Crowdfunding PR Rolls Out Title IV, Reg. A+ 2-Month Crowdfunding Prep Work Program to Help Startups and Existing Businesses Learn How to Launch More Successful Crowdfunding Campaigns

The Crowdfunding Prep Work Program Helps Campaign Managers Amass a Large Crowd of Followers on Social Media and Utilize PR to Generate Hundreds of News Articles on Leading Media Outlets

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas – Want to learn how to launch a successful Title IV, Reg. A+ equity crowdfunding campaign? To help crowdfunders achieve this elusive goal, Crowdfunding PR announced a special two-month Crowdfunding Prep Work Program that will significantly improve a crowdfunding campaign’s success rate by amplifying its management team’s social media profiles and by utilizing an effective crowdfunding PR campaign to generate hundreds of stories via electronic news media outlets prior to the crowdfunding campaign’s launch.

How to Plan a Successful Crowdfunding PR Campaign by Following this Secret Step-by-Step Process

Social Media Campaigns
Conducting a strong social media marketing campaign is one of the biggest challenges that many Title IV, Reg. A+ Crowdfunding Campaigns will face. Improving weak social media credentials for companies is critical to crowdfunding success. What many entrepreneurs and startups need to recognize is how important social media is in the world of crowdfunding.

“The very first thing that an investor/donor does when they read through a crowdfunding profile they like is to look up the company and its team members on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to check out their credentials,” said Robert Hoskins, Crowdfunding PR’s Director of Crowdfunding Campaigns. “Having a strong resume on LinkedIn, lots of likes on Facebook and an army of followers on Twitter is crucial to determining the strength of the team and the likelihood that they have the tenacity and marketing skill set to deliver on their crowdfunding campaign’s promises.”

Public Relations/Publicity Campaigns
The second biggest task is generating stories on electronic news media outlets and blogs prior to launching a crowdfunding campaign. Not only can a well-orchestrated crowdfunding PR campaign generate hundreds of free, positive trade press articles to support the fundraising effort, but the same targeted, search-engine-optimized (SEO) press releases will continue to drive new investors, potential customers as well as sales/distribution partners to the business long after the crowdfunding campaign ends.

“Most investors/donors will do a Google search to see what they can find online for both the company and its team members,” Hoskins continued. “With a two-month crowdfunding prep work campaign there will be several pages of search engine results that link to the client’s website pages, their social media posts/profiles and the crowdfunding campaign’s temporary landing page until they launch an equity crowdfunding campaign on SeedInvest.com, StartEngine.com, Republic.co, WeFunder.com or any other Title IV, Reg. A+ equity crowdfunding sites.

Contact Crowdfunding PR
If you would like to speak with a crowdfunding PR, social media and/or marketing expert regarding your crowdfunding campaign, please call Robert Hoskins at (512) 627-6622.

# # #

(512) 627-6622
@Crowdfunding_PR

---

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.

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

Mr. Hoskins is one of the crowdfunding industry’s foremost crowdfunding advocates and has amassed a huge social media following that is dedicated to supporting donation-, rewards- and equity-based crowdfunding campaigns. Due to the overwhelming demand from the general public for crowdfunding information, he empowers entrepreneurs with some of the internet’s most affordable ($20) online crowdfunding training classes, which provide insight to startups around the world on a 24 x 7 basis.

Advertisement

Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and other Global Markets in 2015

Seeking New Crowdfunding Sites on a Worldwide Basis to Be Ranked for the Upcoming June 2015 Top Crowdfunding Sites in the United States and the Rest of the World

 By Robert Hoskins

[Click to Tweet this Top 100 List to Your Friends]

United States – We are currently updating our List of the Top 100 Crowdfunding Sites for 2015 in the United States, Europe, Asia, South America, Africa and other global markets.  

Clicking on the website traffic links below will take readers to one of the most insightful resources of information that details each website’s traffic ranking; the number of unique visitors per month; the average time spent on each site per visit; and the number of pages viewed per each visit.

