Engage: Free Live Education in the Arts

Engage is a European-based business that "has been developed to help people follow their passion and offers classes in the areas of photography, videography, cinematography, art, design, music, crafts and business. These workshops are free to watch live via the Engage website with the option to purchase a download of the course if missed or if people would like to view again."

Here's their Kickstarter url: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/engagelive/engage-free-live-education-for-creative-entreprene

Their Kickstarter ends on March 20, 2015 and they are a little over halfway to their goal. (Their website is www.engagelive.co)

Donal Doherty is the founder of Engage. He "comes from a background in marketing and PR before changing career five years ago to become a photographer. When developing his business he listened to the experts and they have helped him to create a market leading photography studio. While he loved watching live workshops it was difficult to participate due to the time difference and sometimes the content shared was not 100% relevant to his business. Donal knew that some of the best trainers he'd heard from are based in Europe and wished there was a world-wide resource that blended their ideas and strategies with those of their US counterparts. So two years ago he began working to bring those experts together to help people to succeed in their creative businesses."

“We will offer thousands of people around the world a chance to learn from leading educators for free and to interact and shape the learning experience live. People can also apply to be in the in-person studio audience and we’ll have both delegates and trainers flying in from around the world for the courses. To an extent this all rests on the success of our Kickstarter campaign which we hope will fund 16 courses in 2015, with the plan to offer a course each week in 2016. Not only will this help us to create employment in the local economy, but we’re hoping to be part of the sea change of native digital companies accessing global markets.”

They have lots of instructors lined up for videos in the future once they receive funding:

Kevin Mullins
Sasha De Paz
Andrew Appleton
Melissa Love
Mark Seymour
Tracy Willis
Gerry Coe
Glenn Norwood
Levi & Shayna of Harder+Wiggins, USA

So check them out.

YaYtags - luggage tags

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1666587351/yaytag-trendy-id-tags-for-luggage-or-anything-you is the link for YayTags - "Trendy ID tags for luggage or anything you like!"

They've got some fund designs on their luggage tags, and I've never seen customized luggage tags like this before so I think if you're a traveler you'll love 'em.

School kids will love them to - they don't need to be used for luggage tags - they can be tied onto anything!

The campaign is running until March 7, 2015, and they're about a fourth of the way toward their goal of $3,000.

The founder of this campaign immigrated to the US from Cambodia and part of the proceeds of her business go to help people in that country:

My name is Sunchea Phou and I am an entrepreneur and philanthropist. YaYwallet was first created out of my frustration in finding a fun slim wallet and part to generate income for my foundation Year Zero. Year Zero Foundation supports children in my homeland of Cambodia. The launch of my first product YaYwallet was well received and led to the birth of my company YaY Novelty. YaYtag is my newest creation.

Check out her campaign, and if you like the designs, back the campaign.

She has already got YayWallets for sale, check them out at her websites:

yaynovelty.com

yearzerofoundation.org

England: The Rucksack Appeal

The Rucksack Appeal is not a crowdfunding campaign, but it's a good cause and so I thought I'd feature it here.

http://www.aokrucksackappeal.org.uk/ is their URL.

Their goal is to collect rucksacks (or backpacks, as we say in the States), fill them full of necessities, and give them to the homeless.

They also hold money-raising events.

They're holding some campaigns that my UK readers might find of interest - I take the liberty of sharing them here.

Poetry
Please submit poetry around any aspect of homelessness to aokrucksackappeal@gmail.com with a disclaimer giving the rights to AOK.Closing date 31/01/15

Art
We will be holding an art exhibition around all aspects of homelessness in St Stephens church Bournemouth at the beginning of July. More details to follow .

Kaiser Chiefs Concert - BIC 10/02/15
We need 18 people to bucket collect all evening from 7.00 -10.00 approx. Two lucky people on the night will be picked to have two free tickets and will watch the show, 16 will collect. Interested?email: aokrucksackappeal@gmail.com

The Kaiser Chiefs are an indie rock band with quite a following.

