Philadelphia holds the unenviable title of poorest big city in the nation, and faces rising hunger at the same time it’s dropping elsewhere. Happily, the city is also home to motivated people willing to put time and energy into exploring the root causes of these issues and work on finding solutions.
Proof? There were a remarkable 32 applications submitted to the Full City Challenge, the food-focused rapid incubator and pitch competition Billy Penn is hosting with the Economy League.
After a rigorous interview process, we selected five finalist teams that stood out from the impressive field. (We’ll be telling you more about them shortly, stay tuned.)
But even those who weren’t selected for the Challenge — and plenty of other community leaders across the city — have some great ideas that could help make Philly better. With drive and vigor behind them, all they need is some startup money.
Crowdfunding is one way to get it — and GoFundMe is coming to Philadelphia to lead a free session on how.
The online donations company, which is based in San Diego, Calif., has partnered with Billy Penn and the Economy League on the Challenge. A coach is flying across the country to help lead rapid incubator workshops for the finalist teams, and will help them hone individual campaign pages in advance of the Feb. 19 pitch party at Green Soul.
When we learned the GFM coach would be traveling 3,000 miles for this, we realized it would be silly not to take advantage of her expertise. So the evening prior to the workshop, she agreed to help spread the wealth and do a version of her seminar for the general public.
Upshot: On Monday, Feb. 11, you’re invited to attend “How to use GoFundMe for social impact,” held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Deloitte’s offices at 1700 Market St. RSVP now — space is limited.
Who should come? Anyone who’s interested in entrepreneurial civic engagement — or who just wants a chance to gather tips and tricks and best practices for launching a GoFundMe campaign for a good cause.
Light refreshments will be served, and the whole thing’s entirely free (registration is required). See you there.