Of more interest to crowdfunding campaign managers will be the precise ratio of social media, content marketing, search engine marketing, email marketing and display advertising that is being utilized by each crowdfunding site’s marketing campaigns to drive readers and investors to their crowdfunding profiles.

GoFundMe vs Kickstarter SimilarWeb Stats

Even though these numbers reflect the aggregation of all of a given portal’s crowdfunding campaigns marketing efforts, they offer direct evidence of what is working and what is not.  Note the difference on how much social media and display advertising is being used by the Top 10 Crowdfunding Sites compared the lower 90 crowdfunding sites. 

This information can be used by crowdfunding sites as well as their crowdfunders to get a thorough understanding on how to plan future marketing campaigns that will have a higher than average success rate.

Want to know how GoFundMe just bypassed Kickstarter as the #1 crowdfunding platform on the planet? Click on the links below and use the comparison tool to show side-by-side comparisons of SEO keywords, link referrals, and social media usage. See the bottom of the page for more crowdfunding marketing tips.

[Click Here to Tweet this Top 100 List of Crowdfunding Sites]

Rank	© Front Page PR	Global Rank
#1 (2014: #2)	www.gofundme.com	1,318
#2 (2014: #1)	www.kickstarter.com	1,373
#3 (2014: #3)	www.angel.co	2,010
#4 (2014: #6)	www.indiegogo.com	2,277
#5 (2014: #4)	www.lendingclub.com	7,545
#6 (2014: #9)	www.justgiving.com	8,558
#7 (2014: #8)	www.youcaring.com	13,563
#8 (2014: #12)	www.kiva.org	15,111
#9 (2014: #23)	www.ulule.com	16,099
#10 (2014: #15)	www.donorschoose.org	21,617
#11 (2014: #17)	www.pledgemusic.com	24,461
#12 (2014: #13)	www.crowdrise.com	26,906
#13 (2014: #18)	www.tilt.com	29,512
#14 (2014: #10)	www.giveforward.com	32,576
#15 (2014: #38)	www.crowdcube.com	34,262
#16 (2014: #5)	www.fundingcircle.com	34,307
#17 (2014: #14)	www.razoo.com	44,329
#18 (2014: #16)	www.fundly.com	48,132
#19 (2014: #36)	www.pozible.com	48,898
#20 (2014: #19)	www.firstgiving.com	58,401
#21 (2014: #20)	www.fundrazr.com	64,163
#22 (2014: #27)	www.circleup.com	68,095
#23 (2014: #25)	www.fundable.com	73,430
#24 (2014: #new)	www.kickante.com.br	75,510
#25 (2014: #26)	www.crowdfunder.com	77,551
#26 (2014: #34)	www.equitynet.com	88,181
#27 (2014: #new)	www.zeczec.com	90,296
#28 (2014: #35)	www.gogetfunding.com	97,023
#29 (2014: #29)	www.fundrise.com	112,206
#30 (2014: #55)	www.fundedbyme.com	116,409
#31 (2014: #new)	www.experiment.com	133,573
#32 (2014: #22)	www.realtymogul.com	134,519
#33 (2014: #61)	www.geldvoorelkaar.nl	146,963
#34 (2014: #new)	www.onevest.com	149,343
#35 (2014: #24)	www.rockethub.com	149,430
#36 (2014: #33)	www.wefunder.com	169,021
#37 (2014: #32)	www.offbeatr.com	174,673
#38 (2014: #30)	www.seedinvest.com	184,226
#39 (2014: #37)	www.slated.com	210,555
#40 (2014: #new)	www.patchofland.com	220,267
#41 (2014: #43)	www.givezooks.com	234,356
#42 (2014: #58)	www.pledgie.com	241,865
#43 (2014: #new)	www.microventures.com	241,967
