Mozilla Challenges Prove Crowdsourcing Still Works for Fundraising (Mashable)

The Mozilla Firefox Challenge has named a winner -- but the real champion is the public, who yet again proved that crowdsourcing and grass roots campaigns are an effective way to raise money for charity. The Challenge, hosted on the Crowdrise fundraising platform, pitted 12 celebrities in a race to see who could raise the most money for a charitable cause. Users could donate directly to the charities or sign on as co-fundraisers through Crowdrise.

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Sophia Bush won the challenge, which ran for a month, in support of F- Cancer, raising $117,405. Seth Rogen and Hilarity for Charity came in a close second, raising a total of $114,465. These numbers, however, are all the more impressive for how they were reached.

Bush's campaign attracted 63 independent fundraisers who, through their own steam, decided to help F- Cancer win the contest. More over, 83% of the Challenge's total donations were less than $100, said a Mozilla spokesperson. That means that instead of several wealthy donors running the contest, the results were truly a result of everyday people giving what they could to help a cause.

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Not all the charities broke the $100,000 mark -- most landed somewhere between $50,000 and $20,000. That's not too shabby, considering the Challenge raised a total of close to a quarter million dollars, all through small donations and good will. To help, Mozilla will be giving Bush and F- Cancer an additional $25,000. Because of the contest, F- Cancer has been fully funded through 2012.

Should charities look to the crowd for financial support or should they still rely on big donors and big money? Share your thought in the comments below.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/linux/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20120118/tc_mashable/mozilla_challenges_prove_crowdsourcing_still_works_for_fundraising

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