iSupportJamaica.com Launches New MicroFinance Crowdfunding Platform in Jamaica

Jamaica’s First Crowd-Funding Website will Support Micro Businesses

by Philip Bernard, General Manager, JN Small Business Loans Limited

JNSBL has unveiled the country’s first “crowd-funding” website, isupportjamaica.com, to hundreds of Jamaicans living overseas, who attended the 2013 Jamaica Diaspora Conference, held June 16 – 19 at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in St. James, Jamaica.

I Support makes it easy for people around the world to support organisations and small businesses in Jamaica

The project is being implemented and managed through a strategic partnership between the company’s philanthropic arm, the JN Foundation, and JNSBL, says new JNSBL General Manager, Philip Bernard and will assist Jamaicans wanting to start a micro business to raise funds to do so.

Underscoring that JNSBL is a social enterprise which upholds the mutuality concept framing the Jamaica National brand, Mr. Bernard said the website emphasises the company’s “mandate to promote the development of the micro and small business sector, through access to financial services, and by extension, the Jamaican economy.”

“Our Jamaican landscape is lush with bright ideas that only require the necessary seed funding so that they can be explored and realised,” he said, pointing out that many micro entrepreneurs continue to find it difficult to access start-up funds from traditional institutions because of their perceived high risk.

“Therefore, as a social organisation, JNSBL has developed this approach to broaden access for all our micro entrepreneurs, because this is a critical sector of the economy that will indeed play a major role in shaping the future of Jamaica,” he said.

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Start A Cure Donation-Based Crowdfunding Platform Launched to Streamline Cancer Research Donations

Upset at the Amount of Donations Actually Donated to Cancer Research, Start A Cure Lauches World’s First Crowdfunding Site Directed Entirely to Cancer Research Funding

By Robert Hoskins

Start A Cure is the world’s first patient focused research crowdfunding platform to be entirely directed at cancer. Start A Cure launched with a call to action to a small portion of our cancer researcher contacts to upload projects for funding beginning on June 1, 2013 for beta testing. Start A Cure is the crowdfunding for cancer research project created by the national patient advocacy nonprofit, Malecare, which is one of America’s largest men’s cancer support and advocacy national nonprofit corporations.

Upset at the Amount of Donations Actually Donated to Cancer Research, Start A Cure Lauches World’s First Crowdfunding Site Directed Entirely to Research Funding

Listening to its large cancer survivor community, Malecare learned about the large untapped pool of potential donors who want more control over where their money goes. Right or wrong, these potential donors are cynical about the way research projects are selected by government agencies and foundations for funding. They would rather choose specific projects to fund and have the opportunity to connect directly with the scientists guiding those projects. Many are also unhappy about the small percentage of donated dollars that researchers receive from government and charitable foundations. Malecare and its all-volunteer cancer survivor leadership decided to act. The emergence of crowdfunding websites, like Kickstarter and Indiegogo and pro bono finance sites such as Kiva provoked an opportunity to create a new kind of platform that both informs and empowers cancer patients and their family, friends and allies to directing their funding dollars towards research that can have meaning in their lives. Start A Cure instantly received support from the cancer researcher community. Dozens of cancer project managers from leading institutions and academic centers like Harvard, John’s Hopkins, UCLA and MD Anderson requested that their research be part of Start A Cure’s launch. By posting text and video of individual researchers and their current projects, Start A Cure raises both funds and awareness for cancer research. Donors search and browse through a menu of current research projects and choose to donate funds to projects that resonate in their own lives. By creating an efficient web based distribution system, Start A Cure is able to distribute 92% of funds raised directly to researchers, far more than any other cancer research funding scheme. Start A Cure also helps inspire students and provides hope to our cancer survivor community, by highlighting the people working night and day to develop better treatments and cures; helping us all live happier and longer lives. Projects include those that have already received foundation, government and other grants, along with projects seeking proof of concept funding. Start A Cure will quickly become the fundraising platform for all tumor types. Start A Cure is entirely complementary and supportive of the existing fundraising foundations and modalities and will only grow our cancer research capacities, worldwide.

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SEC Issues Call for Crowdfunding Suggestions to Promote Small Business Capital Formation

By Robert Hoskins

The SEC will be hosting the 2013 Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation on November 21, 2013, from 9:00 am to 5:15 pm at its headquarters at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549.  The event will focus on the new rules for capital formation concerning small businesses.  This gathering has assembled annually since 1982, as mandated by the Small Business Investment Incentive Act of 1980.

SEC Crowdfunding Call for Comments for Small Business Capital Formation to be held on November 15, 2013

The 2013 Forum will include both morning panel sessions and afternoon breakout groups. The panel sessions will be webcast live on the SEC’s home page at www.SEC.gov beginning at 9:00 a.m. The afternoon breakout groups will not be webcast, but will be accessible by telephone conference call to pre-registered members of the public. Members of the public who wish to attend the Forum in person at SEC headquarters are also requested to pre-register.

Members of the public may attend the Forum in person without charge, but are asked to pre-register online. Anyone wishing to participate in a breakout group meeting, either in person or by teleconference, must register online by November 15, 2013. A day or so before the Forum, we will e-mail a call-in telephone number and access code to registrants who have indicated they plan to participate in a breakout group meeting by telephone conference call. You also may use the online registration form to let the SEC staff know you are interested in having your name on the mailing list for future Forums.

A major purpose of the Forum is to provide a platform to highlight perceived unnecessary impediments to small business capital formation and address whether they can be eliminated or reduced. Each forum seeks to develop recommendations for government and private action to improve the environment for small business capital formation, consistent with other public policy goals, including investor protection.

Participants in the Forum typically have included small business executives, venture capitalists, government officials, trade association representatives, lawyers, accountants, academics and small business advocates. In recent years, the format of the Forum typically has emphasized small interactive breakout groups developing recommendations for governmental action.

Last Year’s 2012 Government-Business Forum on Small Business Capital Formation held last November 15, 2012 in Washington, D.C. The following materials on the 2012 Forum are available:

• 2012 Forum Final Report
• Additional 2012 Forum Materials

To suggest Crowdfunding topics and recommendations for facilitating small business capital formation to be considered at the 2013 Forum, please send them to the SEC Office of Small Business Policy at SmallBusiness@sec.gov or 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20549-3628.

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