#44 (2014: #28)	www.fundanything.com	248,200
#45 (2014: #46)	www.ourcrowd.com	248,635
#46 (2014: #44)	www.pave.com	268,856
#47 (2014: #68)	www.growvc.com	285,285
#48 (2014: #62)	www.ppl.com.pt	297,874
#49 (2014: #48)	www.dragoninnovation.com	306,056
#50 (2014: #54)	hwww.seedandspark.com	319,789
#51 (2014: #47)	www.pubslush.com	336,465
#52 (2014: #41)	www.opportunity.org	354,764
#53 (2014: #45)	www.peerform.com	376,044
#54 (2014: #60)	www.bolstr.com	388,543
#55 (2014: #new)	www.investx.com	403,141
#56 (2014: #11)	www.uinvest.com.ua	417,925
#57 (2014: #new)	www.plumfund.com	421,110
#58 (2014: #40)	www.fundraise.com	433,539
#59 (2014: #new)	www.earlyshares.com	442,508
#60 (2014: #new)	www.barnraiser.us	482,296
#61 (2014: #new)	www.flashfunders.com	485,226
#62 (2014: #new)	www.trucrowd.com	485,665
#63 (2014: #57)	www.piggybackr.com	518,504
#64 (2014: #67)	www.symbid.com	558,247
#65 (2014: #new)	www.crowdstreet.com	704,602
#66 (2014: #39)	www.assetavenue.com	742,849
#67 (2014: #51)	www.microgiving.com	834,667
#68 (2014: #new)	pitchfunder.asufoundation.org	861,826
#69 (2014: #77)	www.artistshare.com	928,003
#70 (2014: #new)	www.nextseed.com	992,563
#71 (2014: #76)	www.appsfunder.com	1,047,453
#72 (2014: #42)	www.assob.com.au	1,049,032
#73 (2014: #79)	www.foodstart.com	1,080,478
#74 (2014: #new)	www.loquidity.com	1,087,691
#75 (2014: #70)	www.faithlauncher.com	1,089,032
#76 (2014: #80)	www.solarmosaic.com	1,108,499
#77 (2014: #new)	www.crowdfundingpays.com	1,256,560
#78 (2014: #new)	www.dreamfunded.com	1,267,585
#79 (2014: #82)	www.propellr.com	1,350,583
#80 (2014: #75)	www.pledgecents.com	1,363,715
#81 (2014: #new)	www.massventure.com	1,388,521
#82 (2014: #new)	www.crowd2fund.com	1,494,834
#83 (2014: #96)	www.ipledg.com	1,567,232
#84 (2014: #new)	www.texasenetworks.com	1,721,280
#85 (2014: #63)	www.icrowd.com	1,769,510
#86 (2014: #65)	www.banktothefuture.com	1,836,932
#87 (2014: #new)	www.acquirerealestate.com	2,169,205
#88 (2014: #056)	www.sterlingfunder.com	2,533,134
#89 (2014: #new)	www.realtywealth.com	2,647,893
#90 (2014: #85)	www.massivemov.com	2,826,166
#91 (2014: #89)	www.venturehealth.com	3,931,192
New	www.offerboard.com	4,112,781
#92 (2014: #31)	www.rockthepost.com	4,505,534
#93 (2014: #84)	www.funderhut.com	5,182,841
#94 (2014: #83)	www.fundafeast.com	5,325,919
#95 (2014: #71)	www.crowdit.com	5,535,187
#96 (2014: #88)	www.crowdhelps.com	5,892,083
#97 (2014: #95)	www.crowdfundingbank.com	6,503,461
#98 (2014: #98)	www.startacure.com	8,281,014
#99 (2014: #78)	www.cMEcompete.com	9,332,644
#100 (2014: #87)	www.endlesscrowds.com	12,934,557

Source: Feb 2015 SimilarWeb Website Statistics

Crowdfunding PR’s goal is simple. We want to make it possible for crowdfunders to shop for  crowdfunding platforms in a similar manner to the way media planners/buyers used to analyze ABC and BPA audit statements to buy advertisements in the business-to-business trade publication industry, where important media buying decisions were based on straight mathematics, not popularity or random guessing.

