Jus;tanother
typi'eal day at
CrowdRise in
Royal Oak
Innovation proves crucial to local business successes.
Adam Finkel I Special to the Jewish News
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1
Moosejaw is one of the world's largest
outdoor gear multi-channel retailers. Its
more than 166,000 fans on Facebook could
fill every seat in U-M's Big House — and
still have an overflow crowd of 50,000.
In June 2010, Robert and his brother
Jeffrey Wolfe, along with actor/activist
Edward Norton and film producer Shauna
Robertson, founded Michigan-based
CrowdRise with their vision to make fund-
raising and volunteering fun.
"CrowdRise all ties together with the
Moosejaw experience Robert said. "We
came out of Moosejaw and fell into the
crowd-funding space with the notion that
we could bring the fun spirit of Moosejaw
to online fundraising by building a plat-
form for anyone to raise funds for causes
they care about"
CrowdRise campaigns have raised $250
million to date and should raise more than
$200 million in 2015 alone. At this rate,
the crowd-funding platform, growing so
quickly they need to find their fifth loca-
tion in five years, is on track to far exceed
the $1 billion milestone of crowd-funded
donations by its 10th birthday.
To put this in perspective, in the not-
too-distant future, CrowdRise will give
away more funds per year than the W.
K. Kellogg Foundation, which is cur-
rently ranked as the largest foundation in
Michigan, based on total annual giving
data from the Cleveland-based Foundation
Center.
CrowdRise is a for-profit company with
early investors that included the founder
of Amazon.com, a co-founder of Twitter,
a former CEO of Google and Lightbank,
whose investors include former Detroiters
Brad Keywell and Eric Lefkofsky. The $23
million Series A round included two of
8 June 18 • 2015
America's most well-regarded early stage
funds, Union Square Ventures and Spark
Capital.
CrowdRise co-founders Norton and
Robertson instantly saw the potential of
the company.
"I've been working
with Robert and Jeffrey
on CrowdRise pretty
much every day since the
summer of 2009:' Norton
said. "They are among
the very best partners
I've had in any endeavor
I've ever been involved
Edward
in. The sincerity of their
Norton
determination to make a
positive impact on other
people and on the world is matched only
by their work ethic. They're close to the
hardest working people I've ever met.
"If we could get Jeffrey to get off Splenda
and break Robert of the habit of dwelling
on whether his curly hair looks great, they
might literally become perfect working
machines:' he joked.
"I don't think any of us anticipated the
scale of what CrowdRise has grown into,
but the incredible feedback we get has a lot
to do with the spirit of giving and of fun
that these guys infuse into everything"
Robert says that the CrowdRise head-
count has grown substantially from 17
to 76 over the last 13 months. "We have
our headquarters in Royal Oak today:' he
said, "and will always have our base in the
greater Detroit area:' Moosejaw's head-
quarters is in Madison Heights.
The company makes money by taking
a small cut of the funds raised through
its online platform. While traditional
charities often spend 20 percent on costs
related to fundraising, CrowdRise seeks
to cut the costs down to 3 percent, while
improving the ways charities communicate
the impact of their work.
The "crowd" consists mostly of small
donors contributing an average check of
$50 to support specific causes. Campaigns
could range from a friend's marathon race
to a group offering humanitarian aid in
Nepal.
"A thousand fundraisers get launched
daily and hundreds of thousands have
already been created and funded:' Jeffrey
said. "We are right now in the middle of
expanding into five different countries:'
Major organizations already on the plat-
form include UNICEF, the American Red
Cross and Stand Up To Cancer.
Many local community organiza-
tions, like the Berkley-based kosher food
pantry Yad Ezra, have built fundraising
campaigns on CrowdRise — as have the
Detroit-based Coalition on Temporary
Shelter (COTS) and the Art Van Charity
Challenge. Phillip Wm. Fisher, founder of
Mission Throttle, created the RiseDetroit
Challenge on CrowdRise to spur local phi-
lanthropy in Detroit.
"Jeffrey and Robert's unwavering tenac-
ity and creativity, while never taking
focus off their mission to give back to
the community, is truly an inspiration:'
Fisher said. "Robert and his team were
instrumental in helping Mission Throttle
explore progressive ways to engage people
in philanthropy and expose community
impact organizations to different fund-
raising methods through the RiseDetroit
Challenge which raised nearly $700,000
for local causes in less than a month.
World Reach, Local Roots
Moosejaw customer raving about the
company on a trek through Peru's Machu
Picchu or a CrowdRise campaign that
raised $44,000 to preserve and protect the
biodiversity of one of Chile's most unique
coastal ecosystems.
The team takes particular pride in the
way they can help local people and causes.
A fundraiser to support the Downtown
Detroit Partnership in honor of the late
Rachel Jacobs, who died in last month's
Amtrak crash in Philadelphia, has already
received significant support from more
than 200 supporters. It's a cause that hits
close to home as it will benefit projects
in the city of Detroit, not far from where
Rachel Jacobs and Robert Wolfe's wife,
Amanda, were childhood friends. The mis-
sion of the fund is to support the Detroit
region in a way that leaves a lasting legacy
for Rachel Jacobs.
The Wolfe brothers' mother, Sandi Wolfe
of West Bloomfield, works on human
resource responsibilities for CrowdRise
and oversees all the paperwork and HR fil-
ings for the rapidly growing workforce.
"All of my children were instilled with
a great work and moral ethic from their
father, the late Jerry Wolfe, who had the
reputation as the best tax accountant in
town. He was an exceptional father, and
a friend and mentor to many in the com-
munity"
Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder first met
Jerry Wolfe at Coopers & Lybrand in
Detroit in the 1980s.
"He became a key mentor to me as
I began my career" Snyder told the IN.
"Jerry embodied the exceptional spirit of
excellence, compassion and helpfulness
in his thoughts and actions. He changed
The Moosejaw and CrowdRise brands
can be seen globally — whether it's a
Michigan Proud on page 10