A lesson in crowdfunding
PledgeCents lets teachers and students raise money for educational causes
WHEN science teachers Kenneth Parreno and Chase Weidner wanted to send 40 Patrick Henry Middle School honors students to Washington, D.C., they knew they faced a steep fundraising challenge.
After all, 95 percent of Patrick Henry’s students come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds in north Houston.
Parreno and Weidner turned to Houston-based startup PledgeCents, and used its website to raise $13,000, far beyond their initial goal of $10,000.
“This trip wouldn’t have been possible without them,” Parreno said.
PledgeCents allows teachers and students in K-12 schools to raise money for educational causes. Teachers and students can create a cause and use photos, video, and social media to make their pitch. They receive 95 percent of the funds raised if they meet or exceed their goal; if they do not, they still receive 92 percent. Crowdfunding is becoming a crowded segment. Its leaders include GoFundMe.com, Indiegogo. com and kickstarter.com. PledgeCents appeals to a specific niche. “The difference is our focus is just on K-12 education,” PledgeCents co-founder Andyshea Saberioon said. PledgeCents’ platform also allows causes to recruit large donors to match the funds raised online. And contributions through PledgeCents are taxdeductible. So far, PledgeCents has helped schools raise more than $180,000 for over 200 Houston classrooms. It also
has opened a second location in Philadelphia, and has six full-time employees.
Saberioon and cofounder Ricky Johnson have been friends since the eighth grade. They’ve always wanted to be entrepreneurs and both have a passion for education. In 2012, Saberioon was intrigued by a TV show about crowdfunding, and began envisioning a way to unite these two passions.
Although Saberioon’s professional life was in the hotel industry, he decided with Johnson to research online fundraising for schools. The car washes and bake sales that had been around for generations were just not raising the kind of funds needed for modern school projects.
First place
In the spring of 2013, Saberioon and Johnson launched a PledgeCents beta site for schools in Texas and Tennessee. The startup went on to win first place and $15,000 in the 2013 Lift-Off Houston business plan competition.
“I would say what put PledgeCents on top was their determination to gather as much information as they could to help grow their business and not just from us but also other startup organizations,” said Matthew De León, co-founder and coprogram manager of LiftOff Houston. “They have really come a long way due to their innovative mindset and an idea that wasn’t just about profit but about helping people and educating kids. We need more of that in this world.”
PledgeCents has grown by allowing teachers and schools to take on projects that otherwise would have a hard time getting funded.
The website displays fundraising campaigns for projects such as class libraries, materials for building a beehive and a wheelchair accessible community garden. Johnson said that the site has even hosted campaigns for purchasing class pets, such as guinea pigs.
“These are the kind of things that a traditional bake sale wouldn’t have allowed for,” Johnson said.
Saberioon said PledgeCents is not trying to replace government funding, but is trying to meet specific classroom needs.
Johnson echoed Saberioon, saying that PledgeCents would last just “as long as fundraising is around in schools.”
The most difficult part about launching PledgeCents
was getting schools on board, Saberioon said. Even as late as 2014, school districts were apprehensive because they were unfamiliar with the concept of crowdfunding.
Districts more open
Now, Saberioon said, districts have become more open. “Since we first started, we actually have districts who reach out to us to write and build crowdfunding policies,” he said.
Saberioon said that over 1,200 schools in 48 states have registered, and more than $500,000 has been raised for classrooms, benefiting over 285,000 students nationwide.
Through its new PledgeCents Foundation, PledgeCents can also allocate funds from donors as needed to meet the
needs of multiple schools and share the results with donors so they can track where their money goes.
PledgeCents’ continuing challenge will be its adoption, given that educational institutions are known to change slowly.
For Patrick Henry teachers Parreno and Weidner, the ease of getting registered with the PledgeCents system and the speed with which the school could directly receive tax-deductible donations made it a comfortable decision.
“The money went straight to the school and the students,” Weidner said. “In terms of our expressed goal, PledgeCents made the most sense.”
“The money went straight to the school and the students.” Chase Weidner, teacher