites are Great Marketing Tools

Not only do crowdfunding campaigns provide a great opportunity for students to raise money for their startup companies, but the marketing that is done to drive investors to their crowdfunding profiles is a great way for colleges and universities to market their school’s brand name and recruit new students in a similar manner to running TV advertisements during college football and basketball games.

The difference, however, is that instead of producing a bland 10,000 ft. overview of a college’s academics, research and development facilities and a fly over of the university campus, each equity crowdfunding campaign has the opportunity of demonstrate exactly what is actually going on inside their R&D departments, computer science data centers and bio-tech wet labs. It is a new way to streamline the Technology Transfer process.  

Equity Crowdfunding is a much more cost-effective way to bring new technology and businesses to market and can earn schools substantially more money via equity investments than licensing agreements or royalty deals. 

Entrepreneurship Centers, Incubators and Accelerators

In addition, crowdfunding sites allow schools to promote the fact that they are now offering entrepreneurship centers, co-working spaces, incubators with mentorship programs and accelerators that can help raise money to fund new startups.  Equity crowdfunding ecosystems and alumni angel networks will make is possible to attract more millennials, smarter entrepreneurs and aggressive startup high-tech and bio-tech companies seeking a fertile environment in which to launch their business ideas.

For example, look at the successful marketing campaigns that the Coolest Cooler or the Pebble Time SmartWatch crowdfunding campaigns are generating for Kickstarter.  Not only are they transforming Kickstarter into a global brand, but with 18 days left to go the Pebble Time SmartWatch has raised over $17 million. These marketing, PR and social media campaigns have generated massive amounts of free, positive and credible publicity. The same type of exposure can be generated for any college that has startups marketing their university’s equity crowdfunding campaigns via the internet and social media networks.  

Equity Crowdfunding Generates Nice Revenue Streams

Not only is the free, positive publicity great for promoting a school’s brand name, but collecting a fee similar to Kickstarter’s five-percent crowdfunding site commission fee is also a great way to make money to fund the school’s incubator and accelerator programs.

For example, the Pebble Time SmartWatch crowdfunding campaign’s site commission fee will deposit more than $1,000,000 into Kickstarter’s bank account for doing little more than setting up an e-commerce site. A simple task for any computer science college. 

College and university crowdfunding sites will start slow at first like Kickstarter did but given the strength of the university’s mass communication department, it could be much quicker.  Regardless, over a five-year period, a school’s crowdfunding site has the same opportunity to create a massive crowdfunding ecosystem like Kickstarter’s which to date has collected almost ~$2 billion in investment seed capital over the past 5 years.  

It you are a school administrator, what would injecting $2 billion into your Technology Transfer Office do for your college or university?  And that is straight rewards-based crowdfunding.  What would the same $2 billion return if just 10% percent of your startup companies went public and raised $100 million each? Once the first several dominos fall the financial returns would sufficient enough to continue growing a stronger pool of wealth with each generation of graduates. This method is precisely how Palo Alto, San Jose and San Francisco built the Silicon Valley in California into a global angel investor and venture capital powerhouse.

Alumni, Mentors and Future Students

Future students, leading mentors and disconnected alumni will suddenly have a purview into exciting projects and developments that are percolating behind the scenes in a very similar manner to Kickstarter. Crowdfunding will make it possible for the local community and general public to see the huge innovations that are going on behind the scenes, which will create the desire to get involved in the process so they too can strike it rich. Suddenly, alumni will be very motivated to keep in touch and invest often. 

Conclusion:

The crowdfunding industry is clearly fueling a new generation of makers that realize that it is more possible now than ever to bring their creative ideas to life with other people’s money, not just on the east and west coasts, but anywhere in America.

Learn more about crowdfunding:

• Building a Rewards-based and/or Equity-based Crowdfunding Ecosystem;
• Providing Easy Access to Seed Investment Capital with Crowdfunding;
• Generating More Revenue to Support Co-Working Spaces and Startups;
• Using Equity Crowdfunding Sites to Finance Incubators and Accelerators;
• Taking Advantage of Investor Syndicates that are Seeking Better Deal Flow;
• Splitting Revenue from Incubator and Accelerator Mentors Consulting Fees;
• Streamlining Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs);
• Cross-Pollinating College Education with Real World Startups; and
• Learning to Build Better Alumni and Local Community Relationships

 

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Over the Past 35 Years, LearnToPlayMusic.com has Transformed the Music Lesson Industry Three Times, Generated More Than 25+ Million Book & Video Sales and is about to Launch the Next Spotify / Oyster Music Content Platform

Created for Musicians by Musicians, @LTPMusic has been pioneering the way people learn to play music utilizing printed music books, videos, CDs & DVDs, eBooks & WebTV shows and soon will be launching a brand new type of digital music teaching platform

By Robert Hoskins

Los Angeles, California – For a company that has defied convention by flying under the radar for most of its life, www.LearnToPlayMusic.com (originally called, Koala Music Publications) has a lot of reasons to celebrate on its 35th birthday. The company has just launched a new ecommerce website and wrapped up production on the first season of its acclaimed WebTV series, Music Space. Soon it will be unveiling a new state-of-the-art digital music lesson content platform that will provide the next game-changing evolution of the music learning industry for up and coming musicians.

