Free Online Conference: Crowdfunding for Civic, Education and Non-Profit Projects

SANTA MONICA, Calif. - March 6, 2014 - PRLog -- Lee Schneider, founder of Digital Fundraising School, is co-hosting an online conference to spotlight best practices in civic crowdfunding, discuss successful civic crowdfunding campaigns, and analyze crowdfunding case studies that will benefit non profits and educators.

Mr. Schneider will be joined by co-presenter Rodrigo Davies, of MIT’s Center for Civic Media. The online conference is free and open to the public on the Big Marker platform.

Conference panelists include Jase Wilson, CEO of Neighborl.y, a crowdfunding platform dedicated to community and civic projects. Anna Doherty, director of donor engagement at donorschoose.org, will join the conference as well to discuss how to build relationships online with citizen philanthropists.

Neighbor.ly helps communities fund projects, from bike paths, to playgrounds, to community development. Recent successful projects include a bike share project for Kansas City, MO and a green space to generate creativity in a Miami, FL neighborhood. Current neighbor.ly projects include The Digital Reconciliation Project to teach digital life skills in Kansas City, MO.

Donors Choose is the leading platform for educators to connect with citizen philanthropists. Ongoing projects include an initiative to get iPads for an elementary school in Grand Rapids, MI, a campaign to raise money to acquire a camera to document classwork in a Lawrenceville, VA school, and a project to create a read along listening center at the Kansas City Early Childhood Center.

Schneider and Davies will lead a discussion about what platforms are most suitable for civic and education projects, how to connect with a community of potential donors, and how to capitalize on the social capital you can generate with social media online.  Participants will be able to ask questions via chat.

Sign up for the free conference at this link: https://www.bigmarker.com/digitalfundraisingschool/civic-crowdfunding

More information on the Presenters

Rodrigo Davies of the MIT Center for Civic Media is an expert in online crowdfunding for civic and non-profit projects. He is a civic technologist, researcher and problem solver whose work focuses on designing, building and analyzing tools to help communities and governments collaborate for social good.

Lee Schneider is a film and television producer with nearly 30 years experience in creative media making. He founded Digital Fundraising School to help artists, media makers, educators and social change makers become better crowdfunders.

Jase WIlson is CEO of Neighbor.ly, a fundraising toolkit for communities. He earned a Masters in City Planning from the Massachusetts Instituted of Technology and speaks about new models of civic fundraising. Previous talks include SXSW, Smart Cities World Expo, CityAge, Collaborative Economy Summit, ICMA and TEDx.

Anna Doherty is Director of Donor Engagement and donorschoose.org. Anna builds relationships with citizen philanthropists, and inspires them to support teachers and students through DonorsChoose.org year after year. Previously, she managed grassroots campaigns (from Mustaches for Kids to Celebrations) and social media. Prior to joining the team in 2010, Anna worked in Development and Special Events at the Wildlife Conservation Society, based at the Bronx Zoo. She grew up in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg public school system and has a B.A. in Art History from the University of North Carolina.

About Digital Fundraising School

Digital Fundraising School is in session two times per year with an online six-class series and a Crowdfunding Bootcamp designed to launch crowdfunding campaigns in six weeks. The school's popular video series is called Crowdfunding Quickstart.Upcoming events include a weekend intensive workshop designed to help crowdfunders create their best crowdfunding campaign video.