There is already a glut of crowdfunding start-ups trying to lay claim to their piece of the crowdfunding pie. Plum Alley, which launched last month, is hoping there’s room for another — one that’s devoted to women creators.
Though the site only has two entertainment-based projects at the moment, it’s likely to attract women filmmakers looking for support for their projects. At the moment, the site has just two film or TV projects. The first is This Place Matters, a documentary series by Cindy Convery,
which profiles endangered places that hold communities together, and
hold memories of who we are as a country. PBS affiliate WGBH World has
agreed to air the documentary in a primetime broadcast to 160 stations
nationwide.
The second project is Smart Women Smart Ideas, which bills itself as the first multi-screen reality competition TV show for female entrepeneurs of product companies. SWSI is endorsed by the Kauffman Foundation and early pilot participants include MSNBC’s Jennifer Hill, Julie Roehm, former SVP Walmart & Daimler Chrysler and Alana Muller, President of Kauffman FastTrac.
But, is there room for a niche crowdfunding site? Do women need their own crowdfunding site? We posed these questions to Plum Alley founder and CEO Deborah Jackson. Her answers are below.
Why do women need their own crowdfunding site?
Fund was not created to be another niche crowdfunding site. It arose
from a problem we saw with women’s access to capital, and was a natural
extension of Plum Alley‘s mission to support and advance women economically.
years I have been watching women as they go about raising money for
their ideas and companies. It has not been easy and data shows there is
huge disparity in women raising capital versus their male counterpart.
Time and time again, I hear women say “if I just had enough money to
build that prototype or buy the materials I need, I would go for it.” So
many women, including some of our entrepreneurs featured on Plum Alley
Commerce, have visions and ideas yet to be translated into creations.
At the same time, I know so many women and men (husbands, fathers,
boyfriends and brothers) who want to support women in reaching their
dreams or doing good for the world.
Fund over other crowdfunding platforms. Many projects will be created
to solve problems and needs that are unique to women. Our Plum Alley
audience is comprised of enthused individuals who are not only excited
about women entrepreneurship, but can directly relate with many of the
causes and projects that will be fundraising on our site.
has an existing e-commerce platform where project creators can
subsequently sell any product that rises from crowdfunding and benefit
from additional exposure. Our e-commerce and crowdfunding services and
audiences are complementary, and we hope to be recognized as the brand
to highlight, support and advance amazing women.
over other sites — we expect all types of projects, from passion
projects, do-good-in-the-world projects, creative projects, business
projects and more.
potential for crowdfunding world wide is huge. According to
Massolution, crowdfunding sites are globally expected to reach close to
$5.1 billion in transactions for 2013. There is room for many players,
each with a different focus and audience. Some of the other platforms
have gotten so large and it is difficult for a new project to get any
attention. After working with women entrepreneurs and creative women, we
heard time and again from our constituents that they were looking for
an alternative place that would offer other resources to help them
achieve success.
carefully curate all the content on our site and work with each of the
project creators to craft their campaign. We recently held a private
event for our project creators to present their projects as they went
live for funding on our site, and offered media training beforehand. We
are also launching a service to connect our project creators with
experts that they may choose to hire on a project basis.
audience as they stem from products and companies driven from personal
experiences and needs that are unique to women. Women also have specific
interests and want to see products created that may not be of interest
to men.
has an existing e-commerce platform where project creators can
subsequently sell any product that rises from crowdfunding and benefit
from additional exposure. Our e-commerce and crowdfunding services and
audiences are complementary, and filled with individuals excited to
support other women.
to be the destination site where women entrepreneurs and creators can
access funding, experts and an integrated e-commerce function, resources
vital to the success of a company. The overall mission is to direct
power and wealth to women, and easily enable anyone who wants to support
women the opportunity to do so.
I’d like to go global with reward-based crowdfunding for women anywhere
who have a dream, an idea, a movement, or a cultural project.
Here is the campaign video for “This Place Matters:”
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