VALLEY VIEW UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF SCIENCE

COMPUTING SCIENCE DEPARTMENT

A PROJECT SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS

FOR THE BACHELOR OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN (BSc.) COMPUTER SCIENCE

TOPIC:

A MOBILE APPLICATION TO RAISE FUNDS FOR INDIVIDUALS

BY:

ODUKOYA EMMANUEL OLUWAFISAYO

ID:

218CS01005247

DATE:

2nd April, 2021.

I
 CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

Fundraising is an art. Fundraising plays a critical role in

raising money for a good cause. Fundraising is the act of seeking

and gathering voluntary financial contribution by engaging

individuals, businesses and governmental agencies. It refers to

efforts to gather money for non-profit organizations, it is

sometimes used to refer to the identification and supplication of

investors or other sources of capital for profit enterprises.

Fundraising in the past was in the form of face-to-face

fundraising such as door knocking, event centers and so on. Now,

there are systems to make it easier for people to donate money to

individuals, business bodies, pay medical bills and assist people

in need just with one click and at the comfort of their home.

Significant aspects that will be discussed include the

background of the study, the problem statement, the objective of

the project, and the scope of the project.

1.1 Subject and Field of study

1
The subject of the study is Android development, and the field of

the study is software engineering with focus on Mobile

Application development.

Study Objectives

This section of the paper has been placed under two categories:

general objectives and specific objectives.

Global Objectives

The general objective of the project is to develop an

application that will provide a platform for individuals and

organization to raise funds for the needy.

Specific Objectives

The main objective of this project is to build a mobile

application to:

 Help individuals by raising funds to start a small

scale business or pay medical bills.

 Help individuals who cannot afford basic or higher

education without an education loan.

2
  Improve the lives of abandoned and neglected children

by receiving donations to provide adequate food, health

care, clothing, education and psychosocial support.

1.2 Problem statement

There are some problems associated with Fundraising, and it

includes Unhappy staffs and volunteers, critical in-kind sponsor

drops out or fails to deliver, too many people registering for

your event and critical health emergency during the event.

Some non-profit organization does not really care about the

wellbeing of their staffs and volunteers as they are just after

the money. It is a great problem because if the staffs and the

volunteers are not happy, no money would be made, and it could

affect the person in need of funds. Lots of lives or business may

get ruined because of this above-listed problem.

Since volunteers need to meet up with the staffs at an

event, some volunteers may be too tired to wait due to a long

queue. Some volunteers are impatient to the extent that they

don’t want to waste any time or wait for an extended period. In

the situation where many people registered for an event with a

small event size and lack of supplies, they will be tempted to

leave the event out of anger of waiting in the sun or not treated

well.

3
 Another problem associated with face-to-face fundraising is

long queues. Impatient volunteers may leave the event centre due

to a long queue. Losing money because some volunteers may not

have that patience of waiting may negatively impact the people in

need.

Volunteers may have several critical health emergencies

during the event, such as an accident on their way to the event

centre, stroke, heart attack or body pain. It is a big problem

because the volunteers’ lives and wellbeing are essential to the

fundraising agency to meet the target.

My mobile application will solve the above-listed problems

associated with fundraising and make it easier for people to

volunteer for the needy.

1.3 Background to the study

Fundraising was first introduced in the early 1900s. Face-

to-face fundraising, events, PR campaigns, etc., were all new

techniques used to raise money for a cause. Frank Pierce and

Charles Ward were the first to execute a profitable publicity

strategy, and they also perfected the art of the face-to-face

fundraising method. They raised $4 million for the New York City

YMCA alone.

4
 Over the years, charities and schools have developed

creative ways to raise money. Traditionally, selling a product or

asking for cash door-to-door or over the phone have dominated the

techniques for collecting funds. Today, organization worldwide

are coming up with innovative and inspired methods to raise money

and promote other lifestyle changes.

Social media plays a massive part in getting donations.

