There is less than one week left in GoFundMe’s “make-a-thon” contest so you’d better get busy if you want to enter. The deadline is March 1.
The crowdfunding company is offering a total of $10,000 for the “best maker projects” submitted on the site. In true crowd-source style, winners will be selected by the GoFundMe community. The maker project with the most votes will get $5,000 in project funding from GoFundMe. Second place will receive $3,500, and third place will get $1,500. Voting will begin March 19 and winners will be announced March 21. Winners and their projects will also be featured here on the MAKE blog. Click here for details and to submit a project.
GoFundMe has attracted users who are raising funds for “life needs” like weddings, education, and medical expenses and now the company is expanding its services to makers by offering a new, “all-or-nothing” funding feature and the same, easy-to-qualify terms. Makers have a choice between all-or-nothing funding or access to donations as they come in. With this option, all the money raised is available whether the funding goal is reached or not. As part of its new venture, GoFundMe has partnered with MAKE to help spread the word about the contest.
GoFundMe has already attracted some cool new projects. A trio of mechanical engineering students from the University of the Pacific is creating an original design for an ultralight aircraft for their senior design project. They’ve completed the design phase and they are now looking to raise $10,000 to build the aircraft. They’re more than 60 percent of the way there.
There’s also Fellowship of the Brick, a Florida LEGO/robotics team that is working to build a multifunction walking cane. The small-town team has made it into the top 10 percent of regional competitions and is now gearing up for the state tournament. They turned to GoFundMe to cover event expenses and to build a second prototype.
Do you have a great idea for a project? Share it with the GoFundMe community and you could walk away with $5,000 and be on your way to bringing your creation to life. But do it by March 1.
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