Three local leaders in their respective fields of startups, game technology and nonprofit arts and culture have joined forces to create a new crowdfunding model for Greater Philadelphia nonprofits called
FundingWorks.
The powerhouse team includes co-founders Brad Oyler,
Philly Startup Weekend and Seed Philly organizer and Chief Technophile of
W3Portals Brad Oyler, and
Philadelphia Game Lab Founder Nathan Solomon.
CultureWorks Founder and Managing Director Thaddeus Squire was an integral part of the early stages and will serve formally as an advisor. Not surprisingly, the trio's "side project" came together quickly in the last several weeks, launching on Saturday with a pair of nonprofit organizations' projects listed on the site.
While sites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo have jumpstarted crowdfunding for creatives across the country, their models are not well-suited for nonprofit projects and are not rooted in local support. Solomon says Philadelphia is the perfect place for a project such as FundingWorks, which aims to cull donor data and identify donor trends to gamify giving and polish a platform that for now, at least, is experimental.
"My perception is that we're the most active grassroots city in North America right now, because the cost of living is so manageable and the nature of the city – being distressed enough to have resources from the government but still in good enough shape where there's solid real estate and financials," Solomon says, noting the proliferation of new nonprofits in addition to shifting funding sources for well-established ones.
There is also a great need, as Squire well knows through his work with CultureWorks, which provides management services and strategic intervention with leading area nonprofit organizations and soon, coworking (Squire is in negotiations for a Center City space that could launch sometime this summer). He cites the finding in
Portfolio, the
Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance's barometer of the regional nonprofits arts and culture sector, that 50 percent of all nonprofits here operate at a deficit.
The hope is to fill that need by observing giving trends and experimenting with gamifying the platform, like the Gold, Silver and Bronze support levels listed on FundingWorks and its tracking of donor referrals. Do people give more when they get a badge or special status?
"We're interested in playing with some of these psychological dynamics that happen within the sphere of crowdfunding that get into more gamification-like applications, that go beyond the content being put out there.
"Everyone can have a nifty video and some good copywriting and nifty tchotchkes and benefits for donors. But what's beyond those things?"
The site launched with two projects –
Create Buzz for The Swap, a clothing swap intended for students to hold at their school, and
Send a Girl to TechGirlz Camp, a day camp to teach middle school girls about the intersection of business and technology. Your nonprofit group can apply
here, and best of all, donations are tax deductible and 100 percent of gifts go to the project or organization.
Source: Nathan Solomon, Philadelphia Game Lab; Thaddeus Squire, CultureWorks
Writer: Joe Petrucci