Social media in fundraising is a great way to involve people who

may not be able to participate and as expose the cause to those

that may not have been able to view it in the past. It gives

people a way to stay connected with the reason and see the

effects of their contribution.

More engaging fundraising, and encouraging people to

participate via social media has changed the way people view the

art of raising money.

1.4 Scope of the study

The study would be limited to citizens in need financially,

will be used to promote citizens’ lives, examine its usefulness

and the problems associated with it, and generate a circulated

solution to the problem.

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1.5 Justification of the study

The purpose of creating this system is to serve better than

the existing systems, enhance the database, and improve the

efficiency and effectiveness, and security of the system.

1.6 Methodology

The methodology to be used system is the System Development

Life Cycle (SDLC). The SDLC is composed of four phases: System

Analysis, Design, Coding, and Testing. The approach that will be

used in the system development methodology is the Incremental

model. I would be using the incremental model. This allows me to

add to my system as I progress through the development life

cycle.

Tools for development include:

 Android Studio

 SQL Server Management

 Wamp Server

1.7 Expected Result of the Study and Possible Use

At the end of this study, a mobile application would be made

available to:

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  Assist students who can’t afford basic or higher

education to get funds without them taking loan.

 Raise funds for individuals with medical issues.

 Improve the lives of abandoned and neglected children

by receiving donations to provide adequate food, health

care, clothing, education and psychosocial support.

 Find a way to connect donors to donees and vice versa.

 Secure and get new donors that are willing to give

again.

1.8 Presentation of Thesis

Chapter 1: In this chapter, the general introduction, subject and

field of study, study objectives, Problem statement, Background

of the study, the study’s scope, Justification of the study,

Methodology, and Expected result of the study.

Chapter 2: It will involve a literature review where works

related to the research would be reviewed and criticized and

recommendations are given.

Chapter 3: This chapter covers, to a greater extent, the analysis

of the problem.

Chapter 4: The possible solution to the problem at hand is

proposed and analyzed.

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Chapter 5: This chapter deals with all diagrams that explains the

content and functions of the proposed system.

Chapter 6: This chapter deals with the implementation and testing

of the proposed system.

Chapter 7: This chapter focuses on the system’s usability by the

target group (students of Valley View University).

Chapter 8: This chapter covers the limitations of the study, the

final conclusion and recommendations made.

1.9 Study Work Plan

Purpose: To develop a functioning system to raise funds for

individuals, small scale business personnel and citizens as a

whole.

The proposed application will be delivered in two parts.

Part 1: This part is the introductory analysis. It contains the

system analysis and design.

Part 2: This includes the detailed design and implementation of

the proposed application.

8
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Overview

This chapter contains a detailed analysis of research articles

and existing systems.

Common Terminologies

Donor is a person that donates something in the form of money to

charity. Donors also donate blood, an organ, or semen for

transplantation, transfusion.

Donee is a person that receives a gift from a donor. A donee is a

person to whom a gift is made and a person who has a power of

appointment in property.

Fund is a sum of money saved or made available for a particular

purpose. Funds are amounts of money that are available to be

spent, especially money that is given to an organization for a

particular purpose.

Charity is an organization setup to provide help and raise for

those in need. Charity can also be explained as the the voluntary

giving of help, typically in the form of money.

Donation is a gift for charity to benefit a cause. A donation may

take various forms, including money, alms, services or goods such

as clothings, toys,food or vehicles.

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Related Works

System Reviews

(A) GoFundMe – GoFundMe is a web application that allows people

to raise money for events ranging from life events such as

celebrations and graduation to challenging circumstances like

accident and illnesses. It is used by people in America. The

headquarters is located in Redwood City, California, United

States.

Features

 It is the number 1 Fundrasing platform for CrowdFunding

 It assists people meet aspiration goals and it saves life

 It raises funds for individual, group and organization

Limitations

 It is only limited to people in the United States.

 The currency is Dollars($)

 Fundraisers are required to tell their story and add a

picture or video to show their face.

