Social Project.PH aims to raise crowdfunding for social enterprises
Social Project.PH is a crowdfunding platform that focuses on socially- and environmentally-relevant projects in the Philippines.
Crowdfunding platforms are a dime-a-dozen today. While a few notable ones dominate in artistic projects, some focus on niche applications and sectors.
In the Philippines, local crowdsourcing platforms already exist, although the focus is mostly on artistic projects and passion projects. These include ArtisteConnect and SparkProject, which we have covered before. But noting that there is a lot of money coming in from abroad in the form of contributions from Filipino-Americans, remittances from overseas Filipino workers, and other donors, a new crowdfunding service is launching to drive these resources toward meaningful projects.
Social Project.PH is platform for Philippine social enterprises and non-profit organizations to raise funds for compelling and relevant social projects that will help to alleviate poverty in the Philippines. Co-founder Justin Fernando Garrido says the aim is to address social and environmental challenges in the country.
Justin told e27 that the idea came about as he wondered about the money remitted to the country by overseas Filipinos. “Of the $20B in remittances, can we redirect some of it towards development?”
Justinは、海外のフィリピン人が送金してくれたお金について思い巡らせて時に次のような考えを思いついたと述べました。「200億ドルの送金があるのだから、一部を開発に向けることはできないだろうか？」
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Justinはe27に対してこの構想は海外のフィリピン人が本国へ送金するお金のことを考えているときに浮かんだと話しています。「200億ドルの送金のうちいくらかでも開発に振り向けられないだろうか。」
As such, Social Project.PH is partnering with social enterprises and non-government organizations (NGOs) in running their crowdfunding campaigns. The service works on a pledge model, and will only charge the organization a 5 percent fee from contributions once a milestone is reached. Justin says they already have pilot projects ready for the beta launch.
Buying a Porsche or investing?
In an interview with the Financial Times, Justin says he got seed funding from a childhood friend and venture capitalist who believed in the idea. “He was going to buy a Porsche! But I said, why not invest in us instead?” That VC provided enough funding to cover for start-up costs in exchange for equity. Justin added it was his peer network that helped him gain advantages in getting started with his project, noting that he has “a resource of experts in different fields.” Co-founder and fellow Melbourne Business School MBA alumnus Julia Sevilla is one of them.
フィナンシャル・タイムズとのインタビューの中で、ジャスティンは彼の考えに賛同した幼なじみのベンチャー・キャピタリストからシード資金を獲得したと語っている。「彼はポルシェを買うつもりだった！ でも、私は代わりに私たちに投資しないかと言った」このベンチャー・キャピタリストは株式と引き換えに立ち上げ費用を賄うために十分な資金を提供してくれた。ジャスティンは彼のプロジェクトを始めるにあたり利点を与えてくれる助けとなったのは彼のピア・ネットワークであり、特に彼は「様々な分野の専門家のリソース」を持っていると付け足した。共同創設者でメルボルン・ビジネス・スクールMBA卒業生仲間の一人にジュリア・セビラがいる。
フィナンシャルタイムスとのインタビューの中でJustinはこの構想に賛同した幼馴染とベンチャーキャピタリストから元出資を得たと述べています。「彼はポルシェを買うつもりだった。しかし私はどうしてその～理に私たちに投資しないんだと言った。」そのベンチャーキャピタリストは株式と交換に開業資金をカバーする十分な資金を提供してくれた。Justinは彼のプロジェクトを立ち上げるのに交友関係が有利に働き、彼には「異業種の専門家たちという資産」があると付け加えた。共同創設者でMelbourne Business School MBA取得の主任研究員Julia Sevilla はその中の一人である。
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Social Project.PH is launching this May 21st, and the team welcomes projects in five focus areas: Education, Health, Livelihood, Environment and Youth Empowerment. These will have to meet certain criteria:
Must have a social impact benefiting a community in the Philippines;
Must be a registered company (can be either non-profit or for-profit social enterprise); and,
Must have project planning in place (budget, timeline, impact, exit strategy).
This is to ensure that the projects are sustainable and that there is accountability. The idea is to support worthy causes, and support for individuals might come in at a later time. “We specifically want to support social enterprises, and although we’d love to support individual social entrepreneurs with innovative projects, for now to mitigate the misuse of funds (a key risk factor), we are focusing on umbrella organizations for now. But expanding to social entrepreneurs is one of the future verticals.”
Beyond fundraising
Social Project.PH goes beyond fundraising, though. “We’re helping market and brand social enterprises and NGOs in the Philippines to a global audience.” It’s one thing to run a socially-relevant project, and it’s another to raise awareness about it to a global audience. The platform tries to cover both.
Additionally, the platform also connects NGOs and social enterprises to potential partners. “It’s a good value proposition to the NGOs because we also refer partners who can help with posters, videos, even websites that all are within reach of NGOs limited budgets. The NGOs and non-profits do tremendous work on the ground with little to no fanfare and with minimal social media presence. We want to help them as strategic, long term partners by creating an eco-system of like-minded leaders and orgs.”
While Social Project.PH has angel investment for its website launch, the US-registered startup is also seeking to raise funds from “investors aligned with our vision of a Better Philippines and also who have a heart for what we’re doing.” The first step, though, is to get the project up and running. “We wanted to first launch the beta website to verify some of our assumptions, otherwise it’s just another good idea.”
ネットワークではなくプラットフォームでした。すみません。