/>
Courtesy Crowdrise.com
READ MORE ABOUT:
They call it Crowdrise, "a pretty good Social Fundraising, Online Giving and Volunteer community." If you look closely under the logo, you'll see that "If you don't give back, no one will like you." It's all in good fun, and good cause—like a project by musician Glen Hansard, who's trying to raise $70,000 to buy a truck for land conservation efforts in Maasai, a village in Kenya. So far, Glen has raised almost $44,000 using Crowdrise.
Wow. And the site just launched on May 12, with an announcement by Ed Norton, the actor from "Rounders" and "Fight Club." Glen Hansard, the vocalist/guitarist for Irish rock group The Frames, has raised the money with contests like "donate $29 and win his guitar." And, he's matching all the donations.
Glen happens to be friends with Ed, and the two went to Kenya last year, where Ed is involved with a community of Maasai people "who are working to protect and preserve their land, their culture and their animals in a very organic and sustainable way," Glen says on his campaign page.
After spending a few weeks there, Glen learned that the village was in need of a truck to continue efforts by the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust to protect lions and bring doctors and teachers to the community. So he's raising $70,000 to get a Landrover to the village, to cover high taxes and delivery costs to the remote area.
Here's more on how Crowdrise works. In short, it combines crowd-sourcing with social networking, fundraising and volunteerism. And anyone can do it.
More on Green, Socially Conscious Music
Concert for the Coast ... All Proceeds to Cleanup and Protect Gulf Coast
Matt Cullinan of Whiskey Smoke Rocket Plays Rock 'n Roll All Night, Keeps His Green Day Job (Interview)
Raise Money Like a Rock Star: Nominate a TwitCause and Reach 7 Million People
