Crowdfunding: Raising money and awareness in the cloud

I apologise for my hiatus, I have been working on some great things that I can’t wait to share with you all! I’m expecting the New Year to bring some great things!

So by now we all know that you can raise money for just about anything in the cloud. The new website, Pozible.com.au has successfully launched a great crowdsourcing platform for Australians.

Of course international sites like these have existed for a while, but generally only in the form of charitable websites. These sites are simply to raise money for “projects” or “causes”.

At the moment on Pozible.com.au I am raising money for a surgery that I will be having at the beginning of next year. Don’t worry. I’ll be okay, just simple brain surgery!

The funny thing about this is that I felt odd putting up what is essentially a donation pile for my own benefit. I have done plenty of charity events before, like Movember and Shave for a Cure, and successfully raised thousands of dollars, but none have been for my own personal benefit.

So why did I do it? Well for a start I saw Pozible through StartupSmart about a month or two ago and I was intrigued that a business idea of mine may work through it. Then I saw a bloke that I met recently at his own concert raising money for himself to get studio time – 21Hundred (he is an amazing performer by the way).

And finally, last night I was watching Breaking Bad (yep, a little late to the party I know) and I saw that Walter White’s son was raising money for his Dad’s surgery through the internet.

While this isn’t a convenient way to launder drug money (just kidding), it is a perfect way for me to explain to my friends and family how much this surgery means to me. Do I still feel weird about it? Yeah, a little to be honest. Will I feel weird about it if I reach my goal? Probably not.

Of course charities use the web to raise billions of dollars a year all around the world, to this I say, “Great!” I personally think that the internet is the best way to take a donation. You can produce a receipt automatically, you have it working for you while you sleep and people actually feel safer giving their money to PayPal than a personal website (haven’t really gotten around to one of these for me yet).

I’m working with Edmund Rice Foundation Australia to help them grow their marketing presence and utilisation of the cloud. The Edmund Rice Foundation Australia supports communities that face poverty and injustice in the developing world. Please click here to purchase tickets to their Twilight Races Fundraiser.