iFundWomen Launches in NH

A NH chapter of a crowdfunding platform aimed at helping early-stage women-led businesses launched in March. The chapter is being championed by the Center for Women and Enterprise and the NH Women’s Foundation.

iFundWomen NH provides coaching as well as access to capital. Kristin Hardwick, entrepreneur, owner of Kristin Hardwick Photography in Nashua, and an iFundWomen-certified crowdfunding coach, is leading the NH effort.

“Women are starting businesses at four times the rate that men are, while receiving 2.2 percent of venture funding.

Traditional funding isn’t working for women. Most go into debt, racking up credit card debt, getting second mortgages and personal loans,” Hardwick says. “This provides an alternative means for women to raise capital.”

iFundWomen also coaches participants on creating effective crowdfunding campaigns, from developing the pitch to marketing strategy to creating videos that work.

That’s where Hardwick comes in. In addition to her coach training, she raised $10,000 on another crowdsourcing site to launch a coworking space with on-site childcare in Milford. The business, Coworking Health, launches this month.

After only one month, iFundWomen NH had four campaigns under way with more in the pipeline. “iFundWomen is different in that we are a flexible platform... You keep what you raise,” she says.

Those running campaigns pay a service fee of 5 percent of what they raise, and those who want coaching services pay a $450 coaching fee. Hardwick says she can meet clients in person or through videoconferencing. “Campaigns that use a coach tend to raise four-and-a-half times more,” she says.

For more information, visit beta.ifundwomen.com/new-hampshire.