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(B)GivenGain – GivenGain is a web application that provides a

secure, online donation processing and fundraising service

globally to charities and fundraisers who wish to fundraise for

charities. GivenGain has enables fundraising support for

charities since 2001. It is used by people in America. The

headquarters is located in Redwood City, California, United

States.

Features

 They are in partner with PayProp, Unicef, Zwift, HumanState

and many more.

 GivenGain makes sure fundraisers signs agreement with them.

Limitations

 GivenGain does not offer any form of financial support or

loans to individuals.

(C) Pledges – Pledges is a web application that is used by

change makers across the globe. Pledges explains how to start

a nonprofit and accept tax-deductible donations as a 501c3

immediately. Pledges makes it better, faster, and easier to do

chariatable good in the world.

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 Features

 They offer up to $10,000 in no strings attached match-

funding for all of the projects we sponsor.

Limitations

 When filling the form it has character limitation.

(D) Patreon – Patreon is a memebership platform that makes it

easy for artists and creators to get paid. Patreon is a place

where all types of artists can express themselves freely.

Features

 It is created for individuals and group of

personnels.

Limitations

 The currencies allowed in the website are limited to

US Dollars, Euro, British Pounds, Canadian Dollars

and Australian Dollars.

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(E) Fundly – Fundly is used to raise money and accept donations

online. Fundly can be used to thank donors, send emails and post

blog-like updates. The application is available in the Apple app

store.

Features

 Creation of account is free.

 They provide an automatic discounts for larger

campaigns.

Limitations

 Fundraisers need to fill Stripe form to approve

Complete Withdrawal Setup.

(F) Chuffed – Chuffed is a global crowdfunding that offers zero

fees for all your campaigns. Chuffed only crowdfunds non-profit

and social enterprise projects. Donors can calculate their

donations.

Features

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  Donee can keep 100% of the donation.

 Donors can choose to give an optional donation to

Chuffed.org

Limitations

 Limited to users in Australia, Austria, Belgium,

Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany,

Greece, Hong Kong, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,

Luxembourg, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway,

Poland, Portugal, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South

Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom,

United States.

 Donors pay payment processing fees.

(G) Brooke – Brooke is an international charity that protects and

improves the lives of horses, donkeys and mules which give people

in the developing world the opportunity to work their way out of

poverty. They are resourceful, share new ideas and help each

other succeed.

Features

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  Donors can support Brooke from the comfort of their

home.

 Brooke dedicated their work to horses, donkeys and

mules overseas and raising funds to keep their

activities successful and sustainable.

Limitations

 They work across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the

Middle East.

(H) GoGetFunding – GoGetFunding is a crowdfunding website that

lets you raise money for anything that matters to you.

GoGetFunding is better than other platforms. GoGetFunding ranks

71st among charity sites according to sitejabber.

Features

 GoGetFunding accepts donations instantly with

credit/debit cards and PayPal.

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  GoGetFunding offers support and personal fundraising

coaches to ensure donee raise more money online.

Limitations

 It has a consumer rating of 2 stars from 4 reviews

indicating that most customers are generally

dissatisified with their purchases.

 No approval process and instand payments.

(I)Kickstarter – Kickstarter exists to help bring creative

projects to life. It is a home for film, music, art, threater,

games and more. Kickstarter campaigns make ideas into reality.

Features

 It is a platform for creators to share new visions for

creative work.

 Kickstarter makes money by taking 5% of the total

amount of money that is funded on the site.

Limitations

 Donee need to pay kickstarter a 5% fee and as well as

payment processor fee.

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  Donee that can meet their creator requirements is

eligible to launch a project on Kickstarter.

(J) IndieGoGo – IndieGoGo is an American crowdfunding website

founded in 2008 by Danae Ringerlmann, Slava Rubin and Eric

Schell. IndieGoGo is where early adopters and innovation seekers

find lively, imaginative tech before it hits the mainstream.

Features

 Its headquarters are in San Francisco, California.

 The site is one of thhe first sites to offer crowd

funding.

