5

Funding
on the
bleeding
edge

The story behind a Van-
couver lacrosse coach’s
crowdfunding website

By NADIM ROBERTS

nat does WikiLeaks have in
WY cnn: with a 6-year-old boy

from Langley battling leuke-
mia? Both turned to Vancouver-based
crowdfunding site FundRazr when
they needed money most.

When Keian Blundell was diagnosed
with an aggressive form of leukemia in
July 2012, financial difficulties meant
the family soon had to give up their
rental home and move into a trailer in
the parking lot of BC Children’s Hospi-
tal. A FundRazr campaign started by
family friends raised over $40,000 for
the Blundells in the first few months.

In the case of WikiLeaks, when
founder Julian Assange needed money
to pay for his legal fees, he also turned
to FundRazr. In the two years his Fun-
dRazr campaign has been active, al-
most $400,000 has been raised from
over 9,000 contributions.

These are just two of the over 40,000
campaigns that have been launched
through FundRazr. Since 2009, nearly
$40 million has been contributed to
various causes that include everything
from helping sick animals to sending
underprivileged youth to college.

The vision for FundRazr arose in
2008 when CEO Daryl Hatton, a self-
described “college dropout,” was
struggling to collect fees for a lacrosse
team he was coaching. Hatton discov-
ered that he received a much greater
response when he reached out to peo-
ple through Facebook rather than us-
ing email.

FundRazr was born. Hatton brought
crowdfunding to

Facebook as an
app that could be
used on one’s Face-
book page. But
FundRazr’s big
moment didn’t

come until 2012.
“We really
kicked into gear
when we had our
Fundrazr chief first million-dollar
marketing officer campaign,” says
Bret Conkin, the
chief marketing

officer at FundRazr.

That $1,007,106 campaign was for
the Save the Children Fund, a non-gov-
ernmental organization that promotes
children’s rights and provides relief
for children in developing countries.

Forbes magazine named FundRazr
one of the top six crowdfunding plat-
forms in the world, with currently over
1,000 crowdfunding platforms.

“We're a technology company,” says
Conkin, “but what inspires us and mo-
tivates us is the good that we achieve
on a daily basis.”

Before joining FundRazr, Conkin
spent over 10 years working in market-
ing for big consumer brands like Crest.
He even spent time working in gaming
for the British Columbia Lottery Cor-
poration.

When asked if he would ever go
back to working for big corporations,
Conkin laughs.

“Hell no.”

BRET CONKIN

™~
KENDRA WONG photos
(Clockwise top left): Teece Camporeale; Mark Pearlman; Felipe Magalhaes show their ‘staches

Vancouver
wins cab
crown

Vancouver taxis voted best
cabs on Hotels.com poll

By GLEN TRUAX

hype?
Vancouver is leading the coun-
try in best taxi service, according to a
recent online poll conducted by Hotels.
com.

The city’s cabbies were rated accord-
ing to safety, value, and knowledge of
area, as well as their promptness in re-
turning the inevitable lost items that
seem to fall out of passengers’ pockets.

Along with nightclubs, hotels have
the most frequent interaction with taxi
companies, and some reports echo the
positive poll results.

Chetan Rathod at Century Plaza Ho-
tel in downtown Vancouver said that
some guests have had items returned
to the hotel by cabbies. Oliver Ng at the
Metropolitan Hotel said, “I’ve been
working as a concierge for 30 years,
and outside of a couple of exceptions,
the taxis are pretty good.”

But this opinion is not universal, par-
ticularly with Yellow Cab. Brandy Sto-
larchuk at the Granville Ramada Inn
said that complaints lodged against
Yellow Cab usually produce no re-
sponse.

“If someone’s left the hotel, the driv-
ers harass us and yell at us,” said Sto-
larchuk. “They charge extra for taxi
vans, and they get mad if the directions
aren’t specific.”

Yellow Cab President Kulwant Saha-
to defended his company’s reputation.
“Every company gets complaints, but
it’s up to the company to deal with com-
plaints.” Sahato also noted that his
company maintains “excellent relation-
ships” with Vancouver’s hotels.

No taxi service in Vancouver earned
more than three stars out of five stars,
according to online ratings systems
such as Google reviews and forums like
yelp.ca.

D: Vancouver cabbies live up to the

Lip hair under lens flare

Canada leading Movember donations as photo students raise more

BY KENDRA WONG AND NICK EAGLAND

ovember is coming to a close
and students are leading the
way in donations for pros-
tate cancer in this year’s
moustache-growing race.

A network of post-secondary stu-
dents from across Canada known as
the Big Moustache on Campus has
raised more than $2 million.

Overall, Canada is ahead of the pack
with more than 171,000 participants
raising more than $238 million. The U.S.
is just behind Canada with $17 million.

“Students have been at the forefront
[of fundraising] for this year and past
years,” said Peter Verge, co-chair of the
Movember Vancouver committee. “In
general, I think students are aware of
their health and it’s also fun because
you get to grow a moustache.”

Langara professional photo-imaging
students took a break from term proj-
ects to raise money for Movember with
the skills they’ve learned this year.

The first of its kind at Langara, the
department’s photo booth fundraiser
was created to raise money for men’s
cancer research as part of the interna-
tional campaign.

“It’s a good cause, men’s health, so

we were just figuring what could we do
with it,” said organizer Ryan Molag.
“Everyone likes moustaches, everyone
likes photo booths, so we thought we’d
just throw this together and see what
we'd get.”

By noon on Thursday, between 15
and 20 people had come by the photo
booth at the Langara library and the
department was well on its way to
reaching its goal of $100.

Langara student Lily Ditchburn said
it was important to remember that Mo-
vember is more about men’s cancer
than moustaches. “We sort of realized
that a lot of people are growing their
moustaches and sort of forgetting what
the original cause was,” she said.

Student Amy Rampfl called the fund-
raiser a success, even though they
competed with Santa Claus and his full
beard on the other side of the campus,
where Langara’s United Way commit-
tee was also hosting a photo booth fun-
draiser.

“Some people are even coming by
and being generous and donating and
not even getting their picture taken,”
Rampfl said. “It’s nice that people are
just wanting to give back.”

Teece Camporeale, a Langara psy-
chology student, has participated in

Movember for the past six years. This
year he surpassed his goal of $1,000,
raising $1,459 through friends, co-work-
ers and family.

But Camporeale said growing his
handlebar moustache isn’t about the
money.

“Tt’s not all about donating, it’s about
raising awareness,” he said. “If you
can’t donate just talk about it, go and
get check ups. Just spread that word
that prostate cancer is a real thing for
men because it often gets overlooked.”

Mark Pearlman, an arts student, is
looking forward to shaving his ‘stache
on Dec. 1.

“It’s for a good cause, but I’m looking
forward to [shaving it]. It’s getting a
little annoying. It gets in the way of
your lip,” he said.

Stuart Edmonds, Movember partner
and vice president of research, health
promotion and survivorship with Pros-
tate Cancer Canada, said the amount of
money raised highlights the generosity
of Canadians.

“Movember is such a powerful cam-
paign that goes beyond funds raised.
It’s about raising awareness and em-
powering men to take control of their
health,” said Edmonds.

66

It’s not all
about do-
nating, it’s
about rais-
ing aware-
ness. If
you can’t
donate just
talk about
it, goand
get check
ups.

Teece Camporeale