In a nutshell
We're building an app that allows you to watch 30 seconds of sponsored content (video advertising) and then direct the advertiser's money to the charity of your choice. That's it.....well not quite, but that's the main part.
What can you do in 30 seconds?
What if you knew that with just 30 seconds of your time you could help feed a starving child? Or find a cure for cancer? Or save an animal from extinction?
30 Seconds Change is an app that allows you to do just that. It’s an app that allows you to spend 30 seconds raising money for your favourite charities.
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A new complementary fund raising model
Every day, smart phone users around the world spend almost an hour on their phones playing games, surfing the net and checking social media. In the USA it’s just under an hour, in Australia it's around 43 minutes and in the UK it's almost 2 hours.
What if there was a way that you could take just 30 seconds of that time and use it to raise money for charity?
We are building a platform and accompanying app to do just that. Using the app, you watch 30 seconds of sponsored content (video advertising) and the money from each ad is passed onto the charities that you choose to support.
Using the app is simple: download it from the app store; choose the charities that you want to support; and then set the daily reminder.
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*In order to use the logos of most charities, we would need to guarantee annual donations of upwards of $150,000. Since you as users control who gets the money, we aren't able make those guarantees, so instead we blurred their names.
Each day when the reminder goes off, simply open the app and watch 30 seconds of content. It's that easy.
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We believe that connecting people with a cause is important. That’s why each week, users will be updated on the total funds raised and how it is being spent. In addition, after each video, users will also receive a news item or a talking point relating to a cause or charity that we support.
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Supporting charities without additional cost
There is seemingly no end to the demand for charity services both at home and around the world. Despite the ongoing generosity of individuals and businesses, charities can spend up to 45% of revenue on fund raising activities. And while most people wish to support a cause, financial uncertainty, commitment reluctance and donor fatigue frequently restricts their support and often at a time when it is needed most.
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30 Seconds Change however, is a highly efficient and scalable model, costing charities nothing while providing important additional revenue. The app also provides a way for individuals to directly contribute to causes they are passionate about without having to reach into their own pockets.
The platform doesn’t replace charitable giving but simply complements it, providing a new source of income for charities that doesn’t put additional burden on those already giving.
Importantly, the app also provides a direct communication channel from the charities to their supporters, something that many charities struggle to achieve. Through the app, charities can better inform their supporters of how their efforts are making a difference to people around the world.
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Why are we using Indiegogo?
We are using Indiegogo as it provides the two things that we need. Firstly, the funds to complete and launch the app, and secondly, and just as importantly, the audience.
This concept only works if people like you believe in the worth of donating 30 seconds of your time to change lives. We need an audience in order to build on the interest we've already had from advertisers, networks, and media and creative agencies.
Last year award winning actor, director and writer Zach Braff raised $3,105,473 from 46,520 people for his latest film project. We only need a fraction of that, but we’d love to engage with that many people. Now, we don't have 46,520 friends, but with your help, we'd love to attract an even larger supporter base. It is far better for us to have 100,000 supporters each contributing $1 than to have 3,000 supporters each contributing $100. Yes, that’s not a typo. An additional 97,000 backers is worth far more than $200,000.
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Where is the money going?
We have self funded development thus far but we need funds to complete the development and to launch the app. The money we raise will be used as follows:
- Indiegogo supporter perks
- Developers and designers to finalise and build an app for both iOS and Android.
- Legal work required to work with charities
- Creative team behind some of the efforts to date.
We are running an all-or-nothing campaign. If we don't reach our $90,000 target, then this project won't be going ahead and we will have to shut down 30 Seconds Change.
Stretch targets
While we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, with the generous help of people like you, we do have some stretch targets that we’d love to hit. These are all aimed at:
- Creating an incredibly, elegant and easy to use app
- Building a platform and network that attracts premium, high yielding advertising from leading brands and organisations.
We want people to engage with the causes and feel involved in the work being done. We also want to work with leading brands and creative agencies, ensuring users are watching relevant and engaging content. Achieving these goals requires funds. And finally, we also hope to be able to extend our reach beyond Australia and the USA and bring the app to charities in other parts of the world.
How else can I help?
Easy; use the links above to share our campaign with your friends and followers.
Also, if you can't make a financial contribution, then sign up to our newsletter
here so that we can keep you informed and let you know when we launch the app. This will also help us demonstrate to charities and advertisers that there is an audience.
As we said above, our Indiegogo campaign is NOT just about the money. We need an audience. Both the charities and advertisers want to see whether people are willing to spend 30 seconds a day watching advertising. The best way for us to show them that you are, is by having a large number of backers.
Mr Braff got 46,520 backers. We want to beat that.
Which charities are you working with?
We'd like nothing more than to list all the charities that we are supporting and hoping to support but, unfortunately, many of them have marketing restrictions that mean until we are contributing hundreds of thousands of dollars we can't use their names or logos.
What we can tell you is that we are launching with approximately ten American charities and another ten Australian charities. In each country we are trying to cover the spectrum of causes including: poverty, hunger and water relief, humanitarian and children’s services, gender equality, disaster relief, education, conservation, animal welfare and medical and scientific research.
We have chosen charities that are all leaders in their fields, have built strong public support and have received high ratings from various independent charity review organisations.
Perks
We have spent a lot of time coming up with some great and relevant perks that we thought you’d like and that won't distract from what we are trying to achieve.
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Profits
30 Seconds Change is NOT a not-for-profit but is a social enterprise. Our long term aim is to pass more than 80% of revenue directly to the charities we support. Until then we have committed to our partners that for the first 2 years 100% of all proceeds will be passed onto the charities you support.
Risks and challenges
There is always development and technology risks involved in any technology project. To manage this we are working with a fantastic team of developers and service providers who have proven experience across all the technologies we touch.
The biggest risk is reach. 30 Seconds Change only works with a large audience. This is why we are asking you to please share this page and concept with your friends, family and distant acquaintances. All of our partners including advertisers, creative agencies, media buyers and charities are keen to see how many people get behind this project.
This Indiegogo campaign is our first test of market appetite for this new concept which is why we have said that having 100,000 backers each contributing $1, is far better than having 1,000 backers each contributing $200. Simply put, without an audience this won't work.