Seeking to help its students, faculty and staff members raise funds for their projects, the University of Texas in Austin announced the launch of its very own crowfunding platform called HornRaiser.
According to the university, students taking full advantage of HornRaiser, which will help garner community support for innovative extracurricular projects that will embrace the campus’ motto, “What Starts Here Changes the World.”
The platform is set to provide the campus community a vehicle for raising philanthropic funds by leveraging their personal networks for initiatives that might not otherwise become reality. Upon being approved through an application process, four projects were selected based on the strength of the cause and the project’s leader’s networks and commitment level.
The platform is operated by the university’s Annual Giving Programs and each project has a set goal of up to $20,000. Director of Annual Giving Programs, Adrain Matthys stated, “HornRaiser allows motivated project champions to engage their networks for charitable gifts in support of their passion. This is just one more example of how The University of Texas is empowering its community to change the world, one project at a time.”
Two of the projects are:
- UT Student Accessibility Project in Nicaragua: A group of students at the university’s McComb School of Business launched a campaign to raise funds for a trip to Central America. They plan to help local vocational students with creating business plans and securing microloans.
Help UT’s Solar Decathlon Team Build a House: Another group of students is raising funds so that they will represent Texas in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. During this competition, the students will design an 850 square feet solar-powered house for the competition.
Sharing her thoughts about the platform, School of Architecture graduate student and participate of the Energy Solar Decathlon project, Jessica Janzen stated, “We’re happy to have the opportunity to share our message of sustainability, energy efficiency and affordability to the entire Longhorn community. Fundraising is pivotal, and the enthusiasm and support we’re going to be able to generate on HornRaiser will help our team be successful in next year’s competition.”