Limitations

 IndieGoGo charges a 5% platform fee on all funds raised

for donee’s campaigns.

 Funds are calculated and deducted from the funds donee

actually raise.

CHAPTER THREE(3)

CRYSTALLIZATION OF THE PROBLEM

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3(i) History/Background of the Existing System

Fundraising was first introduced in the early 1900s. Face-

to-face fundraising, events, PR campaigns, etc., were all new

techniques used to raise money for a cause. Frank Pierce and

Charles Ward were the first to execute a profitable publicity

strategy, and they also perfected the art of the face-to-face

fundraising method. They raised $4 million for the New York City

YMCA alone.

Over the years, charities and schools have developed

creative ways to raise money. Traditionally, selling a product or

asking for cash door-to-door or over the phone have dominated the

techniques for collecting funds. Today, organization worldwide

are coming up with innovative and inspired methods to raise money

and promote other lifestyle changes.

Social media plays a massive part in getting donations.

Social media in fundraising is a great way to involve people who

may not be able to participate and as expose the cause to those

that may not have been able to view it in the past. It gives

people a way to stay connected with the reason and see the

effects of their contribution.

More engaging fundraising, and encouraging people to

participate via social media has changed the way people view the

art of raising money.

18
3(ii) Components/Features of the Existing System

General features of the Existing Systems

 It is a web application.

 A secured database is used to keep data safe.

 It is accessible by the users at anytime.

 The interfaces are user-friendly.

 They all require registration for both donees and

donors.

 The websites include sections for donees and donors.

3(iii) Strengths and Weaknesses of the Reviewed Systems

Strength - GOFUNDME

 The donee gets to upload his/her picture.

 It is cheap and easy for the user to navigate through.

 It has a knowledge bank where donor & donee can read about

the application and how to use it.

 The web application is secured

Weakness

 The donee’s picture will be visible to the whole world.

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  It takes time to load the page.

 It is only limited to people in the United States.

Strength - GIVENGAIN

 Users can login and sign up as a fundraiser, charity,

company, event organizer and a club.

 Blogs are present in the web application.

 Users can look for a charity to support animals,

environment, education and health.

 It is portable since it supports both web and android

phones.

Weakness

 Users must verify their email address before they can raise
funds.

 GivenGain only accepts verified charities.

Strength - PLEDGES

 Pledges is used by change makers across the globe.

 Pledges offers a place for abandoned and feral cats that are

uncared for.

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  Pledges is mainly for people that are willing to start a

charity.

 Donee are allowed to get donations nationwide with pledges

official website.

Weakness

 When filling the form it has character limitation.

 After filling the form users need to wait for 24 hours

for response.

Strength – PATREON

 User-friendly interfaces of the web application.

 It is created for individuals and group of personnels.

 Intro vidoes are optional and users are allowed to launch

the application without a video.

 There is high security of users personal information.

Weakness

 Users need to verify their email address after signing up.

21
  The currencies allowed in the website are limited to US

Dollars, Euro, British Pounds, Canadian Dollars and

Australian Dollars.

Strength - FUNDLY

 Fundraisers are required to tell their story to connect with

donors.

 Fundly is fast, easy and has no raise requirements.

 Creation of account is free.

 They provide an automatic discounts for larger campaigns.

Weakness

 Fundly deductes 4.9% fee and a credit card procession fee of

2.9% + $.30 from each donation fundraiser receive from

donors.

 Fundraisers need to fill Stripe form to approve Complete

Withdrawal Setup.

 Funds will be transferred by Stripe and the process may take

a day or two depending on the fundraiser’s withdrawal

schedule.

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Strength – CHUFFED

 Donees get to keep 100% of what they raise.

 Chuffed offers 0% fees.

 Chuffed oprates on an optional donation model.

Weakness

 Chuffed is only for social causes.

 Donee must be fundraising for a project with a defined

outcome.

Strength – BROOKE

 The lives and welfare of people and animals are intertwined.

 Healthy working horses, donkeys and mules help to put food

on their tables, send their children to school and build

better future for themselves and their families.