So, check out the website of the Rucksack Appeal, and do what you can to help them out.

Help Seniors Keep their Homes clean in MPLS, MN

The URL for this IndieGoGo campaign is:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/help-seniors-keep-their-homes-clean/x/269599

Kamberlyne Kyne Cleaners (Cleaning with kindness) is a new company that serves the MPLS/StPaul area (aka the Twin Cities) and the surrounding suburbs.

They're seeking funds to help launch their business, which as an adjunct is going to help out the seniors around the Twin Cities keeping their homes clean.

If you have a senior citizen loved one who isn't quite able to clean their home like they used to, for whatever reason, Kyne Cleaners wants to be the people you'll call.

This sounds like a worthy cause, so check it out and pledge a few dollars if you feel so inclined.

http://vimeo.com/116514047 to view their slideshow.

Take a look at the Smart Backbrace

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/smart-back-brace-ssb-posture-correcting-device/x/9376492   
 is the URL for the Smart Back Brace, which has 26 more days to run.


The campaign video is below:

Description from the page

The Smart Back Brace (SBB) is the posture-correcting device. In physical usage it is similar to many other clavicle braces available on the market. However, what sets it apart is the “smart” part that actually trains your upper body muscles while you are wearing it. At the heart of SBB is the tiny electronic unit that continuously monitors the tension on the straps. Using patented technology, it is able to accurately determine when the wearer is hunching. When this happens it notifies him or her by vibrating. The goal of using the SBB is to train the wearer to keep his or her shoulders back without any assistance.

Many people deal with bad posture. This back brace could be invaluable. Check it out!

How Micro can Micro-investing be?

The way people put up their campaigns on the various crowdfunding sites is maturing all the time.

The latest trends, for example, are a) for people to include "stretch goals" - what they'll do if backer pledge more than they originally ask for, and b) to include descriptions of the various rewards in the body of the text of the campaign, even though the "rewards" section is fully visible. But they can go into more detail and generate more excitement this way.

If you look at a crowdfunding campaign - I'm talking only of Kickstarter and IndieGoGo now, but I am confident that any other crowdfunding campaign will have the same capability - it doesn't matter what their minimum pledge amount is ($5, $10, $100) you can always bid a small amount - $1.

For Kickstarter, in the green button where you pledge, it will say, "Minimum pledge $1", and on IndieGoGo you can input the amount you want to pledge, starting at $1.

So if you are a micro-investor, and I hope through FAEO that we will introduce hundreds of thousands of people to the micro-investment ranks, you don't need to pledge $5 or $10 or more - though obviously that would be nice.

You can pledge a single dollar.

What good is a single dollar? Well, if a thousand people who just want to "help out" a project pledged a single dollar, that's $1,000 right there.

The goal of FAEO is to let that thousand people know of a really great - or at least interesting - campaign that they can contribute a tiny sum to, and watch it all add up and make an entrepreneur's ambition come true... and the backer will hear the bell as he or she gets his angel's wings. (Okay, that's an analogy from It's A Wonderful Life, and I have to work on it so it sounds a bit more clever, but you get the idea.)

Help Restore a Vintage Art Trailer for At Risk Youth

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/151482183/on-the-move-art-studio-help-us-restore-a-vintage-t?ref=hero_thanks

is the URL ... and this is another fun project. They are two-thirds of the way to their goal, they only need another $1,500. Micro-investors, now's the time to give them an early Christmas present - if you are an art lover or want to help share the ability to create art with others.

A few paragraphs from their campaign:

We believe in the power of visual arts to empower and enrich the lives of at risk youth. That is why we have purchased a 1969 Streamline trailer to bring art classes to impoverished neighborhoods in our community.

It is our goal to transform this stylin' Streamline into a mobile art studio, offering diverse classes for children to experience the gratification of creating beautiful drawings, paintings, jewelry and more.

Studies support the numerous benefits of art education for children, including a closing of the gap between low and high-income students' academic achievement.

With your support, we hope to build a fun atmosphere to foster creative achievements for at risk youth to experience the many benefits of art!