Award-winning designer Emily Brozovic is turning to crowdfunding to make her crowdsource mobile app a reality.
People Like Me aims to help lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender
(LGBT) people — and their allies — in their quest for “voting with
their dollars” by patronizing businesses demonstrating equality toward
their customers. Brozovic is turning to Kickstarter.com to raise the
$10,000 she needs to make the application a reality.
The location-based mobile app will allow users to identify and locate
LGBT-friendly businesses based on both their own experiences as well
as referencing the experiences of others. This will help building
awareness and support for one’s local community while also serving as
a guide when traveling.
Following Kickstarter’s guidelines, project creators have a set number
of days to raise all the funds, or the project receives nothing.
Brozovic’s app has a 33-day fundraising window, from start to finish.
If the allotted budget ($10,000) isn’t raised before March 15, all
pledges are canceled and the app will not be funded.
“People Like Me is intended to be a place where members of the LGBT
and ally community can speak their minds and share their experiences
about where they will and will not spend their money in a particular
community — and why,” Brozovic said. “I find I’m always made aware of
the businesses I shouldn’t support due to mistreatment of LGBT
employees or customers, but I hear less about businesses I should
support because of their openness to equality — supporting people like
me.”
Here are the rewards Brozovic will offer Kickstarter funders:
Pledge $10 or more
Suggest your favorite LGBT-friendly business and we’ll work to
pre-load their info into the app. We’ll contact you to provide the
details once we’re ready. If a business doesn’t want to be listed
though, we can’t force them.
Pledge $25 or more
Reward #1 + early, free access to the app when it’s ready.
Pledge $50 or more
Reward #1 + Reward #2 + a People Like Me T-shirt and your name
listed on our website as a project contributor.
Pledge $500 or more (limited to 100)
Reward #1 + Reward #2 + Reward #3 + a one-hour Skype or Google+
chat with me where you can ask anything about the project.
Pledge $1,000 or more (limited to 10)
Reward #1 + Reward #2 + Reward #3 + Reward #4 + your choice of
breakfast, lunch or dinner, on me, at one of my favorite LGBT-friendly
establishments in mid-Michigan. We can talk about the project or
anything else that’s on your mind. Must be willing to travel to the
central Michigan area, as no travel expenses are included.
Stay up to date on the progress of People Like Me online at
www.peoplelikemeapp.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PeopleLikeMeApp. Watch Brozovic’s video about the project at
www.kickstarter.com.
