Entrepreneurs, artists or individuals with creative ideas are looking for funding. Somewhere out there are individuals or groups looking to help fund the right ideas. Traditionally, finding each other has not been easy. In this article, I discuss an exciting new website – kickstarter.com, which matches ideas with capital.

Kickstarter.com is an awesome social networking site that uses the power of crowd sourcing to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors.

Anyone can create a dedicated page with a pitch for a set amount of funding to support or ”kick start” their project, a deadline (anytime within 90 days) for their fundraising target and how they will reward contributors. Any individual or group from anyplace in the world can give through the website to the project. The only catch is that a project only receives its donated funds (minus a 5% fee taken by kickstatrer.com) if the target amount was reached or exceeded within the established deadline. In cases where projects do not reach their funding amounts, the funds are returned to their original donors. This helps protects the value of donated funds based on the belief that a project is more likely to achieve its goals if it has all the funding it requires. In exchange for backing an idea, individuals receive rewards set by the person or group asking for money. For example, if an artist is looking for funding to record an album, the artist may give each supporter a free CD.

The power of kickstarter.com is the principle that a good idea if communicated well through the power of the internet can spread fast and attract support.

Kickstarter.com believes that a large group of people can be a tremendous source of money and encouragement Aside from giving ideas the chance to be funded, the process of creating an online ask creates an environment where an idea can be enhanced through feedback. Furthermore, the process creates communities by bringing together individuals who would like to support similar innovative initiatives. It also helps a project by building a network of backers who feel invested in ensuring the project’s success.

Why are people giving money to projects on kickstarter.com? I believe it is simply because individuals wish to be part of ideas and causes they feel connected to, but cannot take on by themselves. Offering support is next best solution.

Kickstarter.com should not be seen as “easy money”, rather it is earned money. Not all ideas are funded. Success requires a well thought out idea, a captivating proposal and from the start, potential projects will need to build a relationship with those interested in supporting the project.

Examples of previously successfully funded projects:

Lumi Co. – a start-up business involving an innovative textile printing technology. Asked for $12 000 and raised $12 998.

MakerBeam – a start-up that offers an open source building set (similar to Lego/Meccano/Erector Set but users can help design the elements) Asked for $10 000, raised $17 922 .

On average successful projects pitch and receive total amounts of less than $4000. Funded ideas have been both non-profit and business projects. As the site evolves and grows in popularity, raising funds will likely become more difficult as projects compete and only the most vibrant ideas survive.

In conclusion, if you think you have a kick ass idea, then kickstarter.com might just be the right place to get the required boost.

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ArtReach Toronto is an innovative youth focused and youth driven program with a mandate to support arts initiatives that engage youth who have experienced exclusion in under-served areas of Toronto.

With strong financial support from all three levels of government, funding organizations and donors, ArtReach has committed to spending $1.2 million over 3 years to support projects that encourage creative expression through quality arts opportunities for youth. ArtReach also provides free youth capacity building workshops on fundraising, leadership and non-profit organization administration.

Much like the Youth Challenge Fund, ArtReach embraces a growing social change philosophy that youth should be involved in the design, funding decisions and evaluations of youth programs. In other words, youth must be a vital part in creating solutions to the issues of youth oppression, disengagement, crime and negative influences.

The idea for ArtReach Toronto was created out of 2004 Intergovernmental Roundtable of Art Funders and Foundations (IRAFF) from the recognition youth in the Greater Toronto Area are increasingly find it difficult to access to relevant cultural arts programs. ArtReach Toronto believes that arts programs have high youth appeal and that quality arts experiences/programs can serve as a powerful engagement method; ultimately improving Toronto’s communities, include the city’s priority neighbourhoods.

ArtReach provides grants to non-profit organizations, individual artists or groups of artists for arts initiatives that provide meaningful youth arts opportunities and engage youth aged 13-29 from Toronto’s Priority Neighbourhoods. Youth must be part of every aspect of the project – design, implementation, management and evaluation. ArtReach also tries to fund arts projects that may not supported elsewhere.

