Today's featured Broad is Dana Ostomel, and she's here to teach anyone about raising money and crowdfunding through her company, Deposit A Gift.
Dana’s company has been an active internet company for over five years, even though the planning stage began 1-1/2 years earlier. Her background is in advertising and marketing. It was when she was laid off in 2007 as a result of the recession that the idea for the company began to grow. Her husband is her business partner for this family investment project that has become her full-time job.
Dana shares the following about her entrepreneurial experience:
Deposit A Gift started as a cash gift registry service for people who wanted a “nice” way to ask for cash gifts for their weddings. Her first customer was acquired through Twitter on New Year’s Eve, 2009! Initially, Dana merged a department store registry and a wedding website so donors could fund hotel, airfare, romantic dinners, massages, and specific home goods. Her company taps into the idea of sharing and telling your story with honesty about what kinds of gifts are most needed. Deposit A Gift has now become the only site that serves both the wedding/baby shower registry market and the fundraising market. Customers create an account, choose their preferred avenue of raising money, then have a small (starting at 5-7%) fee taken out of funds raised.Dana also shares her career highlights, some of her favorite fundraising success stories, and what she plans to stop, start, and continue doing. She has keen insight into how to handle requests for meetings and other obligations, and is working on business expansion partnerships. Hear how Dana is using her YouTube channel to educate people about fundraising. Join me for this exciting conversation!
Links and Resources:
Be Quick but Don’t Hurry by Andrew Hill with John Wooden
Find Dana on social media by searching for depositagift.
Email Dana: dana@depositagift.com
