There are a ton of different crowdfunding websites out there. The majority of these fall in line with Kickstarter and Indiegogo. However, there are a few that represent completely different areas. One such website is ENDcrowd. ENDcrowd is a platform that brings nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, for-profits and individuals together for a common cause. We had a chance to ask the ENDcrowd team a few questions about their crowdfunding platform:
ENDcrowd.com
What is ENDcrowd?
ENDcrowd.com creates a sustainable ecosystem for change by providing a place where nonprofits, social entrepreneurs, for-profits and individuals can come together to innovate and participate. Crowdfunding enables visionary people with excellent ideas to raise money for their projects by collecting funds from backers through a web-based system. ENDcrowd focuses specifically on empowering organizations and individuals to fund campaigns that create tangible results in the fight to end human slavery. Here at ENDcrowd, people come together to engage with each other, raise awareness, and effect real change in the world.
Why did you build ENDcrowd?
We are the first of it’s kind for the anti-slavery movement. ENDcrowd offers anyone a simple solution to fight human trafficking.
How is your product different from what is currently available?
We are a niche crowdfunding platform that solely focuses on ending human slavery. There is nothing else like this on the internet!
Tell us your founding story. Was there an “ah ha” moment?
There’s a new weapon in the war being waged against the world’s second largest criminal business, human trafficking, and it’s called: ENDcrowd.com
Taking on global modern day slavery, ENDcrowd.com is a newly launched crowdfunding platform – which harnesses the power of the public with a fundamental mission of putting an end to these atrocities which exploit an estimated 30 million victims worldwide – including 300,000 children at risk of trafficking in the United States alone.
To rapidly address the urgent needs of victims, ENDcrowd puts a twist on the traditional methods of charitable giving in which people donate money to an overarching cause or organization. Alternatively, ENDcrowd employs targeted giving campaigns for specific projects that will allow audiences to become modern day abolitionists and engage with organizations fighting slavery at its source.
ENDcrowd’s platform features a range of unique campaigns put forward by established nonprofits from here in the United States and around the world. Each campaign features a project developed to tackle a particular issue confronting a high-risk region or a group of people. To fund its project, a campaign sets a monetary goal and seeks donations – in any dollar amount – from individuals interested in making a difference. In turn, these donors will be able to follow the endeavor and see for themselves how their generosity impacts the lives of real people, worldwide.
Tell us about your founding team and their backgrounds.
Joe Schmidt received his undergraduate degree from Ball State University and his MBA from Boston College. He co-founded Canvas on Demand (a company that takes your personal photos and puts them on canvas) in 2003. Joe drove his company to become the leader in the marketplace, taking it from a startup company to the INC 500 list of fastest growing companies in America and earning him a spot as a finalist in the Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Awards.
Joe has appeared regularly on national television shopping channels such as HSN and QVC and is often invited to present to groups in the business and educational communities on topics of email marketing and PR. He has been quoted in Forbes and Inc. Magazines talking about entrepreneurship in the online marketing space.
Prior to Canvas on Demand, Joe was director of sales for Art.com and has been involved in numerous successful technology startups. In September of 2010, Joe sold his company to online custom products leader Cafepress.com and went on to continue his role on the executive leadership team as chief marketing officer until 2013. Joe decided to leave his role as chief marketing officer to chase the dream of Audacity Factory and changing the world.
Audacity Factory, is a think-tank incubator based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that develops and drives initiatives to bring attention to underpublicized, underfunded – yet critical – domestic and global matters. Its mission is to positively impact the lives of 10 million people over the next 10 years.