Non-profit organizations are eligible to receive $75 000 over 3 years while individual artists or groups of artists are eligible for $10 000 in funding.

Example programs that ArtReach Toronto has funded include:

Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples: The Sequel – The program will provide 10 Latino youth with an opportunity to build skills in the art of filmmaking. These youth will have an opportunity to tell their story through the films they develop and screen in the Jane and Finch community. Amount: $24,330

Beyond the Lyrics Youth Resource Centre Inc: Living Through HERstory - a collaborative project that will support young women from Crescent Town to build skills in traditional dance forms, as well as the cultural art form of basket weaving, to develop mouts (Harari baskets) and hats. This inter-generational project also aims to engage young women in discussions around their experiences with respect to identity and familial disconnect. Amount: $17,550

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Change12 was born in 2007 from Saeed’s vision of starting an organization that would bring about youth led change by empowering other youth, inspiring them to recognize their potential and combat apathy by being civically engaged.

Like any start up organization, Change12 faced a myriad of challenges – building organizational capacity, recruiting talent, fundraising, finding support, incorporating and obtaining charity status, etc. Adding to the challenges was that as an entirely youth run organization, its members were not in a financial position to strongly contribute to Change12.

Nonetheless Change12 prevailed. It was able to fundraise tens of thousands in donations and in-kind support. Since 2007, it has met weekly to plan projects strategically geared towards social change. Using money from donors and fundraising events Change12 created 2 powerful programs. In 2008, Change12 implemented project 1 MIC which involved 100 participants over 8 weeks in a program that promoted public speaking and leadership skills as well as a vision that one youth with just one microphone could change the world. In 2008-2009 Change12 worked with the CBC to create a program called Change It Up TV that showcased stories of Canadian youth achieving social change and better their communities; the program aired on TV with a viewership of 27 000 and distributed many DVD copies of the program.

These results demonstrated the passion of the team and were a clear indicator of what a few dedicated young people could do to make a difference.
Saeed is passionate about fostering a more youth friendly world. He has personally seen the negative consequences that result when society fails its youth. Saeed believes that in every youth is the potential for greatness and that access to opportunities as well as role models are major factors in helping youth self-actualize. Saeed continues to enjoy being an active member of the communities around him. He is currently an advisor to the Toronto Police Services, Chief of Police on youth matters and initiated “Youth Speak Out to Youth” press conference in response to the 2005 “Boxing Day Shootings”. Equity and tolerance are close to Saeed’s heart. Prior to his work with Change12, Saeed created 4 innovative projects tackling youth poverty, apathy, marginalization and disenfranchisement.

Valerie is one who believes in the power of love. She defines love as both the desire to help others and the passion to dream. This phrase certainly permeates everything she stands for. She decided to engage herself in Change12 to empower youth to achieve their goals, persuade them to get involved in contemporary political issues, and ultimately spread a positive message: small changes can make big differences. With this organization she will change attitudes, mindsets, and actions. She is passionate about youth engagement and she aspires to create a more inclusive society one step at a time.

Saeed and Valerie are currently University of Toronto students completing an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Equity Studies.

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Velocity is the brainchild of online marketing specialist and web enthusiast, Kaitlyn Braybrooke. Kaitlyn is passionate about social change and a graduate of University of British Columbia with an B.A. in Political Science focusing on comparative Canadian-American systems.

“I started VELOCITY because I was sick of hearing so many negative theses about our generation (the Millennial Generation) and about our so-called apathy and narcissism compared to previous generations. I kept coming across political scientist after political scientist all regurgitating this general idea and complaining about today’s woebegone lost youth. However, as an activist and enthusiast of community building plus citizen-based initiatives here in Vancouver, I was constantly seeing amazing projects and ideas by people my age who truly want to make a difference. I wanted to have a multi-author, youth-run blog based on the efforts and ideas of people our age who are doing interesting things in their own communities – getting involved, being loud and active, ultimately showing just how wrong the ‘apathetic web2.0 generation’ thesis really is. VELOCITY does just that.”

