FunderHut - Community crowdfunding website to raise money online How to Fund Your Start Up Org You have a great idea for an NGO, non-profit, or small business. Now you need the money to get it off the ground. One of the most popular articles we’ve published on MatadorChange is How to Start a Successful NGO in 10 Steps. Every day we receive comments on this article, often from people in “developing” countries who are fired up on solving local problems with local solutions. They’re right, but the challenge they all face is funding. If you’ve got a sweet idea about an NGO, non-profit, or small business that could change your community–or the world–here are a few ways you can bootstrap your start up with some funding methods beyond the usual approaches. 1. If you’ve got a great idea but no one knows about it, how do you expect to get funding for it? Start establishing your Internet presence by setting up a simple blog on WordPress. 2. Screenshot of Matador member Misty Tosh’s NGO’s website Beyond Flickr and YouTube, set up a Twitter account. 3. Screenshot from ChipIn
Top ten crowdsourced funding platforms Whatever project you can dream up, there’s a crowdsourced funding platform out there for it. Entrepreneurs, investors, journalists, artists, environmentalists, educators, nonprofits and charities are using these sites to fundraise and turn their visions for social change into realities. These sites provide more than just a donor base — they create an online community of people who care about your cause and want to follow your progress. 1. spot.us is a funding platform for citizen journalism. Users can submit story tips, and journalists pitch their story ideas for funding. 2. 33needs is a web application that connects investors to small-scale entrepreneurs around the world. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9 DonorsChoose allows teachers to solicit funding for specific needs in classrooms and schools. 10. ioby connects donors and volunteers to environmental projects in their neighborhoods to inspire new environmental knowledge and action in New York City. Photo: Anirudh Koul