Donald Trump Backs Crowdfunding Site FundAnything

Image via Lev Radin/Shutterstock

Donald Trump has thrown his checkbook—and his face—behind new crowdfunding site FundAnything. Looking like a clone of Indiegogo and Kickstarter, the startup site was founded by “serial entrepreneur” Bill Zanker in an effort to bring crowdfunding “to the masses.” FundAnything allows users to seek funding for just about anything under the sun, provided it’s decent, of course. Launched on May 6, the site already has more than 200 projects raising funds for everything from lifesaving surgeries and college classes to adoption expenses and documentary filmmaking. Trump sees the site as a way to help people who have been “bullied by the economy.

Zanker created the site to put a populist twist on the popular trend of crowdfunding, but felt that “bringing a concept to the masses takes star power.” So he contacted Trump, with whom he worked on the book, “Think Big and Kick Ass in Business and Life.

Crowdfunding got traction with creatives and tech, but you go anywhere but the coasts and they don’t get it yet,” Zanker said. “What I’m trying to do is bring crowdfunding away from the Brooklyn hipsters and bring it to the masses.

Not only does FundAnything allow all sorts of projects without excluding or screening them first, but each week some lucky fundraisers will be chosen as Trump’s favorites and receive his personal financial backing. “Donald’s Picks” during the first week include $25,000 awarded to Celeste Buckingham’s new CD and music videos, $15,000 to fund a party for children affected by Hurricane Sandy, and $40,000 to fund a lung transplant for a Canadian Cystic Fibrosis sufferer. Trump awarded the funds at a Trump Tower Event May 8 where he gave out suitcases full of cash.

Everyone knows Donald is a genius businessman,” Zanker said. “We’re not talking about politics here. If you want to fund anything, there is no better person in the world to have supporting you than Donald Trump.

Unlike other crowdfunding sites, all donations made on FundAnything are awarded to the project, whether it meets its fundraising goal or not. The site then takes a 9-percent matchmaking commission on projects that don’t meet their goals and just 5 percent on fully-funded projects.

Anyone want to fund my trip to Fiji?