For example, would you rather run a crowdfunding campaign on a site where visitors are looking at 2-3 pages in around 3 minute’s time or a site where buyers are spending 6 to 11 minutes reviewing 6 to 10 pages?

This is the difference between shoppers who are visiting a site to see a particular crowdfunding campaign based on a marketing campaign versus people who are visiting a site to explore and actually shop around to find good deals to buy or invest their money.

This is why launching a campaign on Kickstarter or GoFundMe does not guarantee success. While GoFundMe or Kickstarter may be the largest sites in the world, people are only spending enough time to shop through more than 2 to 3 crowdfunding profiles before they exit. While other sites like Razoo.com, DonorsChoose.org, and FundingCircle.com have visitors that stay more than 6 to 11 minutes and view 6 to 10 pages.

When researching, planning and executing successful marketing programs for both crowdfunding platforms as well as their individual crowdfunding customer profiles, it is extremely important to see what is driving the most traffic to any given crowdfunding site.  Success is usually determined not only by what site the crowdfunding campaign is being hosted on, but also the marketing programs being harnessed to drive potential donors/investors to a specific crowdfunding profile.

Clicking on each link above will allow media planners/buyers to understand what role direct traffic (content marketing), search engines (SEO, PPC Advertising), social media (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Reddit, Quora), email marketing and display advertising (Google Display, Outbrain, AppNexus) are having on the success of crowdfunding campaigns.

For example, when planning a social media strategy, one of the most popular questions we get asked is – what social media networks are driving the most visitor traffic? Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Quora, Reddit, YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram? The links above will make this answer crystal clear.

Not satisfied with your position on the list? Front Page PR’s team of crowdfunding PR, social media and marketing experts can help crowdfunding sites and crowdfunding campaigns plan the perfect mix of integrated marketing programs to significantly improve the amount of website traffic being driven to any given fundraising campaign or crowdfunding platform.

Feel free to call (512) 627-6622 with questions or request help to improve your website statistics before June.

# # #

If you’d like to add your site to the Top 100 list, please fill out the form below.

Website(required)

Your Name(required)

Cell Phone(required)

Email

Submit

Δ

Equity Crowdfunding Platform, MicroVentures, Touts Track Record of Raising More than $50 Million for New Pre-IPO Startup Companies

MicroVentures portfolio includes some of the world’s leading equity investments including Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Republic Project, LaunchRock and Loom

By Robert Hoskins

Austin, Texas –  Online venture capital platform, MicroVentures, announced that the company has raised more than $50 million directly for its portfolio companies, while generating positive returns for its investors through successful exits, such as the recent acquisition of Space Monkey, a cloud data storage company, by Vivint, on of the the largest home automation services provider in North America.

MicroVentures portfolio includes some of the world’s leading investments including Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Republic Project, LaunchRock and Loom

Accelerated growth of MicroVentures will be fueled by new investment opportunities that cater to investors’ rising interests, such as late stage pre-IPO companies and real estate. The company’s focus includes investments in internet technology, media and entertainment, software, green technology, mobile, social and gaming.

“We set out five years ago to create the user-friendly platform that connects investors and startups at the seed stage,” said Bill Clark, founder of MicroVentures. “Today MicroVentures not only connects, but leads investment rounds for our portfolio companies – the first equity crowdfunding platform to play this role. This milestone showcases the viability of the equity crowdfunding business and we look forward to continuing to grow alongside our investors and entrepreneurs.”

The more than $50 million raised to date includes investments in successful companies such as Twitter (IPO), Facebook (IPO), Yelp (IPO), Republic Project (acquired), LaunchRock (acquired), and Loom (acquired by Dropbox). Other notable start-ups that are currently part of the MicroVentures’ portfolio include Structured Polymers, Soldsie, Biomeme and Oru Kayak, who was featured in the last season of Shark Tank and is actively raising capital via the MicroVentures platform today.

“MicroVentures gave us the opportunity to pitch in front of over 20,000 global investors,” said Nathan Derrick, CEO of Supplyhog. “This allowed us to spend less time raising capital and more time growing our business.”

