By Amanda Guevara, Nov. 8, 2022
Bronco Launchpad Crowdfunding held their annual event for over two weeks in October to promote school projects and campaigns in need of funding.
Some campaigns had the opportunity to get most, or all, of their projects and scholarships funded through Bronco Launchpad Crowdfunding. If their goal was not met within two weeks, they were given the chance to extend their campaign for a couple more days.
The Womxn’s Resource Center wanted to raise funds for a scholarship with little to no requirements so that anyone could apply, unlike most scholarships that usually have a long list of requirements such as a correlating major, GPA and essay questions.
“A lot of us are afraid to ask for money and don’t realize that there’s so many of us that want to have an impact,” said Womxn’s Resource Center Senior Coordinator, Maria Cerce.
The WRC had its Social Justice leaders and anyone else who wanted to give back to the center, serve as ambassadors to help promote their launchpad campaign by sending out emails and making social media posts.
“I think that is why we were actually successful, and we exceeded our goal that we had set,” said Cerce.
The funds WRC received from Bronco Launchpad Crowdfunding exceeded their goal and they could fund a total of six scholarships for students returning in the fall.
“What I think is pretty awesome about the folks who did end up donating is many of them are folks directly from our community,” said Cerce.
The BioTrek campaign for a permanent canopy over the Ethnobotany Garden where k-12 students learn also received huge help from Bronco Launchpad Crowdfunding by reaching 78% of its goal. They have been using pop-up tents in the meantime, which tend to tear up easily and don’t provide as much shade as they wish.
“Anything that we can do to improve the university and have the community more involved is great,” BioTrek Curator, Ed Bobich.
One benefit of the donators of BioTrek is the majority were from within the program and donated to give back to those around their campaign.
“It was kind of exciting,” said Bobich. “I was out doing research the day that we received our large donation. Wow, look people are actually responding to us.”
The Boo Grams launchpad campaign was undertaken by the Employee Organizational Development and Advancement Operations as a means to fund their EODA/Human Resources Operations Student Scholarship.
“I think it’s a good way to kind of bring the spirit of raising funds for all these campaigns altogether,” said EODA Operations Manager, Leah Espinoza.
The crowdfunding website has all the campaigns displayed on one page so that the user can view any projects they would like to support.
The Boo Grams were able to completely fund its campaign with the help of Halloween spirit as the EODA usually do during this holiday with decorating competitions against other departments or campaign videos to help previous fund initiatives.
Bronco Launchpad Crowdfunding has supported a myriad of student initiatives, and many are able to get a head start in funding major projects and scholarships. There are a couple of campaigns that have chosen the opportunity to extend their donation window for 26 more days.
To find out more information to donate visit the Bronco Launchpad Crowdfunding website.
Feature image by Amanda Guevara