The Australian arm of banking giant ING has teamed up with social innovation crowdfunding specialist StartSomeGood to launch Dreamstarter, a platform for entrepreneurs looking to raise money for socially useful projects.
The partners say that their new online platform will give Aussie entrepreneurs a place to raise funds towards diverse social change projects, with ING Direct promising to throw in additional funding for some.
Anyone can submit an idea, which will then be assessed by a panel made up of people from ING Direct, StartSomeGood and the School for Social Entrepreneurs (SSE) Australia, meeting once a month to pick projects.
Successful candidates then set up a campaign, explaining their ideas using text and video on the Dreamstarter Facebook app.
Each campaign sets a funding goal with a 'tipping point' which they have to hit to receive the money pledged. The Dreamstarter panel will add additional support funding which participants receive as long as they hit their tipping point.
Of the first 10 projects up and running, an average of A$2000 in extra cash from ING has been pledged to each.
Among the first enterprises to go live is a project to connect remote Aboriginal entrepreneurs to new markets via an online store, which has raised around A$12,000 of its A$15,000 target at the time of writing.
Vaughn Richtor, CEO, ING Direct, says: "At ING Direct we strongly support innovative projects that address real community needs. Leveraging ING Direct's customers, employees and the general public's support benefits all involved."