Since establishing itself in 2010 as one of the first equity crowdfunding platforms that is a FINRA registered broker-dealer, MicroVentures has grown its investor community from 200 individuals to more than 22,000 individuals. The company has done so through building expertise, security, selectivity, due diligence, personalized customer service and accessibility for both accredited and non-accredited investors. The MicroVentures team is committed to providing confidence for both startups and investors through its dedication to rigorous due diligence and to personal relationships with investors.

# # #

Feedback Wanted: Creating a National Crowdfunding Campaign Rating System

Crowdfunding platforms need to add crowdfunding campaign rating systems, portfolios of crowdfunding service providers and social media network graphing APIs to improve success ratios

By Robert Hoskins

We work with lots of people who want to launch crowdfunding campaigns.  It is surprising how many are completely unaware that they need a startup business plan before considering launching a crowdfunding campaign, especially when the main goal is to raise money to start a new business.  Even project related crowdfunding campaigns would benefit from writing up a business plan to help campaign managers organize and to think logically about what they are trying to accomplish with their fundraising campaign.

Front Page PR is the #1 Crowdfunding PR firm in America

One of the most popular crowdfunding services that is in demand from crowdfunding campaign managers is quality advice/feedback on their initial efforts to shoot a good crowdfunding video, write up an effective crowdfunding profile and write enticing calls-to-actions for their campaign’s perks, rewards, donations and soon-to-be investment performas.

The biggest reason that crowdfunding campaigns fail right now is because they do a poor job of providing elementary campaign planning requirements such as conducting a thorough competitive analysis, writing a business plan, creating a corporate message map, building an experienced management team, establishing a target audience, planning a marketing budget to reach their target audience, and predicting with some certainty a perks/rewards (sales) forecast complete with a return-on-investment analysis.

It sure would be great to see crowdfunding platforms start requiring campaign managers to fill out both a business plan section as well as the crowdfunding campaign. It may require extra work, but it certainly would improve a platform’s success ratio.

During this campaign planning process, it would be extremely beneficial for campaign managers to be provided with a database of third-party experts to give them professional advice and counseling.   This behind-the-scene step would allow them to seek professional advice from marketing, financial, legal and other pre-qualified crowdfunding service providers in order to evaluate and critique their campaigns before they went live. In addition, they could utilize these same experts to help them build a professional management team that would add credibility to their crowdfunding profiles.

After the campaign goes live, a public rating system would kick in that would allow investors/donors to rate each module of the business plan and the crowdfunding campaign on a scale of 1 to 10 based on their perception of the information provided. Or, perhaps the crowd should be allowed to ask questions or click on a green, yellow or red flag depending on how they felt about each section of the crowdfunding pitch provided. This would be an extremely good way for thousands of people to work together to vet and weed out fraudulent campaigns by raising red flags at the appropriate time.

To keep negative sharks from bashing without compassion, other users could evaluate advisers and ban people that are considered to be trouble makers after a certain number of derogatory comments that are detrimental versus instrumental.  The purpose would be to educate the masses as more and more investors begin logging on to invest in upcoming equity crowdfunding deals.

In addition, all crowdfunding platforms should be required to use the social graphing APIs from Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and other social media networking sites so that everyone can research everyone to see who they are and what their professional credentials are.  This would also encourage crowdfunders to do a lot more work on improving their social media profiles and networks before attempting to launch a fundraising campaign.

Just like media outlet comment sections, people without social media profiles should be banned from creating crowdfunding campaigns as well as critiquing them.  This also might be an easier way to govern who is allowed to invest and what their budget level is on an annual basis based on their status as an accredited or unaccredited investor.

Once a national, standardized crowdfunding rating system is up and running, which may take quite a while, it will be easier for novice investors to search secure crowdfunding platforms for investment opportunities based on their desired crowdfunding rating and risk assessment criteria.

