Do you have a wish list or two or three? Do you have a birthday wish list, a Christmas wish list, a bucket list? Well sure you can share your list on Facebook and hope that your 750 friends act quick and help fulfill the list, but by now we know that’s not the most effective approach.
There are also several registry sites, but in actuality they are just a means to fulfill registry items at different retailers.
What do you really wish for? Do you want to explore the Grand Canyon? Are you ready for the ultimate trip to Disney World? Do you want to ski the Swiss Alps? Have you always wanted to experience life on a ranch in Montana?
Whatever your wish, big or small, they are easier to achieve when they’re shared. Perhaps you didn’t know that your cousin has a ski chalet in the Swiss Alps or your work colleagues husband does tours at the Grand Canyon. Socially, wishes are easier to achieve.
We’ve all seen the effects of big wishes across social media, just ask Batkid or Colin’s parents. If you take those social principles of success from those two gigantic viral wishes, and scale them back to the size of the average person’s social network, small miracles, and wishes can be completed.
“A wish in your mind might seem impossible but if you expand your network there’s a greater chance someone out there, or someone they know, might be able to make it happen,” said Lynn Layfield, Bucketwish’s Director of Product Development told the Jacksonville Business Journal.
Bucketwish cofounder Raquel Steffens told techfaster that Bucketwish isn’t just for big wishes and birthdays, if you’re moving, had a baby, or even adopted a dog, you can post the things that you want or need for these life events on the bucketwish website with links to where people can easily purchase the items for you.
There are a variety of wishes on Bucketwish’s website ranging from jewelry and electronics to exotic vacations and a water balloon slip and slide.
Granting wishes at OneSpark
While Bucketwish is still bootstrapping, Steffens along with co-founders Lynn Layfiend and Wes Plympton decided that they wanted to help grant some wishes locally for people in need right in Jacksonville. Steffens had learned about FosterCloset earlier on in her career when she was working with an agency. FosterCloset is a storefront in Jacksonville that helps foster parents get the supplies they need when they take in a new foster child. Anything from cribs to beds, to clothing and toys are available to foster parents from FosterCloset. They also have a program for kids who are “aging out” of the foster system.
“we take for granted that these kids can’t just take their childhood bedroom furniture with them to the first apartments” Steffens told us by phone. The Pathways program at FosterCloset gives these kids similar resources as they go start their own lives.
During the five day crowdfunding festival every crowdfunded dollar at the BucketWish’s venue, the Jacksonville Bank Building, will be given to FosterCloset. Bucketwish will still be competing for the $10,000 prize and vying for a shot at $3.5 million in venture capital to help fuel their business, but the in-person crowdfunding dollars are being granted to FosterCloset.
Find out more about Bucketwish here, and at their OneSpark creator profile page here. You can check out FosterCloset here.