Crowdfunding Is A Jackpot For Social Justice

Watsi, for example, is a crowdfunding platform that funds medical treatments for the most marginalized people all over the world. The coveted Silicon Valley accelerator Y Combinator, which supplies venture funding and expertise for startups, recently decided to work with Watsi. This is Y Combinator’s first partnership with a nonprofit.

Here’s what Y Combinator partner Paul Graham had to say about Watsi:

After about 30 seconds of looking at the site, I realized I was looking at one of the more revolutionary things I’d seen the Internet used for. Technology can now put a face on need. The people who need help around the world are individuals, not news photos, and when you see them as individuals, it's hard to ignore them.

Consider the now iconic story about bus driver Karen Klein, who was bullied. What started as one nice young man who launched a campaign to raise $5K to give Klein a vacation turned into a public mandate to stop bullying, forever. The project raised more than $700K. Not only did Klein get her vacation but, thanks to crowdfunding, more money is being funneled into anti-bullying because of the foundation she created in her name.

Not convinced that crowdfunding rules cool? Using the power of the crowds is a sure way to get the youth demographic behind your cause—something President Obama knew well, but Mitt Romney did not. We know how that campaign turned out.

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