In the past decade, online crowdfunding has gone from experimental technology to budgetary mainstay.
In the beginning, crowdfunding was an intriguing new approach that individuals and grassroots groups could try as a way of gaining support for their work. Now, it’s become a cornerstone of countless project budgets for both unincorporated initiatives and established nonprofits that brings in tens of billions of dollars annually. Continue reading Six crowdfunding myths grassroots groups fall for
Racial justice work is hard.
There are many good approaches to addressing the historical and systemic injustices faced by people of color, but they all involve difficult tasks. Whether you’re bringing community agriculture back to a marginalized neighborhood, facilitating a multicultural public art project, mounting a national educational campaign, or any other initiative, there will be personalities, logistics, and budgets to deal with. There will be difficult conservations, delays, and disappointments. Sometimes, there will be burnout.
Continue reading Meet the ioby leaders healing Cleveland’s communities through racial justice work
Over 15 million households in America experience periodic food insecurity. That means over 12 percent of our population, at any given time, does not have enough food to meet their needs, or is uncertain they will be able to get enough. Continue reading Five food security projects that are helping to revive and sustain communities
ioby is a community crowdfunding platform. In the past 10 years, we’ve helped more than 1,500 local leaders raise over $4.5 million to improve their neighborhoods.
But as proud as we are of these numbers, there’s much more to ioby than fundraising.
ioby is also a connector, an advocate, and an information hub. We offer leaders free guides, webinars, events, and more to help them build successful campaigns and win lasting positive change where they live. On and offline, we build connections that increase accountability and get things done. In the face of daunting bureaucracy, we can help you surmount roadblocks. We’re even known to chip in with yard work on occasion!
Continue reading How they did it: Two Detroit projects draw on ioby resources to succeed
To kick off our program “Better Bureaucracies: Three NY institutions, three collaborative approaches,” social impact designer April De Simone asked audience members to raise their hands if they had positive associations with the word “bureaucracy.”
If any hands went up, they didn’t go very high.
“This afternoon, we’ll try to shed some light on what’s going on in a few New York City bureaucracies,” she said. “So if we ask that question again at the end, maybe we’ll get a few more hands.”
Continue reading How to Build a Better Bureaucracy: An Honest Conversation
We were thrilled and deeply honored to hear the Obama Foundation’s announcement today that our Co-Founder Erin Barnes is among the inaugural class of 20 Fellows!
This is an institution that clearly shares ioby’s belief that local, grassroots civic leadership is the foundation of our democracy.
A message of thanks from Erin:
For faith-based community organizations, fundraising can pose particular opportunities and challenges. Megan Klein, Chief Development & Communications Officer at STREETS Ministries in Memphis, puts it this way: “It’s heaven and hell all together.”
Continue reading Awesome Project: STREETS Ministries uses data to diversify funding streams
“It’s never too late to act. There’s always time to make your voice heard and to do something, even if it’s a small thing—especially if it’s a small thing. That’s the best place to start.”
— Indigo Bishop, ioby Cleveland Action Strategist, in ioby’s new Racial Justice Toolkit
Fifty years ago today, civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. Commemorations are taking place across the country to honor his vision and achievements, from panel discussions to walking tours to the symbolic ringing of church bells. The anniversary of Dr. King’s tragic death can serve to remind us of how real the challenges to racial equity movements can be.
Continue reading ioby’s Racial Justice Toolkit: A guide to taking action in your own community
At ioby, we often talk about the many non-monetary benefits of crowdfunding for neighborhood projects. When local leaders crowdfund, they strengthen relationships in their community, build their own capacity to lead, and encourage the buy-in that creates lasting community stewardship, among other perks.
But there’s another important facet of crowdfunding that’s neither the money raised during the campaign, nor these types of non-financial equity. It’s this phenomenon: a successful round of crowdfunding has the power to attract other types of funding to your project.
“It started with the trees,” says Melissa Linkous, an ioby Leader in Richmond, Virginia. “There were these beautiful mature oak trees I could see from my kitchen window, but they were being choked by poison ivy. So initially I was just trying to save the trees, and that’s how I discovered we had a cemetery.”
Melissa’s project, Preserving Forest View Cemetery, aims to restore this neglected historic site so it can once again serve as a place of peace, remembrance, and beauty for the community. She’s doing it with the help of her neighbors and friends, some city employees, a local archaeologist, and… a herd of goats.
Continue reading Awesome Project: A Historic Cemetery Comes Alive… With Goats!