Some basic Crowdfunding Rating Modules to get the conversation started:

Business Plan Rating Modules:

• Mission Statement
• Objectives
• Strategies
• Management Team
• Legal Issues
• Competitive Analysis
• Target Audience
• Positioning
• Pricing
• Promotion
• Place (location)
• Distribution Channels
• Campaign Goals
• Campaign Expenses
• Campaign Revenue
• Campaign Deliverables
• Campaign ROI
• Exit Strategy (even though Mark Cuban says no)

Crowdfunding Campaign Rating Modules:

• Crowdfunding Goal
• Campaign Length
• Pitch Video
• Pitch Profile
• Perks/Rewards/ROI%
• Marketing Budget
• Industry Growth Predictions
• Sales Forecast
• Funds Usage
• Barriers to Success
• Fulfillment Milestones
• Social Impact
• Post-Campaign Fulfillment Audit

 # # #

Name(required)

Email(required)

Business Website

Feedback(required)

Submit

Δ

Orlando Realtor Creates Down Payment Crowdfunding Site HomeFunded.com

The innovation of Crowdfunding has helped people raise money for everything from business startups to inventions to movies but never before in the form of down payment funds to be used to purchase a home

By Robert Hoskins, Front Page Public Relations

When an Orlando Realtor presented his client’s offer for $30,000 over asking price in order to compete with private investors and hedge funds using all cash to buy a home, he never knew that the idea he had that day would become a reality. Now the local Realtor is making his way into the crowdfunding industry to help potential homeowners raise the down payment needed to buy a home with HomeFunded.com.

First Home Down Payment Crowdfunding Site, Provides Hope to Potential Home Buyers

“Who would have thought that on a day when a client had to offer $30,000 over the asking price just to get an accepted offer would also bring hope for potential home buyers” states Realtor Aaron Mighty. He has started what many would have thought unlikely in the current improving housing market, an opportunity for those with less resources, building a crowdfunding site from the ground up all on the simple premise that home buyers should come first not hedge funds.

Not only will HomeFunded.com provide qualified home buyers an opportunity to put down more on a home to compete against hedge funds, who seemingly are buying up every quality home on the market for rental purposes, but it will also open up more opportunities for homeownership to working class families who have been struggling to bridge the gap between renting and owning.

HomeFunded.com will work by bringing together home buyers who will start a down payment campaign by sharing their stories of what homeownership means to them with their social network via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and the HomeFunded.com community to attract contributors who will gift funds in increments of five dollars to help them reach their down payment goals.

So will HomeFunded.com change the way home buyers look at down payments? Only time will tell if the concept is viable but the idea is certainly innovative and “the future of the American dream of homeownership has never been brighter” says Mighty.

Related articles

• Can You Afford to Buy a House?
• Crowdfunding Evolution
• Crowdfunding’s Growth Spurt Going Strong
• Which is the Best Crowdfunding Platform?
• Crowdfunding For Social Good Book Review
• 22 Crowdfunding Sites (and How To Choose Yours!)
• Wattpad Offering Crowdfunding For Publishing
• A New Crowdfunding Platform For Hardware Entrepreneurs
• Getting Your Invention off of the Ground with Crowdfunding
• Crowdfund – One year on!

UrbanCloud.com Launches Indiegogo Crowdfunding to Change The Way People View Networks, Information and Social Commerce

Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign Currently Raising Funds to Build a New Type of Social Network Designed Specifically to Promote Social Commerce for Individuals and Businesses

By Robert Hoskins

Urban Cloud is an innovative social network that unites people on a platform designed to promote collaboration. The company claims that there is still no social media platform that provides a secure, enjoyable interface for social commerce – one that respects its users’ privacy, and discourages the buying and selling of social capital with fake profiles. Instead, why not focus on collaboration?

UrbanCould plans respect its users’ privacy and discourage the buying and selling of social capital with fake profiles

The founders of UrbanCloud believe they can make a difference by creating a social network designed specifically to meet the needs of social commerce applications such as promoting  crowdfunding campaigns.

