Crowdfunding site aims to provide grassroots support for schools

Springwise has seen many crowdfunding sites pop up in the past few years thanks to the popularity of the trend – most recently we covered PiggyBackr‘s effort to teach young entrepreneurs about the backing they can get for their own projects. Also focusing on the education sector, PledgeCents now hopes to help schools get the funding they need to improve their performance. Before the advent of the web, school fundraising campaigns were limited to seasonal fun days or rallying contributions from parents. PledgeCents believes that the whole community should contribute to the institutions that provide education to that region’s future workers, especially as government funding gets ever tighter. As with other crowdfunding platforms, schools register and upload details about the cause they want to raise money for – whether it’s new learning materials, a garden for the children or a more general fundraising effort. As its name suggests, PledgeCents wants to encourage a large number of community members to gift a small amount, rather than relying on investors. One of the benefits of the site for schools is that regardless of whether they reach their goal, they will still receive the money.