As rock-n-roll musicians from the same music scene as AC/DC, playing on bills supporting INXS and other iconic Australian rock bands, Gary Turner and Brenton White found their passion in teaching people how to play music. Frustrated at the lack of music training materials for the contemporary guitarist, the duo sensed a huge business opportunity. In 1979 they drew up a business plan on a napkin and soon thereafter founded Koala Music Productions in Adelaide, Australia (click here to read the rest of the story).

LearnToPlayMusic’s Free Ebook and New Digital Music Teaching Platform

“When we first started, if you were a kid who really wanted to learn how to play the guitar, or the piano, or the violin, you had two options; you took lessons with a teacher or you bought a music lesson book from the local music store and taught yourself,” said Gary Turner, LearnToPlayMusic.com’s CEO. “In today’s world, kids are armed with laptops, tablets, and smartphones and now social media and digital content sharing networks are the focal point of their lives and are used 24×7 to keep in touch with friends and family. To tap into this new lifestyle, we realized that once again that we needed to transform our business. In 2009, we started this journey by digitizing over 35-years worth of music lessons, music books and an entire library of analog instructional music videos.”

“We have been tracking the success of subscription-based digital music, eBook and movie downloading services and platforms such as Amazon Prime, Oyster, Netflix, and Spotify. These media companies have been very successful at transforming the way they interact with and sell content and new services to customers,” Turner continued. “We think the music learning industry is going to be very impressed when we unveil our new leading-edge digital music platform, which will make it much easier for aspiring musicians, their parents and music teachers, music schools and music stores to get involved and share the wealth from the booming digital music industry.”

Turner added that, “Soon we will be launching an Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign that will allow musicians and anyone in the music teaching industry to get involved in building our platform. We will be offering some really cool perks to support and fund the project and give everyone that contributes a small piece of the action.”

To receive more information on LearnToPlayMusic.com’s new Digital Media Platform please register at www.learntoplaymusic.com/freemium or contact Gary Turner at gat@learntoplaymusic.com.

A full press kit is available at www.learntoplaymusic.com/press-room.

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Mike Mongo Launches InkShares Crowdfunding Campaign to Write New Astronaut Instruction Manual for Kids in Key West, Florida

The Astronaut Instruction Manual for Kids Lays Out Course to Become an Astronaut by the Year 2025 and Prepare for Careers in Space

By Robert Hoskins

Key West, Florida – Launching a campaign for his debut non-fiction space careers book, “The Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens,” on web-based crowdfunding publishing platform Inkshares.com this week, professional space educator and self-described ‘astronaut teacher’ Mike Mongo is on a mission: to get your kids to space.

Mike Mongo Launches InkShares Crowdfunding Campaign to Write New Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens

“Being a native Floridian, I am a life-long advocate of space. When it comes to converting for space, I was practically born into the role, “ says 49-year old Mongo. “It is one of the reasons I became such a dedicated proponent of space careers to students.”

In addition to his role as Chief Brand & Culture Officer for interstellar space science advocacy non-profit, Icarus Interstellar, and being a popular speaker at space science conferences, Mongo is the Key West-based author of HUMANNAIRES! Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens. After initially self-publishing, Mongo’s book has recently received a new burst of attention and activity from having been selected for crowdfunding by publishing startup Inkshares.com.

“Inkshares is a better model than traditional publishing,”said Adam Gomolin, Inkshares’ Chief Legal Officer, “one that is more remunerative for authors, and more sensibly disperses risk, but does not diminish quality.”

At Inkshares, books are selected by Inkshares editors and then prepared for crowdfunding. After a crowdfund campaign, the successfully funded books are then published for release and distribution in the general market.

“[Our] model allows us to gauge interest in a title and build a community around a book or piece of writing before it even hits the marketplace,” Gomolin explains, “It is like a traditional publishing house with all the editing, marketing and art support — the difference being the crowdfunding model and that our authors keep a lion share of their sales proceeds. In our opinion, everybody wins. And Mike Mongo’s Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens is a title all of us here at Inkshares are very excited about.”

Mongo says the time is right to encourage middle-school age students to pursue careers in in space. “The difference from when I grew up during the Apollo, Skylab, and Space Shuttle eras, and today…is that today private industry is taking the space industry to unimagined heights. Companies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, XCOR, and Bigelow Aerospace are tomorrow’s Apple and Google, they are tomorrow’s Hilton and Ford. These are real companies that already offer real jobs, and soon those jobs with be in space. ”

The crowdfund campaign kicked off this past week for The Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens and has already achieved nearly 15% of its $10,000 goal. If the campaign reaches its financial goal by the campaign’s October 15th deadline, the book will then immediately be prepared for publication.

“It’s exciting,” says Mongo. “I became an astronaut teacher and wrote The Astronaut Instruction Manual for Pre-Teens when it dawned on me several years ago how, for me, astronaut was no longer a viable career option. That epiphany is the exact reason why I became an astronaut teacher and why I wrote the book. I want to make sure all the young students today who want to go to space realize that they genuinely do have the opportunity to live, work, and place in space…and maybe one of them will be so inspired by my book and they will remember and hold a seat for me to come along too!”

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