Quickpitch: Fund your trip with your best friends without the hassle.
Genius Idea: Allows groups to fundraise in a quick and efficient way.
The last time your friends tried to organize a trip, did it actually come to pass? Or did you toy with the idea and are, months later still thinking about it?
The leader of your group tries to work it out, they find great deals in Mexico or Park City, but no one can afford to, or is willing, to front the money for the reservations. And most of all no one likes to be that person who hounds their friends for money.
Meet Crowdtilt, a crowd-funding service made with friends in mind.
"You don't want to sell tickets to your friends on Eventbrite, or send out a Paypal request and make them pay for a casual gathering, but at the same time no one really wants to front the money," says James Beshara, co-founder of Crowdtilt.
Those weeks and months of toying with ideas can now be put to rest in 10 days, the limit for all campaigns.
With a private fundraiser, you can invite everyone in your group to join and pitch in. Their names will be shown to everyone so each person can see who has contributed, though only the organizer will be able to see how much each person has contributed. (This is especially useful if you have a friend who mooches frequently.)
Similar to other services, no money exchanges hands (or Paypal accounts) until the minimum has been reached. If the goal is not met, then those who did pledge keep their money.
The 10 day limit is to encourage sharing based on the initial momentum. If no one cares about going on a trip you've been talking about forever, this encourages immediate action.
And when everyone can see that their friends are contributing, they're more inclined to contribute, too.
While individuals can create public campaigns for personal projects, most of the fundraisers are for private groups pooling for vacations, and groups gifts. "The coolest use was probably for group wedding gifts, and weddings. It was used to pay for an entire wedding in Denver," Beshara said.
"The couple couldn't afford it and would have lost their deposit, so their friends paid for their wedding in lieu of gifts. That really blew us away."
There isn't a cap on how much you're allowed to raise, though so far the largest fundraiser was for a private school. They raised their goal of $100,000 in the ten day time period.
The San Francisco based company currently only allows those with American bank accounts to use the service. There is a fee of 2.5% of the funds if the fundraiser "tilts." This amount covers credit card fees.
Most campaigns reach well above their intended goal, which says a lot considering the difficulty of collecting funds otherwise.
Is this a service you would use? Tell us in the comments.
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