 Brooke’s vision is of a world in which working horses,

donkeys and mules are free from suffering.

23
 Weakness

 They experience donkey skin crisis in the sense that

hundreds of thousands of donkeys are slaughtered for

their skins and exported annually.

 Working horses, donkeys and mules are critical to their

owners’ livelihoods.

Strength – GOGETFUNDING

 GoGetFunding serves as a donee’s personal fundraising coach.

 It is a Global, Multi-currency platform.

 GoGetFunding allows donee accept donations instantly.

Weakness

 GoGetFunding supports 23 currencies.

 Donees need to specify how the funds will be used.

Strength – KICKSTARTER

 Kickstarter operates on a All or Nothing Model.

 Kickstarted deduct money from backers when the campaign goal

is met.

24
  Backers can opt to pledge for a project without selecting a

reward.

Weakness

 It isn’t as easy as creating a Kickstarter account and

seeing the money pouring in.

 Kickstarter’s 5% fee and payment processing fees(between

35 & 5%).

Strength – INDIEGOGO

 IndieGoGo allows people to solicit funds for an idea,

charity, or start-up business.

 Donees get the opportunity to pick from a category.

 Indiegogo is a good option if your project doesn’t fall into

the specific categories that other crowdfunding sites cater

to.

Weakness

 IndieGoGo operates on 12 currencies.

 New users are charged 8% platform fee.

25
3(iv) Comparative study of Existing Systems

System Study Purpose Relevant Findings

GoFundMe Assist people to It allows people to

meet their raise money for

aspiration goals and events ranging from

it saves life. life events to

challenging

circumstances.
GivenGain Provides a secure, It is used by people

online donation in America.

processing and

fundraising service

globally to

charities.
Pledges It explains how to Pledges is mainly

start a nonprofit for people that are

and accept tax- willing to start a

deductible donations charity.

to users.
Patreon It makes it easier Patreon is a place

for artists and where all categories

creators to get of artists can

paid. express themselves

freely.
Fundly Fundly sends thank Fundly is fast, easy

you note to donors, and has no raise

26
 send emails and post requirements.

blog-like updates.
Chuffed Chuffed only Donees get to keep

crowdfunds non- 100% of what they

profit and social raise.

enterprise projects.
Brooke They are Brooke dedicated

resourceful, share their work to

new ideas and help horses, donkeys and

each other succeed. mules overseas.

GoGetFunding GoGetFunding offers It is a Global,

support and personal Multi-currency

fundraising coaches. platform.

Kickstarter It is a platform for Kickstarter operates

creators to share on a All or Nothing

new visions for Model.

creative work.

IndieGoGo IndieGoGo allows IndieGoGo is where

people to solicit early adopters and

funds for an idea, innovation seekers

charity, or start-up find lively,

business. imaginative tech.

27
 CHAPTER FOUR(4)
ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM
Introduction

This section of the paper presents a detailed description of

the proposed system and the changes made on the existing system

to achieve both functional and non-functional requirement. The

chapter elaborated the significant features of the system and how

28
it will operate to achieve maximum performance. A context level

diagram also represents the information flow of the system.

4.1 Overview of the system requirements

Considering the analysis made on GoFundMe, GivenGain,

Pledges, Patreon, Fundly, Chuffed, Brooke, GoGetFunding,

Kickstarter and IndieGoGo, the proposed system would be able to

raise funds for individuals or group of personnels. The system

will also be able to connect donors to donees and vice versa.

This phase will also indicate the way of receiving funds. Donors

can interact with the donee through the proposed mobile

application.

Functional Requirements

Below are the functional requirements describing the system and

how it operates to achieve it’s set goals.

Entry Requirements - The system in its initial phase will allow

users to register, provide their story, personal information,

receive funds and withdraw funds through any bank accounts.

29
Processing Requirements - This phase of the system analyses the

information provided from donee, create a secured database and

store donee’s data safe. This phase will also advertise the

proposed system through popups in websites or mobile apllications

and availability of short video of the needy person. Donees can

receive donations through various Bank accounts, PayPal and Momo.