A desire for social change and building progressive communities is not a new idea, but the idea of using Web 2.0 tools to achieve social change is something new. Web 2.0 is a set of digital tools that promote information being produced by democratic, free, easily accessible and participatory web communities. Web 2.0 tools are widely embraced by Millennials; add to that the social conscience prominent in many Millennials and the result is a powerful synergy that facilitates social change action in a wired globalized world.

There are many examples. In 2008, the American Cancer Society raised $214 000 USD through a virtual fundraiser – Relay for Life, on Second Life. The success of Gulu Walk was due to awareness generated using social networking websites. The speed and ease of access of Twitter allows citizen journalists and activists to get their stories out and compete with large media. Facebook groups can rally people behind a cause. PlanetConnect.org offers a social networking site focusing on green jobs, planet friendly technology, environmental grants and green issues.

Kaitlyn Braybrooke

When asked about her future – “I’d really like VELOCITY to expand in a larger way, to become more of an online magazine than just a mere blog. I feel lately like I’m bursting with idea and projects I want to get involved in. Particular longstanding passions of mine are voter engagement (especially centered around young voters), social/new media, science fiction, (I’ve been a fan since childhood) municipal or progressive coalition-based politics and art in all of its forms – I’m an artist myself and am especially inspired by guerrilla and post-modern art.”

Kaitlyn grew up in Las Vegas, NV, but has since fallen in love with the strong progressive Vancouver community. With her strong skills in new media, design, volunteer coordination and communications, the future is looking very bright for this passionate and talented young woman.

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I am pleased to announce that I have been invited to present a workshop on developing funding strategies for technology projects for the My Charity Connects Conference taking place on June 8 and 9 2009 at Mars Discovery District in Toronto.

My Charity Connects is a conference put on by Canadahelps.org – Canada’s premier fundraising web service which simplifies online fundraising by allowing individuals to donate to charities of their choosing through Canadahelps.org. The conference will bring together over 250 non-profit leaders as well as marketing professionals who will learn and share ideas about using technology to achieve social change. Comprised of 4 keynotes and 25 workshops on various “philanthropy 2.0” topics including social networking, online fundraising campaigns, e-newsletters and blogs, attendees will walk away with decision making tips, best practices, new ideas and a greater sense of return on investment.

My Charity Connects is part of Net Change Week – a week long city wide event put on by Mars Discovery District designed to dissolve the divide between digital professionals and social change-makers. Information about other exciting Net Change Week events can be found at http://netchangeweek.ca

My Charity Connects conferences fees are: $250 (+$12.50 GST) for Ontario based charities and nonprofits and $375 (+$18.75 GST) for charities and nonprofits based outside of Ontario. The difference in price is due to the fact the Ontario Trillium Foundation is supporting Ontario based non-profits by subsidizing $125 towards the conference fee.

Registration and more detailed information can be found at http://mycharityconnects.org/conference

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According to a Kintera/Luth Nonprofit Trend Report, ¹ “65 percent of donors visit at least one of the websites of the charities they support, and 40 percent always go online before making a giving decision.”

Online fundraising has the potential to be a huge windfall for non-profit organizations. An advantage of online fundraising is that it has overall lower costs. Another key strength is that when a donor gives, metrics software can provide vital information that includes donors contact details as well as demographic and psychographic data that can help a NPOs marketing/donor relations team. The bottom line is that a non-profit organization that is not engaged in online fundraising is missing out on a major donor segment.

Why are NPOs not pursuing online fundraising? The main reasons are a lack of understanding of the value of online fundraising, not possessing the skills to implement it or believing that they don’t have the budget for it.

