Equity Crowdfunding Pioneer Ruth Hedges, founder of CrowdfundingRoadMap and founder of Unismart Capital Software Attends the White House Champions of Change Event
Ruth E. Hedges attended the Champions of Change ceremony on June 4th, 2013 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. The Champions of Change program recognized people across the country who are involved in strengthening their communities and creating jobs through crowdfunding.
Featured at the event were entrepreneurs who exemplify the promise of crowdfunding to finance startups, small businesses, and innovative projects across the country. By leveraging their social networks, entrepreneurs raise capital to start the new businesses that will fuel the growth of new jobs and prosperity.
Ms. Hedges was active in the legislative drive to pass the Startup Exemption outlined in the JOBS Act, and has 
since participated in the development of best practices to ensure compliance and transparency in the process.
“The rapid growth of rewards and donation-based crowdfunding has been breathtaking” says, Ms. Hedges. “As soon as the SEC issues operational rules, newly empowered small investors can become stakeholders in the robust growth that will result in more jobs and prosperity, as long as we do a better job at creating awareness and education for these entrepreneurs about this new way of raising capital.”
Government agencies like the SBA, SBDC and SCORE need to step up and take a more active role in providing education and assistance across the country. There are too many startups and small businesses who desperately need to raise capital and are not even aware about the crowdfunding option let alone how to run a campaign and be successful at raising money this way.
Beginning on July 12th, Ruth will be teaching the first-of-its-kind university course on equity-based Crowdfunding, at the UNLV Division of Educational Outreach. The course will provide participants with practical knowledge and effective strategies for creating, planning and managing a successful Crowdfunding campaign. Based on the collective insights and real-world experiences of Crowdfunding experts, this in-depth program will include live (via-Skype) appearances from various industry thought-leaders.
