Spotlight: LaunchGood.com

By Yomi Gerrard

In this Spotlight section of battuta, we are introducing amazing Muslim companies to our readers.

Muslims are making a difference all over the world by performing incredible feats in different sectors of the economy.

In this article, we acknowledge the outstanding contributions and achievements of LaunchGood, the world’s largest Muslim crowdfunding company.

Crowdfunding offers the opportunity to fund a project or venture by raising a given amount of money from many people via the Internet.

LaunchGood is a crowdfunding platform for charities and entrepreneurs in the Muslim community. Over the last eight years, it has helped fund over 20,000 projects, in 147 countries with nearly 1 million donors. Thanks to its generous supporters, it has successfully reached over $185 million in funding! That is something worth celebrating, and we are happy to highlight their great work in our spotlight section.

Established in 2013 in Detroit - Michigan, LaunchGood has provided a simple, fast and secure solution for the Muslim community to fundraise for individuals and projects all over the world. From building wells in Africa and schools in Malaysia, to feeding the homeless in America and funding new Muslim products globally, LaunchGood is at the forefront of positive change and has become the go-to crowdfunding platform for the global Muslim community.

Throughout the years, the Co-founders, Chris Blauvelt, Amany Killawi and Omar Hamid have been recognized by notable individuals and organizations. Chris Blauvelt, Founder and CEO, was the first ever Magic Johnson Social Entrepreneurship Prize winner and proudly represented LaunchGood upon meeting US President Barack Obama. Amany Killawi, Co-founder and COO, was named among Inc. Magazine’s Top 100 Women Entrepreneurs of 2020. While Omar Hamid, Co-founder and CDO, was featured in the ISB 40 under 40 and was the youngest member of the 100 Influential Georgia Muslims. Soon after the Christchurch - New Zealand incident, Chris set up a campaign that attracted high-profile individuals like Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey and superstar Alyssa Milano. The campaign raised an estimated US $1.62 million. Recently, during the Coronavirus pandemic, Launchgood raised US $500,000 to support 2,100 individuals of different faith backgrounds. Their seamless approach to unifying people for a great cause shows they have truly tapped into the global heartbeat of the ummah.

LaunchGood has grown substantially in the last few years. It is continuously refining its platform, while building new products to better serve the Muslim community. In their first ever Keynote event, launched on April 2, 2021, LaunchGood revealed some amazing product updates.

In describing the inspiration behind creating LaunchGood and its intended legacy, Chris Blauvelt quoted a verse from the Quran: “You’re meant to be the best community brought forth for mankind.” (Quran 3:110) “We believed that if we could help tell stories, fund those stories, then we could build an inspired future and live up to those lofty ideals found in the Quran,” said Chris.

The keynote highlighted new updates, including an enhanced website, an upgraded Ramadan challenge experience and the launch of a new Zakat tool website – Zakat.com. Amany Killawi believes that “it is not enough to simply make a Muslim version of a solution; we truly have to build a better product.” In the keynote, Amany described how LaunchGood has taken a “1400-year-old beautiful tradition and re-imagined it for the 21st century.”

“Our community has such a strong legacy in contributing to civilization and design. At LaunchGood, we are on a mission to harness that momentum into -inshaAllah- designing a better future,” said Omar Hamid.

At the end of the keynote presentations, Chris announced that there was one more thing: the introduction of Zero Platform Fees! This allows campaign creators and donors to maximize their impact. Through greater accessibility, worldclass compliance and payment integrations, they have taken their crowdfunding platform to the next level.

Launchgood has provided a means to change the Muslim community’s narrative and has managed to compete globally in their industry. They are successful because their community of supporters is at the heart of what they do. They offer campaign creators the opportunity to raise funds for causes they are passionate about, allow donors to be part of those life-changing causes and give people a second chance to live through the generous support they receive.

In this edition of “battuta” Spotlight, LaunchGood stole our hearts.

Learn more by watching LaunchGood’s first-ever Keynote video: