How Women Empowerment Groups Can Raise More Money Through Crowdfunding

Women empowerment aims to empower the common woman by giving her the tools and skills to become self-sufficient. A woman can be empowered by providing the education and skill training required to make her financially independent. Along with providing education and training, women empowerment groups educate and make women aware of their legal rights and protections. Many women empowerment groups are dedicated to making women realize their value and power. Like any other socially active group, women empowerment groups also need funding to carry out the required activities. As a women empowerment group, we can rely on donations from wealthy philanthropists, but the flow of funds is inconsistent and may not match our needs and timings.

Crowdfunding is an innovative alternative to traditional funding methods, like borrowing large amounts from a few certified investors. Instead, crowdfunding is a way to raise funds from a large number of people or “a crowd” by sharing the interests and activities of our group on a crowdfunding platform. Crowdfunding works by asking for a small amount of money from many people.

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How does crowdfunding work? How can it help women empowerment groups?

Crowdfunding started as a way for people to contribute to a social cause. It has helped many individuals who could not pay for medical treatment, even though treatment was available. Treatments like Cancer Treatment can be costly. The disease is life-threatening, and the need for treatment is urgent. Many crowdfunding platforms in India allow us to start a fundraising campaign through their website. If we have a medical emergency or a social cause for which we need funding, Crowdfunding websites help us create a crowdfunding campaign and start fundraising. This is very helpful when an unexpected medical emergency occurs, and our health insurance does not cover it. The health insurance and Mediclaim rejection can put us in a desperate and distressing condition.

This is where we can rely on crowdfunding. Using a crowdfunding website is straightforward and non-time-consuming. Here are the steps involved in starting a crowdfunding campaign:

1. Go to a verified crowdfunding website and fill up the form.
2. Attach the required documents to prove our claim is genuine.

Record a short video appeal using the website’s tools.

• Share the campaign with friends and family.
• Wait for the funds to start pouring in.
• Withdraw collected funds from the website into our bank account.

Crowdfunding is not only for medical emergencies. Crowdfunding can be used to raise money for a social cause. All we have to do is follow the steps below:

1. Enter our details and attach proof of the work we have done.
2. Create a crowdfunding campaign with/without a short video plea.
3. Share the crowdfunding campaign with our peers and followers.
4. Allow funds to be collected.
5. Withdraw funds into the account of our company/ group.

A women empowerment group can raise funds for their charitable work through crowdfunding in the manner mentioned above. The education and skill training provided to women is free of cost. The group will bear the burden of the trainer’s and teacher’s compensation. Study material, books, etc., all require money to be purchased. Crowdfunding can help women empowerment groups fill this gap.

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Crowdfunding for education

A significant part of the empowerment of women is about imparting education. Therefore, education crowdfunding is another type available on crowdfunding platforms that can help women empowerment groups raise funds to educate women. Educating India through crowdfunding is a public initiative whereby anyone, a teacher, students, NGOs, and other socially active groups can raise funds to educate any vulnerable group or individual needing monetary assistance. Fundraisers can be created to cover a portion or all educational expenses like books, uniforms, stationery, transport, and education fees. Vulnerable groups include children, women, minorities, etc. If our cause touches people, raising funds is not an issue. Education is the noblest of causes, and crowdfunding education is an excellent option for interested parties.

Advantages of crowdfunding for a women empowerment group:

• Free micro-website: If we haven’t had the resources or the time to set up our website, then crowdfunding websites can help. When creating a fundraiser, the crowdfunding platform creates a webpage dedicated to our cause. The webpage displays our plea and a link for donations.

• Find new contributors: Using a crowdfunding platform, we get access to contributors who sympathies with our cause.

• Budget-friendly: A fundraising campaign can be pretty heavy on our pocket. Crowdfunding keeps the cost of fundraising at the lowest. A small portion of the collected funds goes to the platform as fees.

Risks involved in crowdfunding

• Misuse of funds: Fraudulent crowdfunding websites use insincere causes to raise money from the crowd and use it for personal gains. Such acts discredit the claim of genuine causes.

• Cybercrime: Cyber criminals can use false crowdfunding websites to steal our financial information under the pretext of transferring funds. It is crucial to check the genuineness of the crowdfunding platform we use to raise funds.

• Identity theft: Crowdfunding websites can steal our identity, raise money from the crowd and steal the funds.

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Conclusion

Women empowerment is a noble cause and one that has many sympathizers. Many believe that our country cannot develop until its women are empowered. Keeping in mind its importance, non-profit groups working to advance the cause mustn’t stop due to the shortage of funds. This is where crowdfunding comes into play. An easy, quick, and proven strategy to raise funds, crowdfunding is the right choice.