Get funding for your venture with Sponsorcraft

Calling all entrepreneurs!

Strapped for cash? Keen to get something up off the ground? Finding yourself abandoning interesting projects and bemoaning a lack of investment in student creativity? If only students could find a new way of financing their fledgling start- ups...

Sponsorcraft was founded by two recent graduates to help students fill this gap. The basic idea behind Sponsorcraft is that people like you post projects onto a website where other people can see them. Sponsors will browse the website and donate their pennies to the projects they like. This funding model is known as ?crowdfunding? and has already spawned highly successful companies such as Kickstarter in the USA, and Pozible down under.

The website?s been live since February and can already boast an array of successful projects (including an Olympic athlete). One such project, for example, was run by student tour company Walking Bristol and its founder James Bogie who wanted to raise a funding to turn their hobby into a viable business. Their story was covered by the BBC back in April: www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-bristol-17713708

James turned to Sponsorcraft to cover the costs of printing and promoting his new creation. The group offer free cultural tours and survive only on tips and general goodwill.

?Sponsorcraft really helped us out because it just gave us that boost,? says James. ?We didn?t need a lot of money. We needed it just to get things started and I couldn?t get it from anywhere. Then I got an email, went on Sponsorcraft and it took me about 15 minutes to set everything up. It was fast.?

Walking Bristol was funded through Sponsorcraft in April and is currently rated the 2nd best Bristol tour by the public on Trip Advisor. He?s now looking to spread the word to hotels, hostels and tourism offices in order to help Walking Bristol tours become a fixture of the Bristol cultural scene. Universities and colleges naturally attract creative and ambitious people who want to do exciting stuff. By providing an alternative, more accessible channel than traditional fund-raising methods, Sponsorcraft offers students the opportunity to do this.

If you fancy starting a project on Sponsorcraft, or even just taking a look at the projects already there, hop along to the website at www.sponsorcraft.com.