The Local Crowd Wins Crowdfundie Award

LARAMIE, November 20, 2017—The Local Crowd (TLC), a rewards-based crowdfunding platform, won a Crowdfundie Award presented at the Global Crowdfunding Conference in Las Vegas, last month. The award recognizes outstanding contributions to the crowdfunding industry. The Local Crowd is hosted by community economic development groups in 12 states, where Local residents have used the platform to raise more than $172,000 for their businesses and organizations.

Co-founders Diane Wolverton and Kim Vincent accepted the award at a VIP event at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas. “We are super excited to receive this reward — on behalf of all The Local Crowd communities!” Wolverton said. “TLC host communities have been working very hard to launch this tool. Each community creates an ecosystem where people understand crowdfunding and show up to support each other’s projects. It is very gratifying to see this work recognized!”

The Global Crowdfunding Conference (GCC) founded by Ruth E. Hedges, is the Crowdfunding Industry’s flagship event. This convention brings the global crowdfunding community together to learn, share and co-create the future of the industry—an industry that is experiencing explosive growth. In 2016 start-ups, non-profits and entrepreneurs raised more than $60 billion in capital from crowdfunding. This is a huge jump from just four years ago when in 2012 crowdfunding raised $1.7 billion in capital. Hedges commented, “I love what The Local Crowd is doing. It fills a very important niche in the industry.”

The Local Crowd platform is specifically designed for rural communities. In conjunction with community hosts, TLC provides education, support and hyper-local tools to connect local businesses and organizations with the capital they need.

The Local Crowd’s work has been supported by the Wyoming Small Business Development Center as well as Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research and develop their capital raising tool for rural communities. Technology is provided by Community Funded Enterprises of Fort Collins, Colorado.

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What’s a Crowdfundie?

The Local Crowd won a Crowdfundie Award at the Global Crowdfunding Convention last month and we are delighted that TLC’s work has been recognized as significant to the crowdfunding industry.

Thank you to our host communities—for having the courage, foresight and willingness to work hard to bring your citizens a new and unknown local crowdfunding tool. We hope you will post The Crowdfundie 2017 badge on your website with pride!

Thank you to all the campaign creators who told their stories and dared to ask others to support them. Your courage, persistence and hard work made it happen—raising  $172,000 from 1709 supporters—and proving that local crowdfunding really does work.

blue box with words thank you inside

Thank you to our friends at Community Funded Enterprises for pioneering the vision of local crowdfunding and developing the technology specifically for that purpose.

Thank you to crowdfunding Diva and founder of the Global Crowdfunding Convention, Ruth Hedges, who recognized the power of the TLC model and watched us through the years, cheering us on and showing up time after time to share her vast knowledge at our webinars and classes.

Thank you to our business support system that provided resources and technical support—USDA, Wyoming SBDC, Wyoming Business Council, Wyoming Workforce Development, Wyoming SBIR/STIR Initiative, Megan Goetz at Pence and MacMillan, Cheryl Anderson, Keith Harrington, Amanda Jeffers, Mike Vanata, Jessica Brauer and Larta Institute.

The award belongs to ALL OF US—let us celebrate The Crowdfundie together!

Diane Wolverton, Ruth Hedges and Kim Vincent at the 2017 Global Crowdfunding Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada.

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