LINDA HANSEN OF FUND DUEL

By Jules Lavallee

LINDA HANSEN OF FUND DUEL: WHY THIS GAMIFED FUNDRAISING PLATFORM IS A GAME CHANGER

Fund Duel is all about giving back. Tell us about the platform.

Fund Duel is the most breakthrough technology in global virtual fundraising for the past ten years. Fund Duel is the online solution for organizations, projects, and causes to raise more money and awareness for their cause because the platform capitalizes on social media sharing and exponentially reaches a vast online audience. Fund Duel makes fundraising fun, exciting, and interactive with its built- in gamification protocols.

The most important aspect of each live/ virtual campaign is the use of powerful team captains that engage their employees, fans, spectators, and followers to join a great video and photo-based challenge. Team captains can be a mix of individuals, corporate partners, celebrities, leaders of government, media personalities, schools, churches, divisions of company, etc….

The mission of the company is to bless this planet and solve major global problems by engaging parties from all sectors to get involved, and they are realizing this mission one “duel” at a time. We want to bring attention to diseases, environmental problems, hunger, education, clean water, and many more issues. We invite the reading audience not to just read this article, and leave positive actions to others, but we invite you to act!!!

Share your background and how it led you to launch Fund Duel.

I have a Ph.D and have a Social Science background. For my dissertation, These rewards are found in the competition and winning prizes which is what motivates sports teams and businesses to perform well.

I researched the neurochemical and psycho-social motivation system of humans in negative and positive directions. I realized that our rising generation is consumed with technology and are often addicted to “self- absorbed” social media posting. All major social media platforms benefit monetarily from these addictive behaviors. An inordinate amount of time is spent viewing and sharing content on laptops and cell phones. I along with my daughter and cofounder, Jasmine Toomalatai, believed that we could create a technology that would engender a major shift in this behavior by rewarding and encouraging individuals to share selfies that reflect compassion for others rather than self. These types of posts we call “elsies,” because the sharing on social media is centered on empathy for those that are suffering or in need of help.

Additionally, the gamification of the Fund Duel platform is replete with all the neurochemical and psychological rewards that inspire humans to engage in a cause.

These rewards are found in the competition and winning prizes which is what motivates sports teams and businesses to perform well.

Another layer of reward comes from Oxytocin a mammalian bonding neurochemical that rewards us when we connect with others on social media and when we fulfill a greater purpose of doing good to others. Our platform also rewards users with humor and other video content that is emotive and tugs at the heartstrings. Finally, another layer of motivation comes from sharing content that highlights the unique talents of all individuals in all areas of human creativity. We follow the model of YouTube in championing all creators of wonderful content.

What makes Fund Duel unique?

Fund Duel is a game-changer and making major shifts in the giving world. We are democratizing fundraising by engaging the masses to get involved in the giving and sharing process. The traditional model of philanthropy has been a privilege of wealthy individuals who are invited to exclusive galas and golf tournaments to raise money for charities. Corporate sponsorship has traditionally been the exclusive opportunity of the C-Suite to cut sponsorship checks. Fund Duel has opened the floodgates for the participation of the masses and all levels of society to get involved. The goal is to transform the whole corporate philanthropy model. For instance, imagine the potential of corporations such as McDonalds to create a Fund Duel with all their stores by inviting customers and employees to join a fun photo-video-based challenge to raise money for the Ronald McDonald Houses. The campaign would be fun and global and have a huge impact while offering McDonalds great PR and visibility across all social media platforms. This is just one possibility there are so many others.

Many charities have raised over $100,000 +. Share your successful campaigns.

The magic of Fund Duel is its capacity to assist small and large organizations to expand their donor base and create an incredible number of views and social awareness for their cause. I will highlight two small organizations championed by two stellar women.

