That's the question that drives every employee and the company mission at Vancouver-based tech startup and social enterprise Change Heroes (www.changeheroes.com), a friend-funding platform that enables anyone to raise $10,000 with 33 friends to build a school or library in a developing country. Over the last year, Change Heroes has helped raised over $750,000 which will fund 75 new school and library projects through their implementing charity partners: Free The Children and Room To Read.
This fall, Change Heroes is challenging everyday people to help raise$1 million to build 100 new school houses and educate 100,000 children in Kenya with their #100Heroes campaign. The goal is for 100 people to fund 100 schools by the end of October.
Since quietly announcing the #100Heroes campaign to select pioneers on September 2, the platform has already raised over $130,000 (http://dash.changeheroes.com/main); on September 17, Change Heroes is inviting the public to join the campaign.
"Our implementing partner, Free The Children, has been operating in the Maasai Mara region of Kenya for 14 years, and through proven partnerships with local communities, they now have the opportunity to build 100 more schoolhouses that will serve 100,000 children over the next 20-30 years," says Taylor Conroy, Change Heroes' Founder and CEO. "We want to bring in the funds to make that happen. These children are ready and waiting to sit in these schools. Ready to learn to read, write, count; to learn about gender equality, family planning and how to prevent diseases like AIDS."
Change Heroes is part of several Vancouver-based accelerators including the Coast Capital Savings Innovation Hub (part of UBC's Sauder School of Business ISIS Research Centre), Launch Academy, and institute B. In the last year, Change Heroes has also gained international support and recognition, including receiving funding from IRAP, presenting the platform to Prince Andrew, and winning severalcompetitions that include Startup World Vancouver.
In a recent TEDx Talk (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VS_Rf9dT_Fg), Conroy explains the history of Change Heroes, how the friend-funding platform works, and his hopes for the future in more detail.
For more information, to set up an interview, or to request photos and video footage, please contact Mike Tan at mike@changeheroes.com or (778) 960-0826.
About Change Heroes
Founded and funded by Victoria-based entrepreneur Taylor Conroy, Change Heroes is an online friend-funding platform that's challenging the way we approach fundraising, making it simpler, more accessible, social and fun. The platform is built around a simple formula: if one person can get 33 friends to donate $3.33 for 3 months, thatamounts to $10,000, which is enough to fully fund major projects in the developing world, including the construction of a new school, well or library.
< Prev | Next > |
---|