Fundraising for women

I wanted to let you know about a new online platform that will go live this October. It’s called Catapult, and it’s a program of Women Deliver aimed at supporting projects that advance the lives of women and girls around the world.

By hosting projects created for, with and/or by women and girls, Catapult’s goal is to strengthen the efforts of individuals and organizations working for gender equality. The site provides an open, direct channel between projects that need funding and citizen donors. It can also introduce to new audiences the important work that we too often don’t hear about – work that strives to bolster women and girls in some of the world’s poorest communities.

Online crowdfunding is transforming how people give. As of 2011, charitable giving through crowdfunding platforms exceeded 676 million and grew at an average rate of 43 percent. Catapult will be one of the latest to join this new way of giving, and it will be a great opportunity for organizations working on girls’ and women’s issues to connect directly with a new generation of online donors that can support their work.

ICRW hopes to take part, and I want to encourage others to do the same, too. You can register for Catapult and post projects in need of funding at any time. But  to have projects on the site by the time it launches, you must have both applications and projects submitted and approved by Sept. 20^th.

For more information, you can view this 2-minute introductory video and download Catapult’s Partner Information Packet. You can also contact Catapult’s program managers Rati Bishnoi ([email protected]) or Sue Lee ([email protected]). They can answer any questions you may have.