Crowfunding has arrived in the Philippines
All Entries Social Enterprises in the Philippines Volunteering in the Philippines
Crowfunding has arrived in the Philippines
All Entries Social Enterprises in the Philippines Volunteering in the Philippines

Crowfunding has arrived in the Philippines

… and it’s about time 🙂

The Spark Project, the country’s first crowdfunding platform, had their official launch last Saturday after 2 years of the site being in the making.

Noreen Bautista of Jacinto & Lirio, EntrepsBuild PH, and Slash Ignite (yup, she’s a busy girl) invited me to Briggy Hall for the launch and of course, I went for it 🙂 Part of my aim when I go to these things is to mooch off of other people’s positive energy and I was not disappointed.

The product of successful problem-finding, The Spark Project now aims to solve the very problem they’ve pinpointed: the difficulty of raising funds for various philanthropic passion projects. As anyone in this generation can attest to, great ideas are cropping up everywhere. They’re never in short supply and as Patch said it, “It’s just so frustrating that good ideas are put to waste.”

An innovator can’t be of much help if he is a marginalized innovator. What The Spark Project provides is simple: a way to harness the power of the internet and social media to make solutions and innovations a reality.

The site is new and, as with any site at this infancy stage, there’s got to be people to test it out. Meet the first four Spark projects 🙂

Paint-Some-Happy. Inspired by the story of a young, brave boy who has flourished despite his harsh background, Paint-Some-Happy wants to transform public spaces through art and painting, so that they become dream scapes that encourage children to hope. The way Roanna and Meggie think of it, “art makes you ask questions you wouldn’t normally ask” – and it also gives you the strength to keep on dreaming.

 

Lagon Custom Guitars. The project is by Padayon Musika. In Hiligaynon, padayon means to continue. What they would like to see continue is the craftsmanship of Iloilo-based luthier, Agustin Lagon. A hidden gem of a man, Agustin Lagon produces signature bamboo guitars – production that can continue with investing in apprentices, increasing production capacity, and building the Lagon name.

 

Hinabi sa Pilipinas. “Can you imagine a culture dying?” Joseph Villarosa’s talk was one of the more emotional moments of the launch, and with good reason. Without us knowing, the Filipino art of weaving could die, hardly known and unappreciated. His proposed solution is beautiful watches: with one-of-a-kind straps woven by the women of the T’boli tribe. The picture is a screencap from the site and as you’ll see, one of the rewards for donating is a free weaving seminar. How awesome 🙂

 

Offbeat Pursuits. I must say, I share the same sentiment: it is crazy annoying when people find themselves in a beautiful place in the Philippines and they say “It’s like I’m not in the Philippines.” Offbeat Pursuits wants to show people that there is absolutely no reason for such a statement. They’re raising funds to make promotional videos for offbeat destinations in the country, because they believe that it’s the best way to capture and share how great the Philippines really is.

 

 

When you share and collaborate on an idea, it undoubtedly comes to life and that’s exactly what I feel happened to all these projects. All of them were so passionate and so positive about the outcome of their initiatives, it was contagious. And I’m sure The Spark Project had no small part in it – they don’t just help you raise money, they hold your hand from pre to post to ensure as much as possible that you succeed.

I was so sold by the site that I already asked Patch when they’ll be accepting more projects. They won’t be accepting projects until these first four are done, and assessed. But if you’re as excited as I am, Patch said we’re welcome to throw in our ideas anyway.

 

 

Click “CREATE” on their site and it’ll lead you here.

 
Bold moves lead to wonderful things and I think The Spark Project deserves a pat on the back, a visit to their site, and maybe a donation or two. Haha!

BUT FIRST! Vote for them on Project Pagsulong. A vote for them is a vote for that dream project you’ve always wanted to do but just didn’t know how to 🙂

 

 

Patch, Noreen, and the first four to “spark” a project

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