MICROSOFT Enables Crowdfunding

Source: www.windowschipin.com

by Anton Root

Microsoft announced a new crowdfunding initiative yesterday, aimed at college students in need of a PC.

The program, called ‘Chip In,’ will allow students to set up a fundraising page for a laptop or tablet of their choice, to which friends and family will be able to contribute.

Microsoft says it is contributing the first ten percent to the campaigns, essentially by offering the PCs at a ten percent discount. While anyone will be able to create a fundraising page, only students with a valid .edu email address (or an international student identity card) will be able to purchase a PC once it’s funded; alumni cannot participate in the promotion.

Those who don’t meet their goal but raise at least $499 will be able to spend the money at the Microsoft online store. The first 10,000 students who crowdfund their new PC will also receive a free four-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365 University.

“With Chip In from Microsoft, students can leverage the power of their social networks to help them get a new PC and Office 365 University this back-to-school season,” Kristina Libby, head of consumer communications for Windows, said in a press release announcing the initiative.

With the college semester having just ended, Microsoft is starting the back-to-school season early, and the initiative will run until September 1st. As Mashable pointed out, Microsoft could be trying to get a head start on Apple and its own lucrative back-to-school deals.

This isn’t the first large enterprise experimenting with such a crowdfunding initiative. Earlier this year, for example, Dodge created the ‘Dart Registry’ platform with the help of RocketHub, which had a similar mission, though with much higher funding goals.