Fintech Impact

Summary:

In this 108th episode of Fintech Impact, Jason Pereira, award-winning financial planner, university lecturer, writer, and host welcomes Daryl Hatton, Founder and CEO of Connection Point, to talk about Connection Point’s crowdfunding model, some major successes challenges the platform has faced, the psychology behind philanthropy, and more. 

Episode Highlights: 

● 00:35: – Connection Point is a social commerce company that helps people crowdfund money for personal and professional/non-profit organizations. 

● 02:50: – Connection Point began as a fundraising site for unregistered and non-charitable non-profits like children’s sports teams. 

● 05:25: – They were one of the 30 companies included in Facebook’s beta for the Timeline feature to know how it worked ahead of time. 

● 06:20: – The site allows companies and groups to use their own branding on their funding campaigns. 

● 07:10: – The site includes technology called Coco Pay to allow companies to help potential customers crowd fund to purchase their product. For example, individuals with mobility issues crowd-funding to purchase a bike. 

● 13:10: – The platform has now had to prevent defendants in violent crimes from fundraising for their legal defense due to the negative pushback from the community. 

● 14:45: – The platform can be used to collect subscription or membership payments from supporters. 

● 17:52: – It is free to begin using Connection Point and even to fundraise (less transaction fees, which no one can avoid) and optional to add a “tip” to each transaction for the platform. 

● 20:53: – University of California used the platform to raise over $3 million to fund a study into the human microbiome. 

● 22:50: – Another group funded several projects at Burning Man. 

● 24:18: – If Daryl could change one thing it would be for people to take a broader view of what crowdfunding can be and be used for beyond the GoFundMe model. 

● 29:00: – If you can see the impact of your donation, you’re more likely to give again. 

● 30:22: – The biggest challenge has been funding and finding investors. 

● 31:50: – What Daryl finds most exciting is the cumulative impact that Connection Point can have. 

● 32:42: The platform has raised $160 million for over 200,000 projects in over 40 countries so far. 

3 Key Points 

1. Connection Point expands how people think about crowdfunding and its potential use 

cases. 

2. Millennials are more philanthropic than we give them credit for. 

3. Small donations on small projects can make a huge cumulative impact on the world. 

Tweetable Quotes: 

● “I think it should be all about my customer and their brand experience, not mine. I’m not trying to push my Indiegogo and Kickstarter brand, I’m trying to say hey, what’s your product?” –Daryl Hatton 

● “One of the things we’re looking at is how do we make philanthropy more of an entertaining experience? Because the feelings we get from giving are very similar to the feelings we get when we consume entertainment, like a movie.” –Daryl Hatton 

● “Good natured people are a platform” – Daryl Hatton 

Resources Mentioned: 

● Website – Jason Pereira’s 

● Facebook – Jason Pereira’s

● LinkedIn – Jason Pereira’s

● FintechImpact.co – Website

● Connection Point website – https://connectionpoint.com/ 

● Fundrazr website – https://fundrazr.com/ 

● Community website - 

● Daryl Hatton Twitter – https://twitter.com/darylhatton 

● Daryl Hatton Linkedin – https://www.linkedin.com/in/darylhatton 

Full Transcript