In a recent article in aboutMoney, crowdfunding expert and Partner and Head of Investor Community/Partnerships at OurCrowd Zack Miller 
highlights crowdfunding websites to watch in 2015, cited six rewards-based platforms for athletes including RallyMe, DreamFuel, Pursuit, SportFunder, MakeAChamp and Athlete.com. Last week U.S. Skier Keri Herman initiated her own crowdfunding RallyMe campaign after her sponsors dropped her for younger athletes.
Montreal-based MakeAChamp, one of the six platforms cited by Miller, provides an example of this rising trend: started in late 2012, the platform raised over a million dollars for athletes in 2014. MakeAChamp is now leading in social media, press coverage for athletes, with a global footprint of 10,000 athletes from 20 countries on the platform.
“We are proud to be in the Top crowdfunding sites to watch in 2015,” said David Barkay, President and CEO of MakeAChamp. “We strongly believe in the power of crowdfunding, which makes it possible for athletes from all over the globe to fund their athletic goal.”
As a global leader in sports crowdfunding, MakeAChamp is now increasing its international presence to Russia and Brazil in early 2015, with eyes on helping athletes reach Rio for the 2016 Olympics, as well as leading product development in web and mobile. According to Brazilian fencer Giula Gasparin, MakeAChamp stands out due to its strong social media and messaging component, enabling athletes to communicate directly with their supporters, “I am really glad to have found MakeAChamp, could not have been better. You are very organized, we can see there is real work behind.”
Similarly pleased, Maria Brown, basketball player from Dawson college D2 team, added, “Dawson D2 Womens Basketball would like to say thank you to the MakeAChamp team for their support and hard work. You have taken a hard an challenging thing as fundraising and brought it to the next level. I encourage programs: if you need fundraising, you need MakeAChamp on your side.”
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