NPOs do not need to be experts in online fundraising, they just need to be able seek out the services of a consultant that can help them. Hiring a consultant is not as expensive as one might think. While consultants working at firms with high profile clients will be at the expensive end, independent consultants or student/interns will be at more affordable end. An independent consultant will charge approximately $4000 – $6000 for a website with online donation capability; this fee will also include coaching on how to maintain the website, staff training, plus designing a strategic plan to use the site to build better donor relations and reach fundraising targets.

Another option for NPOs is to use Canadahelps.org – a cost effective web service that simplifies online fundraising by allowing individuals to donate to charities of their choosing through Canadahelps.org. For charities it’s an easier less expensive means of raising funds online and for donors it’s a trustable, one stop shop for giving.

Canadahelps.org is a simple process. NPOs create a profile that describes their cause. In the interest of transparency, charities can even permit donors to designate their funds directly to specific projects, a capital campaign or a room in a new building, etc. Potential donors can search for any charity in Canada and donate using their credit card. Donors can donate once or through a payment schedule. Canadahelps.org also accepts cash or securities such as stocks and bonds. What Canadahelps.org does not allow are payments for non-charitable gifts such as memberships, event registration or product purchases. Since it’s a registered charitable foundation, donors are issued a tax receipt. Donations are transferred to a NPO’s bank account minus a 3% transaction fee. Charities are notified by email that their accounts have received a donation. The website also provides donor research data that can be used to foster better donor relations.

An alternative that Canadahelps.org provides is that allows a NPO to use its own website a donation portal while processing transactions through Canadahelps.org. This is accomplished by adding a simple “Donate Button” to an NPO’s existing website.

Online fundraising is constantly evolving and new trends are constantly appearing. The most important trend is that online fundraising is here to stay and will continue to grow. It should be part of any organization’s comprehensive long term and sustainable fundraising strategy.

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Successful entrepreneurs are passionately commitment to their dreams, they receive guidance from professional mentors and have access to sufficient start-up cash. The Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF) provides all three.

CYBF is a Canada wide, non-profit organization that provides coaching, business resources and financing to new businesses whose owners are between the ages of 18 to 34.

CYBF lends based on the merits of a business plan and character of applicants. Pre-launch ventures are eligible to receive $15 000 from CYBF, plus an additional $15 000 from Business Development Canada. CYBF Entrepreneurs that have been in business between 36 to 60 months can also apply for expansion financing of up to $10 000.

Applicants that are accepted into the CYBF program and that receive CYBF loans must participate in a mentoring program for a minimum of 2 years. Mentors are professionals with valuable experience who volunteer their time to assist youth in realizing their entrepreneurship dreams. CYBF is supported by a large network of business powerhouses such as: Bank of Montreal, Bombardier, McCarthy Tétrault, Scotia Bank, TD Canada Trust, Accenture, CIBC, Industry Canada, etc.

An exciting new development is that on March 2009, CYBF received a $10 million grant from the Federal Government as part of Canada’s Economic Action Plan which will result in helping more than 500 aspiring entrepreneurs start new businesses. CYBF is an innovative organization driving social and economic change; it’s on a continuing growth plan with the goal of launching of 2 new businesses per day by 2012.

Success stories include:

Sliced Tomatoes – a British Columbia based ready-to-cook meal delivery service that provides pre-washed, pre-chopped, and pre-proportioned ingredients necessary for a customer to cook a healthy home cooked meal. Sliced Tomatoes is modelled after the billion dollar food/ingredient delivery service that exists in Japan.

La Tortilleria - an authentic Mexican fast food restaurant and manufacturer/wholesaler located in Toronto that distributes fresh authentic Mexican corn flour related products such as tortillas.

TalentEgg Inc – an online recruiting service and information resource that provides students with access to meaningful entry level career opportunities.

QuickSnap – a product that enhances people’s lives by providing a unique, simple, and efficient solution to tying shoe laces while maintaining consistent tension and personalized comfort.

Adorit Boutique – a retail shop located in Ottawa that showcases fashions from Canadian designers who use between 20% and 100% reclaimed fabrics to make one of a kind garments.

