Hey Purpose gang!

After a gap of almost nine months while we were getting our new platform launched amongst other things I'm holding some of my award-winning* Crowdfunding for Good workshops as part of Vivid Festival in Sydney in June.

Crowdfunding for Good Workshops

Two introductory workshops which cover all the basics you need to know to succeed at crowdfunding over two action-packed hours, on Thursday June 9 and Friday June 10.

By the end of this workshop you'll know exactly what you need to do to succeed, what projects that succeed remember to do that those that fail ignore, what sorts of rewards work and so on. Tickets are just $30 ($25 if you're quick!) and available here.

Masterclass for Project Creators

A newly-created half-day masterclass for just 6 projects or organisations, each of which can bring two people. Over the four hours we'll work through the key decisions you need to make, what rewards will work for you and most importantly, how to architect your story and design an outreach strategy which will inspire the support you need. This is for project creators with a clear idea of what they need to raise funds for, and is limited to six projects so that I can give each of them focused attention and custom advice.

By the end of this workshop you'll have a detailed plan to run an awesome crowdfunding campaign. Only six tickets (each of which entitles two people working on the same project to come together) are available from here. The first two are $99 after which they're $129.

*okay I haven't won any awards for my workshops. But people really like them! Check the quotes on the booking page.

I posted a more personal, reflective announcement about the new version of StartSomeGood.com here last week but for those of you know don't subscribe to the StartSomeGood weekly email (and you really should if that's the case, see bottom-right of the homepage) I wanted to also share with you the email we sent to the 10,000 members of the site on Friday:

Hi everyone,

In place of our usual newsletter we wanted to send you a personal email this week to let you know about some exciting changes happening at StartSomeGood and reflect on where we are.

Most importantly and obviously we have just unveiled the new version of our site!

The new site is a big step forward for us and we hope you like it as much as we do. The major changes include a lighter, brighter and friendlier design, with a simplified navigation which gives greater prominence to success stories and information to help you succeed at crowdfunding. On the back-end there’s an upgraded project dashboard to help you launch and manage your campaigns and we’re adding alternatives to Paypal for donors (already available to US ventures, coming soon for everyone else).

But it’s not all about technology. We remain committed to a hands-on and partnership-driven approach which provides you with the advice and support you need to succeed.

So if you have an idea for a project which can improve the future of your community, why not start today? Register on our site and a member of our team will be in touch to help you design a campaign which will succeed.

Over the past two years, with your support, we have built a vibrant community of changemakers at StartSomeGood. Together, we have successfully funded 125 world-changing projects in 23 countries. We have supported social entrepreneurs as young as 16 and as established as Ashoka Fellows. We have helped launched projects as diverse as open-source mapping in Nepal to Sock Monkeys who fight cancer in the US, from social enterprise cafés in Cambodia to supporting young families in Australia and inspiring youth volunteering in 22 cities across America.

While we are proud of these successes there’s so much further we want to go. Our goal is to launch 1,000 new social initiatives over the next two years, transforming millions of lives around the world.

We would love your project, your idea, your community, to be part of that. Without you, we’re just a boring old website. With you, we can be an epic force for good in the world.

So don’t wait any longer. If you have the drive and the passion to make a difference we want to help.

Together, let’s start some good!

Sincerely,

Tom and Alex

Co-founders, StartSomeGood

PS. Read about the details of the new site and all the great activities we’re doing to celebrate, including a riddle hidden in the website and daily twitter chats this week on our blog.

PPS. Speaking about getting started you may be inspired by the first episode of our new podcast series Starting Good, featuring Charles Best, founder of DonorsChoose. Check it out.