With GoFundMe campaigns that raise money for lifesaving surgeries and Kickstarter projects that help fund small, creative projects, crowdfunding is an easy way to raise funds or donate. 

Created in 2013, Ramfunder is Colorado State University’s official crowdfunding platform, geared toward University-sponsored programs and student organizations.

“It was mainly meant to give an opportunity for people to fundraise for smaller projects that typically weren’t very conducive to the different tools we have available,” said Doug Patmore, the assistant director of operations for the Office of Annual Giving. “We figured out this was a great way to overlay the crowdfunding concept on top of philanthropy, allowing people to support a project on campus.” 

Currently featured on Ramfunder’s homepage are campaigns for scholarships, club projects, research support and club travel expenses. 

Chandler Patterson, a CSU senior business administration major and president of the women’s club soccer team, said the soccer team uses Ramfunder to support their trip to nationals every year.

Despite not raising enough funds during Patterson’s freshman year and submitting their application too late her sophomore year, Patterson said their campaign this year was quite successful — they surpassed their goal and raised $3,125.

We felt that this presented an opportunity not only to bring more alumni back into the fold to give back to the University, but to shine a spotlight on different projects that can be quite brilliant.” -Doug Patmore, assistant director of operations, Office of Annual Funding

Starting a project only requires one person from a club or organization to submit a form on the Ramfunder website. After the project is approved, a fundraising representative will work with the club to gather all campaign requirements and help with marketing. The basic requirements include a featured image, a brief video, a description of the club and a purpose behind the fundraiser. 

“We felt that this presented an opportunity not only to bring more alumni back into the fold to give back to the University, but to shine a spotlight on different projects that can be quite brilliant,” Patmore said. “They’ve just never had the right vehicle to generate support.”

Arianna Punzalan, an ecology graduate student, said although it took many months to put together the video for her project (which is not yet published), the process to get the project off the ground took only a few weeks. 

Punzalan is fundraising for the Front Range Student Ecology Symposium, an annual conference that allows students to present their research to their peers and gain professional skills and experience. Punzalan said their video took so long to put together because they wanted it to be high quality and usable for other projects.

“It’s an expensive process to put together the conference and keep it free for students participating, so the funding that is generated through Ramfunder will go toward the general FRSES fund,” Punzalan said.

According to the Ramfunder website, since its conception, the platform has had 60 successful campaigns, 4,300 supporters and $301,000 raised. 

“I think there’s probably a lot more opportunity out there,” Patmore said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity for students, faculty (and) staff to generate their own project support. We’re excited to try to grow the program.”

Serena Bettis can be reached at news@collegian.com or on Twitter @serenaroseb.