From potato salad to prosthetic limbs: five offbeat charity crowdfunding campaigns

Crowdfunding isn’t a new concept. In fact, the base of the Statue of Liberty was paid for through a newspaper advertisement in the New York World, with hundreds of people donating small amounts.

Today, crowdfunding works in the same way although the rise of the internet and advances in mobile technology mean that crowdfunding is more accessible to people wherever they are in the world.

This, of course, means that charities can take advantage of the global funding opportunities that this brings and many charities use crowdfunding to fund important projects or research. There are also lots of projects that are, well, a little bit unconventional.

PewDiePie’s 25m Bros Strong charity drive for Save the Children

When Swedish gamer, Felix Kjellberg, reached 25m subscribers to his YouTube channel he decided to turn it into a fundraising opportunity. He invited his “bros to be a force for good” by asking them to make a donation to his Indiegogo campaign to help support Save the Children.

In order to reach the $250,000 target to help children around the world reach their potential, Felix offered perks such as a group chat for $300 where you could ask him one question, or $50,000 to have a Friday with Felix for you or your company (two people claimed this perk).

In addition, when people donated and shared their donation on Twitter using the hashtag #BrosSaveTheChildren, they were entered into a competition to win the chance to play games with PewDiePie, Kjellberg’s online alias. The campaign raised $342,828 towards its $250,000 goal.

Edinburgh University Mountaineering Club’s Bothy Renovation project

If you’ve ever watched a Bear Grylls survival programme, the chances are you will know what a bothy is. If not, a bothy is a dwelling that offers refuge to mountaineers and is a lifesaver in bad weather conditions. In 2012, the roof of Glen Licht House bothy sustained serious damage and if not repaired quickly, the interior will be fall into disrepair. The EUMC has leased the property from the National Trust for Scotland since the 1960s – its original restoration was initially funded as a memorial to two students, Elliot Woodburn and Fred Hadden, who died in a storm on Ben Nevis. The project raised £5,590 on Yimby, and £500 was pledged by a couple who got engaged in the bothy in 1956.

Leg it to Africa

Apparently, around 2,000 prosthetic limbs are disposed of in the UK each year. Legs 4 Africa wants to transport 200 prosthetic limbs to the Gambia to help those who need them. The limbs are to be driven by two volunteers from Leicester to the Gambia and this journey is to be captured in a short documentary film to help promote Legs 4 Africa and the work that they do. The project raised £5,500 on Crowdfunder and could have been the next viral campaign if #legnomination had taken off.

Going to a Creed concert sober

Tony Cerame was tired of giving money to “humblebraggers” for running a marathon so instead decided to go to a concert to one of the worst bands (in his opinion) that he could think of, sober. Through this he raised money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. He raised $3,166 for his sacrifice. You could say he’s been there, done that, probably not bought the band t-shirt.

PotatoStock 2014

Zack Brown from Ohio jokingly started a $10 Kickstarter campaign to buy ingredients to make potato salad. That campaign went on to raise $55,000. Zack has used part of the funding to throw a community party in Columbus – PotatoStock – and has partnered with the Columbus Foundation to support charities that help the homeless and help fight hunger with a $20,000 donation, and will also add the profits from PotatoStock to the fund.

Kirsty Marrins is a content and community manager at JustGiving

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