Gerry Poirier, Reimagining Crowdfunding, Democratizing Access to Funding and Developing the World’s First Platform to Support Women, Episode 288
Today I am excited to introduce you to our guest, Gerry Poirier, the founder and CEO of AngeLink. She launched AngeLink from her home two years ago and has since turned an idea into a top-tier web and mobile app that's processed close to $1 million in donations from across the nation. Gerry is a catalyst for positive impact with a passion for advancing women and girls in STEM. She founded AngeLink with a vision to bring innovative solutions to social change through life-changing technology. AngeLink is creating a safer, more trusted crowdfunding community powered by women to close the gap on gender-based economic disparity. In This Episode: Gerry talks about her journey of how she founded AngeLink How AngeLink is growing with their predominantly female leadership How hard it is for women to raise money in the United States and how their company supports and empowers women to start or fund their business Their foundation’s six pillars of giving Her advice to women who are into capital fundraising How her grandmother inspired her to give back to the community The opportunity to give small amounts of money to people and really change their life How they make sure that their users are safe when using their platform How they use gamification that differentiates them from others How they build a community where women feel safe and can come together even with a small amount of money to support each other Details of the AngeLink + Extraordinary Women Collaboration I am thrilled to collaborate with AngeLink. Through this partnership, AngeLink and Extraordinary Women are empowering budding and established female entrepreneurs with greater access to funding for their businesses and business ideas, through AngeLink's trusted crowdfunding platform. Select fundraisers will have the chance to receive a $1,000 Angel Grant from the AngeLink Community Foundation to support their business's or nonprofit's fundraiser. Timeline: This partnership will run from mid-February 2023 through the end of March 2023. Audience/participants: Kami Guildner's community (which spans many forms) and other Denver women's communities. Eligibility: Interested participants must have an active business or business idea, must set up a fundraiser on the AngeLink platform, and must include "#EWC" (short for Extraordinary Women Connect) in their fundraiser title to be considered for an Angel Grant. Apply to the AngeLink Platform here. Be sure to post your active campaign on the Extraordinary Women Connect Facebook Community so that we can support your fundraising efforts! (and tag @KamiGuildner when you launch it on any social platform). Angel Grants: In an effort to support female entrepreneurs, the AngeLink Community Foundation will donate to the cause! ACF is looking to give one merit-based $1,000 grant to the campaign organizer(s) who successfully raise $2,000 or more on AngeLink, per group of ten fundraisers that meet or exceed their $2,000 goal. (i.e. If twenty #EWC fundraisers are created and reach their goal, AngeLink Community Foundation will issue two Angel Grants. In any case, the maximum number of Angel Grants given would be five.) Extra Incentive: AngeLink will also promote the grant winners' businesses across our social media platforms to our community of 50,000+ followers. Gerry Poirier is the Founder and CEO of AngeLink, the world's first social crowdfunding platform built and powered by women. AngeLink is a fintech startup with a female CEO, female CTO, female CFO, female Head of Growth, and 90% female team, and a mission to empower women everywhere through crowdfunding. Gerry has previously been featured on CityBiz podcast, David Meltzer, Good Morning Washington, ABC7 News,