RE-volv and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Offering Hurricane Zones $120,000 of Matching Funds to Install Solar Panels on Schools, Community Centers, Homeless Shelters, Churches and Other Types of Non-Profit Organizations

Good Samaritan’s that Donate $25 to $1,000 to Help Non-Profits Install Solar Power Arrays Will Receive a Tax Credit in Return for Their Donation to Help Generate Clean, Green Solar Electricity

By Robert Hoskins

Puerto Rico – The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation will provide a $120,000 award of matching funds to RE-volv, a solar crowdfunding platform, to install affordable roof top or community solar power for any non-profit organization located in Florida, Puerto Rico, Texas, and impacted cities throughout the United States. This makes it easy for any charity fundraising organization, school, community center, homeless shelter, pet welfare shelter, church or any other type of 503(c) non-profit organization that would like to install a solar power system to go to revolv.org and build a free crowdfunding profile that will allow them to raise enough money from friends, family and the general public to build solar power arrays that will generate free solar electricity for the next 25 years.

RE-volv and the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation Offering Hurricane Zones $120,000 of Matching Funds to Install Solar on Schools, Community Centers, Homeless Shelters, and Churches

Good Samaritans that would like join academy-award winner, Leonardo DiCapri, and RE-volv in supporting solar crowdfunding campaigns to provide free solar power can donate money online with a credit card.  Anyone that makes a donation will receive a tax credit that can be filed with their personal or corporate tax return at the end of the year.

The partnership will provide matching funding for RE-volv’s 503 (c) crowdfunding platform, allowing donors the opportunity to double their contributions with support from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation.

RE-volv supports solar energy projects for nonprofits that lack access to financing options. An estimated 1.5 million nonprofits in the U.S. face financial barriers to obtaining solar power, as they do not qualify for solar tax credits or are too small to attract traditional investors. RE-volv bridges this funding gap for organizations that provide valuable public services to vulnerable communities, including homeless shelters, schools, community centers, and houses of worship. This is the largest grant to date for RE-volv, a two-time awardee of the U.S. Department of Energy SunShot Initiative.

“RE-volv is working to make sure that the benefits of solar can reach everyone, including nonprofit organizations and the people they serve,” said Andreas Karelas, Executive Director of RE-volv. “Thanks to this generous grant from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, RE-volv will be able to scale its impact and bring solar to even more nonprofits around the country.”

RE-volv’s unique solar crowdfunding platform is the first to employ a revolving fund. Donors select a specific nonprofit to support and, as the project pays back dividends through a solar lease agreement, the user can then reinvest their earnings into new solar projects through the RE-volv platform. This pay-it-forward model helps to accelerate solar energy deployment in local communities while keeping donors engaged in solar projects.

“The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation is excited to support RE-volv,” said Gregory Lopez, Climate Program Director of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. “Not only is their work important in deploying solar energy and reducing greenhouse gasses, their unique solar crowdfunding business model provides an introduction of accessible, renewable energy to new communities.”

To date, RE-volv has raised over $300,000 from over 1,000 people in 22 countries. It has crowdfunded ten solar projects (150 kW of capacity) in four states, include Harbor House in Oakland, which serves refugee, immigrant, and low-income families with after-school programs and ESL classes, and Morris Chapel Baptist Church, the oldest African American Church in Philadelphia.

Thanks to the solar crowdfunding campaigns, grantees are expected to save between 15 and 40 percent on their electric bills. In total, these ten nonprofits will save more than $1.5 million over the life of their solar energy systems. RE-volv’s solar revolving fund, the Solar Seed Fund, is now worth $650,000 in future lease payments from these ten projects – payments which will be used to finance at least 20 more solar energy projects.

In addition to financing projects, RE-volv invites college students, community volunteers and solar advocates to become RE-volv Solar Ambassadors, who in turn lead ground efforts to deploy solar. RE-volv has educated 10,000 people about solar energy through training, outreach, and more than 100 events.

RE-volv empowers people to take direct action on climate change by crowdfunding solar energy projects for nonprofit organizations. Donations made to RE-volv’s crowdfunding campaigns grow a revolving fund that provides solar financing for nonprofits across the nation. RE-volv is an inaugural member of the White House National Community Solar Partnership.

Founded in 1998, the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF) works to protect the Earth’s last wild places by implementing solutions that restore balance to threatened ecosystems, and ensuring the long-term health and wellbeing of all its inhabitants.

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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.

