Crowdfunding site powers passion projects
Students from the UCI School of Medicine have traveled across the globe to provide much-needed medical education to the people of Kenya, Panama, Indonesia, Tanzania and other countries. Instead of being fully funded through government or foundation grants, however, part of this work is being supported by fellow students, faculty, friends and community members through UCI’s crowdfunding site, ZotFunder. Launched in early 2017, ZotFunder allows individuals to donate small amounts of money to specific undertakings and offers the campus community a platform to create, share and fund unique passion projects. To date, 1,557 donors have raised more than $265,000 for over 33 ventures through ZotFunder. Many efforts, such as a medical education trip to Kenya last summer, have exceeded their goals. Originally looking for $10,000 to cover medical supplies, an ultrasound machine and travel expenses for its team, the campaign had raised $17,749 when it closed last August. Whether it’s helping students teach underserved populations, making 3-D printing more sustainable or building faster race cars, UCI’s crowdfunding platform lets donors give directly to projects they care about.