In 2012, Dave Girouard stepped down as president of Google Enterprise and decided to take his life in a completely different direction. Along with a few fellow ex-Google employees, Girouard founded Upstart, a crowdfunding platform that offers college students and graduates ("upstarts") the capital, support...
Continue ReadingCrowd funding is an increasingly popular way of financing projects, business ideas, charity and loans through small contributions from a large number of individuals. The collaborative power of crowd funding can stimulate the economy, democratise financial systems, create new and better jobs, foster innovation and entrepreneurship,...
Continue ReadingThe Atlanta Symphony Orchestra needs money to "Preserve The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Legacy," according to its Internet campaign on Kickstarter.com -- an online, donation crowdfunding portal. More specifically, ASO's said to prospective backers, "Your donation will enable the ASO Archives to purchase technology necessary to convert three videos of the...
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StudentFunder aims to become ‘one-stop shop’ for those in need. A social enterprise start-up is hoping to help fill the gaps in support for postgraduate education in the UK. The London-based firm StudentFunder is an online “crowdfunding” platform designed to help students who fail to secure scholarships, family backing...
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Designer and Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has raised £1 million through a crowd-funding website for his innovative house building firm Hab Housing. The cash was raised via CrowdCube, which uses the internet to attract private investors to projects and firms. More than 300 individuals invested in...
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This guest post is by Dr Emma Wilson, senior researcher and energy team leader at the International Institute for Environment and Development. How do you raise $1 trillion dollars of investment in 17 years? That’s what the International Energy Agency says is needed to achieve the UN’s goal of universal energy...
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In the last few years, the buzzwords for Internet businesses have been “crowdsourcing” and “crowdsavings”. Of late, “crowdfunding” has caught the imagination of the tech business community with the success of online crowdfunding sites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Razoo. Some of the early adopters and...
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Like many people, I have thought a lot about the subject of poverty. Growing up in Oakland, California, I lived in relative wealth, while just down the hill people struggled to put food on the table. The contrast bothered me. As I grew older and...
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NEW YORK — For years, independent bookstores have taken creative steps to fight off challenges from Amazon.com and the superstores by building in-house espresso bars, hosting members-only lunches with authors, and selling birthday cards, toys, and trinkets. In 2013, it has come to this: asking their...
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We’re noticing an increasing number Skoll Awardees using crowdfunding for specific projects, and wanted to share more details in case you’re contemplating doing the same. In June, Landesa launched its first crowd-funding effort with Catapult.org. In this pilot effort, they featured their legal aid project in Andra Pradesh, with...
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