Brittany Williams was the sole organizer of a campaign for Brylan’s Feat Foundation, a cause that raises money for medical supplies for families of children with a rare and incurable disease called Lymphedema. She activated friends to be team captains as well as a few companies. With 27 team captains she raised $85,010.00 in 30 days. She did not have deep resources nor celebrity influencers, but she galvanized grassroots efforts to engage 500 donors. The remarkable analytics demonstrated that this campaign went to 18 countries and had over 6,000 page views. These statistics are stunning.

Another hero is Tori Plennes who decided to abandon the typical, traditional gala to raise money for her cause that services special needs children, Jackson Hole Therapeutic Riding Foundation. She decided this traditional way to fundraise had significant costs in time and money. Without doing a live or virtual event with all the headaches associated with doing these types of events, Tori decided to utilize our powerful platform with amazing success. After 30 days of a Fund Duel campaign, she raised $ 301,000 and was thrilled. Her team captains were groups of supporters and 5 companies from her hometown of Jackson Hole, Wyoming who received great visibility as their brand was shared by all participants. Tori sees Fund Duel as the online answer to fundraising. She observes the trends and finds that the old clunky forms of fundraising require too much effort and bandwidth. Here are the results of her campaign:

https://www.fundduel.com/index.php/duel/642

Take us through the steps of a campaign.

The most important first step when putting together a Fund Duel is reaching out to us and consult with our team on how to put together a campaign: www.fundduel.com.start

Secondly, find great supporters such as companies within your sphere of influence to be team captains. They are the most influential people that will help champion your campaign. This fun video explains the role of a team captain:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM-coHWY3Oo&t=3s

competition and win a prize. It is important to have a fun challenge and a community that cares about your cause that will join and share the challenge. The St Jude Miami campaign is a great example of using all the great tools of Fund Duel:

https://www.fundduel.com/index.php/ duel/565

Fund Duel is a grassroots organization. What have you learned over the past year?

I have learned that with the pandemic of COVID-19 and subsequent variants, many organizations folded and closed their doors while others adapted and found new virtual ways to raise money. We were grateful that we could be an elegant solution for so many causes to raise more revenues and awareness for their causes with virtual events embedded on our campaign pages. Even though we are a young company without a huge marketing budget, we have advanced to the point where we have partners all over the world and have some magnificent campaigns on the horizon. Our Fund Duel family has grown organically, and I love our committed ambassadors and evangelists.

Celebrities and Influencers have joined Fund Duel. Why is the platform a stage for fans/followers?

We are so excited to announce that we are partnering with Ron Deshay, a former producer of American Idol, who was involved with the three shows of American Idol Gives. He was impressed with our platform because of the engagement of fan-bases of celebrities in a similar fashion that American Idol activated the television audience to vote on their favorite singer. Ron has an amazing initiative called “A Better World Project,” and will use Fund Duel as the platform to raise money for major celebrities and corporations as the team captains. The live and live-streamed two-day concert that will be televised on a major network will have a global audience. During this event, any fan of any celebrity or employee of any company can join the challenge by uploading a photo or video and as a result, can get donations on their video and share on social media. the world. The potentials are limitless and we are thrilled to be a staple of fundraising at sporting events, corporate conferences, music festivals, film festivals, and a staple for start-ups and great projects to advance their work.

Any individual who joins the challenge or donates will be eligible for amazing prizes including experiences to meet their favorite celebrity.

What is your vision for 2022?

We are planning to be present at the World Economic Forum to champion a great cause, The Homeless Entrepreneur that spotlights the issues of homelessness around the world. We plan to work with our Fund Duel partner in Brazil, Getro Silva and his impressive team in engaging at least sixteen soccer (football) leagues in campaigns to benefit many charities in Brazil. Our goal is to partner with many global organizations that make sustainable improvements in the lives of suffering populations, including refugees all over the world. The potentials are limitless and we are thrilled to be a staple of fundraising at sporting events, corporate conferences, music festivals, film festivals, and a staple for start-ups and great projects to advance their work.

www.fundduel.com