 

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Legion M Closes Over-Subscribed, Record-Setting $1 Million Equity Crowdfunding Campaign on Wefunder Portal

World’s first fan-owned entertainment studio leads the JOBS Act field with 3,000+ investors and significant demand above and beyond the $1 million cap allowed by the SEC’s JOBS Act Regulation CF

 By Robert Hoskins

Silicon Valley, CA – Legion M, the world’s first crowdfunded and now fan-owned entertainment company, announced they have raised one million dollars via their Title III crowdfunding offering on Wefunder. The Company raised the funds in less than three months from a record breaking 3,000+ investors, making it the most popular Reg CF company in the short history of Title III of the JOBS Act. At the time of closing, Legion M was also the number one company in terms of total investment interest and demand, with significantly more demand above and beyond the $1 million dollar funding cap allowed by the SEC, which leaves outstanding appetite for Legion M stock even after the round is closed.

Legion M Closes Oversubscribed, Record-Setting $1 Million Equity Crowdfunding Round on Wefunder

“Legion M shareholders worldwide are celebrating this significant milestone we achieved together. We are truly inspired by their energy, passion and unbridled support. This Legion of dedicated fans have rallied behind us and our movement to make our mark entertainment industry,” said Paul Scanlan, CEO and co-founder of Legion M. “We are grateful to the JOBS Act for the innovative reforms that make this possible. Today we made history, and this is only the beginning.”

 Legion M’s creative partners currently include Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, the team behind Robot Chicken, 42 Entertainment, Meltdown Comics and Alamo Drafthouse.

 “I was impressed with how Legion M’s fans rallied to help them hit the one million dollar milestone eight days early,” said Nick Tommarello, CEO and co-founder of Wefunder. “We designed Wefunder for companies looking to build a stronger relationship with their most passionate customers, who are eager to help their favorite companies succeed. It was great to see how well it worked with Legion M’s well over three thousand investors.”

 “With more than three times the number of investors as any other Reg CF offering, Legion M has set the bar for Title III,” says Sara Hanks, a definitive authority on the JOBS Act and CEO of equity crowdfunding specialists CrowdCheck. “The real power of equity crowdfunding is having an investor base that can increase the value of your company, and Legion M is one of the best illustrations of that so far.”

“Having raised in excess of $100 million from VCs and angel investors for previous companies, we can attest that equity crowdfunding is a game changer,” said Jeff Annison, Legion M president and co-founder. “It’s not just a way to raise money–it’s a whole new paradigm for building a company.”

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Front Page PR Seeks Entrepreneurs, Small Businesses and Franchises that Want to Take Advantage of the New Texas Crowdfunding Rules to Market Equity Investment Opportunities

Top 50 cities in Texas are home to 13.3 million residents that will soon be able to invest up to $5,000 per year in private equity investment opportunities

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Front Page PR (www.crowdfundingPRcampaigns.com), one of America’s leading crowdfunding PR and marketing firms, announced that the firm is now seeking new startups and entrepreneurs that want to take advantage of the new Intrastate Texas Crowdfunding Exemption rules that allows companies to raise up to $1 million from non-accredited investors.

Front Page PR is one of the leading Crowdfunding PR firms in America

On December 1, 2014, for the first time in 80 years, Texas-based startups and entrepreneurs will be able to sell private equity shares to all residents living Texas. In addition, all parties will be able to use mass marketing to advertise and publicize their equity investment opportunities using media outlets that focus on Texas Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs), which are home to more than 26 million potential customers.

Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA)	Population
Houston – The Woodlands – Sugar Land	6,484,279
Dallas – Plano – Richardson – Irving	4,627,393
Fort Worth – Arlington – HEB	2,358,186
San Antonio – New Braunfels	2,334,363
Austin-Round Rock	1,938,858
McAllen-Edinburg-Mission	862,768
El Paso	862,638
Killeen-Temple	445,356
Corpus Christi	443,351
Brownsville-Harlingen	439,437
Beaumont-Port Arthur	413,982
Lubbock	304,682
Laredo	275,686
Amarillo	265,821
Waco	260,728
College Station-Bryan	246,910
Longview	226,407
Tyler	222,781
Abilene	170,164
Wichita Falls	152,426
Midland	150,721
Odessa	145,960
Sherman-Denison	125,901
San Angelo	113,969
Victoria	96,883
Texarkana	93,457
Total:	24,063,107

Approximately 20 million of these customers are over the age of 18 and will be able to invest up to $5,000 per year in private equity placements. Once the state educates its residents and new investors become Internet savvy investors, Texas will represent a $100 billion per year pool of venture capital that small businesses and entrepreneurs can use to raise start up funding.