“We recognize the problems existing social networks face and we’re offering you the chance to fix them. We’re tired of seeing the same old user experience, the impact of fake profiles, annoying advertising and misleading, opaque privacy policies,” said Sharan Soni, UrbanCloud. “We have already signed several brands onto the platform who share our vision: Quintessentially Lifestyle & Creative, Aftershock London, Patrick Hellmann Collection, Citizen M, Royal Spades and Ava Mirabelle.”

Soni added, “We are crowdfunding this exceptionally well-designed and secure platform, dedicated to social commerce for individuals and businesses. With your collaboration and contribution(s) we will make this happen.”

The company is focused on developing five key areas of innovation:

• Innovative Design – Urban Cloud is the world’s first social media platform that seamlessly unites social networking and marketing.
• Native Advertising – Urban Cloud uses a proprietary algorithm called STAC (Space, Time, Active, Content) to blend advertising into a user’s social timeline.
• Validation – Urban Cloud is able to weed out unverified and fake/spam user accounts, allowing for an enhanced social media experience for advertisers and users.
• Positive Reinforcement – Urban Cloud features a unique reward system, through which a user can accumulate points for interacting with a business. These can be redeemed for rewards to build brand loyalty and recognise social influencers all at once.
• Retailing – Each and every user can play a role in effortless and seamless retailing of virtual goods and services using Urban Cloud.

Only half of what Urban Cloud will do has been released. The rest is being given over to the people; their voices will influence what features are implemented next and how the cloud develops.

Related crowdfunding news articles:

• Why crowdfunding journalism works
• Crowdfunding Press Center Releases the First Global 100 Crowdfunding Site Index
• Tech Insights: Tips on Maximising Social Media for your Business
• How has crowdfunding changed the venture capital landscape?
• Crowdfunding vs. seed funding: All money is not created equal
• Review of Two Crowdfunding Sites: Kickstarter and Indiegogo
• The Rise Of Social Commerce: How Tweets, Pins And Likes Can Turn Into Sales

How to Use Crowdfunding to Exceed Your Fundraising Goal in a Week: The Story of One Fund Boston

By Stephanie Kapera, Software Advice

In light of tragedy and disaster, crowdfunding can be a particularly successful fundraising strategy if a multichannel approach is taken. The One Fund Boston was formed in response to the Boston Marathon bombings. In just a matter of days, the organization raised more than $20 million, and stirred quite a media frenzy with their impressive figures.

Software Advice helps software buyers find the right software

Though disasters of any sort are always tragic, nonprofit organizations can raise considerable money for a cause by launching immediate campaigns as a response. In the case of The One Fund Boston, there was immediate support from donors wishing to help those impacted by the bombings.

The One Fund Boston’s use of Teespring and Pinterest drew mass attention quickly, and the subsequent dollars the organization was seeking. Teespring allowed several individuals to create custom t-shirts in honor of the tragedy. From there, clever use of thought leaders and social media tools flourished.

Based on The One Fund Boston’s success, here are five tips your nonprofit organization should keep in mind when trying to launch a response crowdfunding campaign:

1. Act Quickly: The window to act is very small. It’s crucial to launch a response campaign as soon as possible following a “focusing event.” It’s important to also keep in mind that online donations after disaster drop within just one week. Acting quickly is pertinent for a successful campaign.
2. Leverage Online Influencers: Leveraging those who already have an established footprint in the social media sphere is also very valuable. In this particular case, several of those involved in The One Fund Boston reached out to Joe Waters, a well-known figure in the nonprofit sector. Waters then gathered support through his Twitter and Pinterest accounts, both of which have significant followings.
3. Use Multiple Channels: Using Pinterest and Twitter together led to a more widespread outreach in this case. In other cases, it’s important to also use Facebook, other social media sites like LinkedIn, and blogs. Using all the available tools during a response campaign can spread a message like wildfire. k
4. Create a Hashtag: Hashtags are essentially bookmarks. By creating campaign-specific hashtags, not only does it brand the campaign, it can also lead to special partnerships like the case of #TeamAutism; Samsung and the Dan Marino Foundation established a partnership where Samsung agreed to donate $5 for every “#TeamAustin” tweet. In just three days, more than $100,000 was raised.
5. Get Visual: Infographics and visual support are proven to stir more interest in a campaign. Most learning occurs visually, so using visual tools along with social media strategy can help improve the success rate of campaigns.