Additional information can be found at: www.cybf.ca

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April 19th to 25th, 2009 is National Volunteer Week. National Volunteer Week celebrates and acknowledges the efforts of Canadian volunteers. National Volunteer Week is an annual campaign organized by Volunteer Canada – a national organization involved in volunteer research,
training, policy development and the promotion of volunteerism in communities.

There are many ways to get involved and volunteer; in the spirit of National Volunteer Week, I thought I would discuss the myriad of volunteer opportunities that exist.

If you enjoy parties and being creative, then consider asking a non-profit organization of your choice if you can be part of their Events Committee. Consider volunteering for The Brazilian Carnival Ball - Toronto’s largest and most prestigious fundraising event, or The Sporting Life 10k – an annual fundraising run on Yonge Street, organized by Camp Oochigeas to assist children with cancer.

A language exchange is a great way to make international friends and learn a new language, all while helping someone new to Canada improve their English and learn about Canadian culture. Language exchanges can be arranged through websites like Craig’s List, BitsLounge (a Japanese community web portal) by contacting an ESL school or newcomer organization such as the Centre for Spanish Speaking Peoples.

Scouts Canada and Girl Guides Canada is a good way to mentor
youth through sports, environmental and outdoor leadership.

Volunteering can be as simple as contacting your former high school and offering to be a guest speaker. There are also fun opportunities through college and university alumni associations. Donating your professional web design or marketing skills through pro-bono work adds incredible value to organizations who are in need of such skills but are not able to afford to hire professionals.

For animal lovers, animal organizations such as the Toronto Wildlife Centre often require assistance.

For those with an interest in corrections or law, organizations such as the John Howard Society of Canada offers volunteer opportunities that involve working with current or past offenders.

Volunteering does not have be limited to the non-profit world, for example, small film companies are usually looking for volunteer actors, makeup artists, set designers, etc. The Royal Ontario Museum and the Art Gallery of Ontario offer countless volunteer positions. Coaching a hockey or soccer team can be highly rewarding.

For those looking to travel and willing to take on a challenging commitment, there are many organizations that provide opportunities for volunteering abroad. The Ontario Council for International Cooperation has a list of organizations that send volunteers abroad.

There truly are countless ways to volunteer.

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Donorschoose.org is an American social networking site that connects US schools in need with individuals who want to help. Welcome to the future of fundraising and approaching donors.

Generation X and the Millennial Generation are ready and willing to donate. However, traditional solicitation, where all donors give to one cause, is not the best way to engage a generation accustomed to expressing individual preferences in many aspects of their lives. Furthermore, these generations respond better to individual and community generated causes. Donor pitches have to evolve as the donor mindset changes and as technology changes the way individuals communicate.

Imagine a social networking site, where teachers can post a project that requires funding. Donors browse all the projects, then decide which to donate and how much. Once a project is completed, teachers communicate the impact of donations. Donors can see results. A donor relationship is built. That’s exactly what happens through Donorchoose.org.

The model is simple:

Donorschoose.org utilizes Crowd Sourcing – a problem solving strategy that involves asking many individuals to leverage their collective resources and group powers to solve a problem. In lieu of placing the burden on Donorchoose.org to solicit donations and allocate to projects, crowd sources allows others to share in the responsibility, for example they can ask their friends to donate and promote worthy school needs.

Sounds too unrealistic? Why would donors want to surf the internet, join yet another social networking site and donate? The answer is that many individuals want to learn about causes and, enjoy donating through the simplicity of the internet.

Donorschoose.org is very real and successful. Since its start in 2002, it has given $32,554,970 USD to 2,019,696 students, from donors in 50 states. Everything about it is innovative and it incorporates other fundraising methods such as Cause Marketing into promoting itself.