This will prove to be a boon for the large majority of ideas and business plans that are currently being rejected or ignored by the states 70+ business accelerators and incubators.

Any business that has received the Small Business Administration’s (SBA) rubber stamp to be pre-approved for SBA loans should strongly consider opening a business in Texas. Franchisors and franchises are the perfect business model to help franchisees raise money using the new Texas crowdfunding rules. Unlike many startups that will have an unproven track record, franchises with 5 or more profitable locations should be able to provide investors with a better than average chance of success.

Rural areas are a prime target for economic development in Texas where the demand is present for new restaurants, movie theaters, shopping malls, trampoline parks, entertainment venues, but until now have not had access to traditional venture capital due to their location.

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Contact:
Robert Hoskins
Front Page PR
(512) 627-6622
rhoskins@frontpagepr.com

 

Crowdfunding Gathers Business Mentors, Financial Advisors and Investors in India

By Deepti Chaudhary

LiveMint – Crowdfunding, a practice that takes advantage of the collective effort of individuals who pool money mostly through the Internet to support start-ups, appears to be gathering momentum in India with at least four such initiatives being introduced in the past one year.

Crowdfunding platforms gather momentum in India

Referred to as crowdfunding platforms in investment circles, they have created a new asset class with shared risks that promises start-ups not just funding but also mentoring and advisory services.

Take the case of India’s first crowdfunding portal, Pik A Venture, launched by an MBA student at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Ruchi Dana, in July. Besides funding, the portal also provides advice on legal and company registration issues and offers consulting and guidance on campaigns.

Pik A Venture targets creative minds, budding artists, technical brains, student entrepreneurs and innovators, according to Dana. “We are currently mentoring 12 business ideas and are putting their campaigns online. We don’t want start-ups to just come on our website and fail,” she said.

Pik A Venture will not take any equity stake but charge a percentage of the funding. It will do a soft launch of the platform in the middle of May.

In India, these platforms seem to prefer the creative arts such as films and social causes for raising capital from the general public.

For instance, filmmaker Abhay Kumar raised around Rs.5 lakh over the last 20 days for his documentary Placebo; Onir’s I Am raised around Rs.1 crore over six-nine months, while Kannada film Lucia by filmmaker Pawan Kumar raised more than Rs.50 lakh over 30 days.

Starting Blocks Media Ventures Pvt. Ltd is launching its crowdfunding platform, Catapooolt, to focus on creative projects such as films, music, performing arts and books in mid-April.

“In case of crowdfunding for films and music, the copyright of the project lies with the producer or the one who posts the project on the site,” said Satish Kataria, managing director, Catapooolt, adding the site is the first ever official crowd-funding platform for the Hong Kong Film Festival 2013.

Experts say while crowdfunding takes time, as much as 8-10 months for a deal, it increases the pool of available capital.

Start-ups can use crowdfunding to make a pitch that can be accessed by investors subscribing to the service. The investors range from professional ones to business people. The minimum investment could be as low as Rs.1,000 with no upper limit.

The pitch includes details such as the background of the entrepreneurs, the business offering and plans, financials and funding requirements.

Once a pool of investors shows interest in backing the start-up, the funds raised are directed to the company through the platform. The platform could have a member of its team on the board of the venture. Investors will have complete access to the company’s financial plans and performance on a monthly basis. The platform typically takes a percentage of the fund raised through it.

Varun Sheth and film star Kunal Kapoor launched Ketto on 15 August to build an online network focusing on philanthropy in India. It connects non-profits and other companies aiming for social impact with the public.

There is a large opportunity in crowdfunding as it resolves the problem of lack of funding, according to Sheth, who added that at least half a dozen more crowdfunding platforms would start by the year end.

“Crowdfunding is a big disruption for financial services industry, it cuts the middlemen away. Social media and Internet growth has increased the awareness and viability of such platforms,” said Sheth. Ketto is right now raising Rs.1 crore for itself and expects to close the fund raising in about 45 days.

Sheth said facilitating donations is an interesting space for a crowdfunding platform as there is a lot of disposable income in India and increasingly more people are looking at giving back to society.

“The mandatory 2% CSR (corporate social responsibility) would also increase pools for crowdfunding platforms,” he said, referring to the new companies Act that mandates such spending. The Act is yet to be passed by Parliament.

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