Impact Guru Partners With Project Inspire For Crowdfunding Focusing On Women’s Safety Initiatives

Mumbai (September 19, 2016): Impact Guru - a crowdfunding platform for non-profits, social enterprises, and individuals, will be the official crowdfunding partner for the global social entrepreneurship challenge Project Inspire. Project Inspire, co-founded by Singapore Committee for UN Women and Mastercard is a multi-award winning CSR initiative that presents youth across the world with an international platform to pitch their ideas that create a better world for women and girls in Asia Pacific.

According to the United Nations, 35% of women worldwide have experienced either physical and/or sexual violence at some point in their lives. Research from The National Crime Records Bureau reports that a crime is committed against a woman every two minutes in India. As an attempt to combat such trends, the focus for Project Inspire this year is on ‘Empowering Women and Girls through Safety and Security’.

Impact Guru will host the semi-final stage of the competition, where 20 social innovators across the world will run crowdfunding campaigns from September 26th to October 26th to raise funds for their inspired ideas impacting Asia and the Pacific. The project that garners the most number of backers for their crowdfunding campaign will secure a finalist spot as the People’s Choice Award. 10 finalists will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Singapore, where they will receive tailored mentoring and top-notch workshop from leading organisations. They also stand to win Mastercard’s Grand Prize of US$25,000, and a Financial Inclusion Award of US$10,000, thanks to Mazars and Mastercard.

Piyush Jain, Co-Founder and CEO, Impact Guru said, “We are excited to partner with the Singapore Committee with UN Women and Mastercard to help raise funds to create a safer world for women and girls across Asia and Pacific. This collaboration demonstrates the reach and impact of our work so far leveraging our strong presence and track record in India and Southeast Asia."

Trina Liang-Lin, President, Singapore Committee for UN Women said, “We view digital platforms as a way to encourage social innovation, and crowdfunding draws potential supporters with a call to action that involves them in the success of the projects. We look forward to partnering with Impact Guru to increase exposure for the 20 outstanding ideas from our Project Inspire semi-finalists that are empowering women and girls in Asia Pacific.”

Georgette Tan, senior vice president, Communications, Asia Pacific, Mastercard, said, “Mastercard is committed to building safer and more inclusive communities for women and girls. As a technology company, we understand the value that digital platforms provide in amplifying ideas and driving support for social issues. We are delighted to partner with liked-minded organizations like the Singapore Committee for UN Women and Impact Guru, as we work towards creating better futures for people in the region.”