Crowdrise Co-Founder Robert Wolfe Talks Fundraising w/ Edward Norton, Giving Back [INTERVIEW]

In a world where social media is key, Crowdrise has figured out a way to make charitable fundraising not only social, but also effective and appealing to the masses. At the helm, alongside Academy Award nominee Edward Norton, is Robert Wolfe, co-founder of Crowdrise.

The site is an online platform used for charitable fundraising, an operation where fundraisers create their own page displaying their varying charitable goals. Think of it as a LinkedIn page for charity, if you will. Used by millions of people – including a number of celebs such as Seth Rogen and Sophia Bush – the site has managed to "unlock the power of the crowd" and raise hundreds of millions of dollars for an array of missions all across the globe.

Most recently, actor Edward Norton, who founded the site alongside Wolfe, film producer Shauna Robertson and Jeffrey Wolfe, shared the story of "The Scientist," a Syrian refugee who lost his family and left his village with the hopes of one day coming to the United States to continue his work. Norton immediately shared the story, which he found at Humans of New York, and because of Crowdrise, the actor's campaign raised nearly $500,000 to support the man now known as The Scientist.

MStars News recently spoke with Robert Wolfe about Crowdrise.

MStars News: Can you tell me about Crowdrise and how it began?
Robert Wolfe: We wanted to figure out a way to have an impact and change the world. We started thinking, Could we make an impact by making this stuff fun? The idea was if we can make it fun and interesting and notable, then people will raise more money for the causes they really care about, and they'll do it over and over because they actually like it. That was the catalyst for us getting launched.

We were also obsessed with this notion of building a platform. We wanted to build something like Facebook or Twitter where you have this profile. So if you use Crowdrise and you run the NY marathon, and six months later give up your birthday for Every Mother Counts, both of those campaigns live under your profile. So now you have this one place where you have this narrative about everything you do to give back.

I think the idea that it can be fun and you have a permanent home for your charitable life, that's helped contribute, particularly among young people.

MS: Crowdrise has managed to draw a lot of attention from celebrities. What do you think they see in Crowdrise that they do not see elsewhere?
RW: I think the most important part thing is that they do have this one page where they can show people how they give back. For example, Bon Jovi is an amazing philanthropist, but he might do 20 different campaigns throughout the course of the year and there's no place to see them all. But with Crowdrise, if you get Sophia Bush or Seth Rogen or any of these people [doing it], they can track it. They have the data and can talk about it.

Also, I think there's this idea that it can be fun. When you get Seth Rogen doing a campaign where he's going to take his shirt off, those crazy things can inspire others and become infectious.

MS: Do these campaigns have an end date or can people always donate money?
RW: That is up to each individual. We try to build the site but not arbitrate anything. You can have a permanent page or you can make an end date. Each individual or organization decides that on their own. Our goal is to be social; we build the platform and you use it how you see fit.

MS: You've talked about treating the site as an "online retailer" as opposed to a typical charity site. Can you elaborate?
RW: At the end of the day, we are not measured on awareness. I think organizations get a lot of awareness by using Crowdrise, but in the end, if a campaign gets 50,000 likes but raises no money then we're not doing our job. Since my background is e-commerce, I feel running it like that is more appropriate than running it like a charity.

MS: The story of The Scientist is pretty remarkable and shows the power of Crowdrise. What was your hope with sharing that story?
RW: If you think about the path that family would have to take to get the States ten years ago v. now, I don't know if remarkable is a strong enough of word, but that's exactly why we built platform – to embrace the power of the crowd. You don't need to go out and find $500,000; you can literally go out and raise $500,000 in $25 increments. That's what's happening. You see on the Internet that lots of people doing a little can drive movements and that's what we're trying to do.

We talk a lot about the UNICEF and the New York Marathon, but what really drives the site is the kid down the street raising money for the homeless shelter that no one's ever heard of. That's what really drives the site.

Find out more about Crowdrise and what you can do to join at their site.