Output Requirements - The output of this system will be a secured

mobile application to improve citizen’s lives by helping the

needy and providing for charities and saving the strength of

looking for donors by foot and saving time.

Non-functional Requirements

This section describes the performance characteristics of the

System.

Usability

 The mobile application should be simple and easy to operate.

 The application should be available to all.

 The interface must allow the user to work with the different

features of the application.

30
Reliability

 The application should in all instances provide the user

with the most efficient and effective results.

Performance

 The system should be responsive to user interactions.

 The system should be able to generate the best results based

on the user’s input.

4.2 Significant Features and Components of the Proposed System

This section contains a brief description of the architectural

and structural design, and the user interface is given.

4.2.1 User Interface

The mobile application will provide a primitive interface that

will help the invigilator toggle through the application.

4.3 Benefits Of The Proposed System

31
  It is much more efficient and effective than the traditional

way of giving out donations and receiving donations.

 It will be a mobile application for the existing web

application thereby making it available for people using

mobile phones and laptops.

 There will be a 0% platform fee associated with the proposed

system.

 The proposed system does not require fundraisers to meet any

goals.

 Fundraisers can raise funds for almost anything.

 Users can upload images and videos explaining their

problems.

4.4 Algorithms of the proposed system

4.4.1 Flowchart of the proposed system

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4.4.2 Pseudocode of the proposed system

STEP 1: START

STEP 2: USERS SPECIFIES IF DONOR / DONEE

STEP 3: IF DONOR, SIGN UP / LOGIN AND SPECIFY MODE OF DONATION

33
STEP 4: CONFIRM DONATION AND RECEIVES MESSAGE TO CONFIRM DONATION

STEP 5: IF DONEE, LOGIN AND CHECK ACCOUNT BALANCE AND CHECK

FINANCIAL STATEMENT

STEP 6: WITHDRAWS FUNDS IF AVAILABLE

STEP 7: END

4.5 System Context Diagram of the proposed system

CHAPTER FIVE (5)

DETAILED DESIGN OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

34
5.0 Functional Process

These diagrams below depict the functional process of the system.

5.2 Context Level Diagram

CHAPTER SIX (6)

IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM

35
6.0 System Implementation

This application was implemented using Java programming language.

The development of the proposed system required a combination of

programming languages to be implemented in different specific

aspects of development. The mobile application was developed in

Java and the Android studio IDE was used in developing this

application.

6.1 Hardware and Software Requirements

50MB application space

12MB and above available memory

6.1.2 Software Requirements

Operating System :Android (5.0) and above

Access to take pictures

Full network access receive data from internet view network

connections.

Read contents of your SD card.

6.2 Detailed Implementation and Design Process

36
6.3 Modelling the Database

This shows how the database was structured and the relationships

established between them . However Firebase (NoSQL) was used to

create the database.Below is a list of the table ,the

relationship that exist between them and the purpose of the

table;

6.5 Structure of Project Code

The User Interface designs were done with Android studio.

Different activities were created for the various modules. A

similar activity was designed to retrieve users data in the

database.

References

 Bill W. (November 2020) “GoGetFunding”.

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/gogetfunding.com

37
 Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin & Eric Schell (January 2008)

“IndieGoGo Inc” https://www.indiegogo.com/

 Brad Damphousse & Andrew Ballester (May 2010) “GoFundMe”

https://www.gofundme.com/

 Jack Conte & Sam Yam (May 2013) “Patreon”

https://www.patreon.com/creator-home

 Frans Stroebel “GivenGain” https://www.givengain.com/

 Chris Wainwright “Brooke” https://www.thebrooke.org/

 Danae Ringelmann, Slava Rubin & Eric Schell (January 2008)

“IndieGoGo” https://www.indiegogo.com/

 Prashan Paramanathan (October 2013) “Chuffed”

https://chuffed.org/

38