Do you want to change your city? Do you know how to do it, but you don't have the resources? That's no reason to give up. There are many opportunities to bring the project to life. One of the most convenient ways to raise capital for social initiatives is crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding is a way of financing, where people, who want to support some projects, contribute with their funds. It is a system of raising small contributions from many people.
Through crowdfunding, the creator of the project gets not only financial support, but also attention to his initiative by a larger audience. And this increases the likelihood of attracting other supporters, investors and philanthropists to a socially useful project.
Someone has a useful idea for the city,
someone else is ready to offer money for it:
this is how crowdfunding works
Today, there are several crowdfunding platforms where the author can publish his idea and raise funds for its implementation. Most of them are dedicated to business startups. "Moy Gorod" («Мой город») is a specific crowdfunding platform for social projects created by the Odessa company NETPEAK.
"Moy Gorod" is a non-profit platform where social projects aimed at improving the city are created, discussed and implemented. The main purpose of the platform is crowdfunding, through which social projects receive financial support from the public. The peculiarity of the platform is the absence of a fee from the funds collected by the creators of the projects.
For more than 5 years, the platform "Moy Gorod" has crowdfunded more than 100 social projects, 67 of which have been implemented.
How to get to crowdfunding?
- Before submitting a project, it's important to prepare a proposition:
- Identify the main problem your initiative will address. You should define the main goal and not try to save everyone at the same time: one idea, one project.
- Spell out the target audience for your project. Determine whom your project will help and who will want to support it with a financial contributions.
- You should also pay attention to the rules of the platform. All projects have a number of requirements:
- No explicit or implicit political propaganda.
- Objective to improve the city, not to make money (social entrepreneurship is allowed).
- The project not aimed at one person. However, it can concentrate on a particular group of people.
When you are sure that your idea meets all the requirements, then you can move on to create a project page on the platform. There is an easy-to-use application form for this on the organisation's website.
At this stage, you need to write a detailed description of the project, which will highlight exactly what and how your initiative will solve. You need to decide on the amount of funds required and make a budget, describe the implementation plan, and identify key indicators that will help you understand that the project has been successful.
Once the application is completed, it is sent for moderation. It will be processed within 7 days. If there are any problems, the platform team will be sure to contact you and help correct any inaccuracies. If the application is all good, a contract is signed with the author of the project, and fundraising is launched.
The stories of some projects are particularly inspiring. “Inclusive Ceramic Workshop†is one of them. The goal of the project was to create a tolerant inclusive society and provide people with autism and mental disabilities the opportunity to work, live life to the fullest and feel truly needed. In 45 days the project was supported by 325 people for a total of 108,000 UAH.
Another example is the “First Waste Sorting Stationâ€. Thanks to this initiative, city residents received more comfortable conditions for the delivery of recyclables. The author managed to collect 57,227 UAH from 222 benefactors in a little less than a week. These results show that a socially useful initiative can become a reality by raising money through crowdfunding.
"Moy Gorod" crowdfunding platform is much more than your time or money. It is a contribution to the future of the city in which we will live.
For more information: https://moy-gorod.org/
Currently, the website is only in Russian.
