Welcome, @OuyangEric! How did you come up with the concept for Sponsr.Us? Were there any products or trends that inspired it?
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While both Sponsr.Us and USEED use crowd-fundraising as a tool, Sponsr.Us places emphasis on making initiatives possible by working individually with students. We leverage the power of technology as a part of a comprehensive program for students.
Kind of like a Kickstarter for student projects. Neat idea. Curious to see how things like this change the traditional magazine subscription and cookie-selling programs in schools. :)
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Thanks so much for the shoutout, @rrhoover! Next step: successfully fundraise our first projects and make them realities!
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Seeing the difficulties of student fundraising -- often limited to things like magazine drives, bake sales, and car washes -- and the successes of Kickstarter and Indiegogo, we saw an opportunity to fill a need.
However, we also recognized that financial need was not the only thing preventing students from bringing their ideas into reality. They often need support from people who have experience. As a result, we set out to create a comprehensive program to catalyze student initiatives through fundraising and mentorship.
Additionally, Watsi inspired us to implement a 100% donation model -- meaning that we don't take any cut off of pledges. Sponsr.Us even covers the cost of processing transactions.
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I added USEED (http://useed.org/) to the related links. It's a similar model that has been in testing at some schools on the east coast over the past year or so. Sounds like they'll be launching more widely soon.