For example, in 2006 it received a $1.6 million social innovation award from Amazon.com and Stanford University Business School. Instead of simply donating to projects of its choosing, Donorschoose.org followed its citizen philanthropy model. It gave some of the money to Crate & Barrel who distributed Donorschoose.org vouchers ranging from $25 to $100 to its customers. All customers had to do was just go to DonorsChoose.org and decide which project to give it to. The process was captivating and interesting to customers; it enhanced their satisfaction as well as customer experience. According to an article in Ethical Corporation ¹, “Crate & Barrel conducted a study of the gift voucher programme and found that 11% of the certificates had been redeemed at Donorschoose.org; response rates for conventional direct mail pieces typically hover around 2%. Furthermore, 75% of those who redeemed vouchers said they saw Crate & Barrel as community-minded, compared with 21% of those who did not receive vouchers. 6 months later, customers who redeemed vouchers had spent 16% more at Crate & Barrel than those without vouchers. Even those who received vouchers but didn’t redeem them had spent 5% more.”

The success has been such that other companies like Google, Yahoo and Facebook are launching Donorschoose.org gift voucher programs.

This is a brilliant example of fundraising that incorporates Web 2.0 trends, crowd sourcing and cause marketing. It’s a model that can be integrated by other organizations. For example, imagine if donors could browse the United Way website and select causes to contribute to.

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To understand how this misconception came to be requires explaining 3 points. First, who exactly are the Millennials? Second, why are they regarded as politically disengaged? Third, how are they involved in their communities?

The Millennials are a generation born between 1980 and 1995, although some include those born up until 2000. Defining characteristics include liberal beliefs, high education, tech-savviness, quick embracing of change or innovation, high value on independence plus uniqueness, distrust in large media as well as government, a fervent belief in not compromising on their dreams or their lifestyle and a strong interest in social/environmental issues. Millennials are also a feminist generation, where today approximately 60 per cent of university graduates are women, with more women entering medical and law schools. ¹

The belief that Millennials are politically disengaged comes from the fact that they have had weak turnouts in past elections at the municipal, provincial and federal level. This problem is also present in other developed Western nations. ² Most young Canadians are also not interested in participating in party politics or staying informed through traditional news formats such as TV news stations and newspapers. From this point of view Millennials are disengaged and disenfranchised.

The truth is that Millennials care a lot about the world and are engaged; but the majority just don’t feel connected to traditional political institutions. According to Elections Canada, some Millennials argue that none of the mainstream political parties address issues that are relevant to their generation such as high car insurance rates, tuition fees, the need for student loan restructuring, modern internet laws, etc. Donald Green and Alan Gerber have been studying American federal, state and municipal elections in 12 states since 1998; their book – “Get Out the Vote! How to increase voter turnout “, links declining voter turnout in western democracies to the depersonalization of politics. In Canada, the theatrical and scripted style of Question Period is not compatible with the expectations of this generation. Even former PM Brian Mulroney said (2009), “If you look at Question Period, you can see that it’s often the theatre of the absurd. There’s no relationship whatsoever to the problems of ordinary Canadians, and that’s one of the reasons why ordinary Canadians turn off so quickly in politics.”

Millennials are not political dropouts. According to a study by D-Code and the Canadian Centre for Philanthropy, Millennials are involved. They buy products using their social conscience. They donate to charities. They try to use public transit and prefer green cars. They volunteer. They organize. They expect corporate social responsibility. They express news, share opinions and mobilize through blogs. They promote workplace equality by pushing for flattened hierarchies. They pursue social entrepreneurship, combining business and social change. They join causes on social networking sites. The World Values Survey supports this and shows data that compared to older generations, Millennials are just as likely to volunteer and discuss social/environmental issues with friends but they are almost twice as likely to pursue non-traditional political methods such as boycotts, ribbon campaigns, marathons and social movements like Earth Hour or Pride Week.

Yes Millennials should vote more and if they are properly engaged they will. After all, Millennials played a significant role in helping Obama win the 2008 US Presidential Election. There are many young, inspirational Canadians driving transformational change and improving the world; they are just doing it innovative ways.

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