Collectively, these tools can help maximize the success of your crowdfunding campaign.

 # # #

Related articles

• T-Shirt Love. TeeSpring
• My Very First Giveaway: Run Now wristband
• Ignite Lincoln to give $5,000 to nonprofit; groups must apply with a tweet
• Are Social Media Hashtags More Effective than Traditional Search Engine Keywords?
• 6 Characteristics of Awesome Nonprofit Pins
• 24 Ways to Use Pinterest Trends to Drive Fundraising and Cause Awareness
• United Way of the National Capital Area announces plans for “Do More 24” crowdfunding campaign
• Four Facebook Status Functions Your Nonprofit May Not Know About
• Nonprofits Need to Rethink Their Infographic Addiction
• Too much #hashtag! Time to wise up about the pound sign

SirenGPS Launches Indiegogo Crowdfunding Campaign to Enable Emergency First Responders to Arrive Faster

By Robert Hoskins

SirenGPS, a start-up software company looking to revolutionize emergency communication and response, will raise development funds of$150,000 in 28 days on the increasingly popular crowdfunding site Indiegogo.com. Siren’s “crowdfunding campaign” can be found at http://igg.me/at/FundSiren/x/1907888. 

SirenGPS: Emergency Communication Software

Paul Rauner, institutional insurance industry expert and SirenGPS founder, started the company because he identified gaps in existing community emergency response systems that today’s advanced digital technologies can solve. Simply put: Using SirenGPS, first responders can get to the scene of a crisis faster. “The goal of what we’re doing is to take advantage of today’s smartphone technology to get help there faster,” Rauner says. “That will save lives.”

Highlights:

• SirenGPS Taps Fund-Raising Innovator Indiegogo For 28-Day Quest to Raise Funds
• Technologically Cutting Edge School and Community Safety Application Currently Being Field-Tested by Nationally Recognized Emergency Management Experts
• Location Information Instantly Shared to First Responders When You Dial or text 911 From a Smartphone
• Instantly Notify Emergency Contacts When the Unthinkable Occurs

Rauner’s patent pending software is designed to help schools, hospitals and communities improve response times by connecting smartphones to emergency services. “Smartphones pick up your location so accurately that we use them as our primary navigation devices,” Rauner notes. “But as of today, emergency dispatch does not have your exact location when you call 911.”

Using over $500,000 in initial investments, Siren has undertaken several rounds of prototyping, testing, and feedback from law enforcement and safety experts. As a result, Siren is now prepared to complete a final stage of development on two products: Siren Emergency and Siren Safety Circle.

Siren Emergency is a web based emergency management platform that connects first responders, tracks first responder resources and enables comprehensive community communication.

Siren’s second product, Siren Safety Circle, connects friends and family, allowing them to stay connected in an emergency using group text, push to talk, location sharing and letting each other know when they call or text 911.

Indiegogo is the world’s largest self-serve open-funding platform offering rewards in exchange for contributions. For as little as$25 you can contribute to making schools safer and receive Safety Circle at a reduced, pre-sale price. For a more significant contribution you can make a school safer with a subscription to Siren Emergency.

Related articles

• Disasters happen: How to be a survivor
• Some Thoughts on Crowdfunding with Indiegogo
• Crowdfunding – The New Way to Finance Your Start Up
• Sparkyard Announces Rove for Instant GPS Trail Sharing and Geocaching
• How important is home emergency cover
• ASSIGNMENT 13: Warning sirens get first test of 2013, one failure reported
• TORNADO TEST: Some Sirens Don’t Go Off