Have you struggled with planning yet another of your kiddo’s birthday parties, trying to top the previous year’s extravaganza without blowing the budget and also hoping to find something meaningful to focus on?
And are you tired of sifting through the mounds of cheap, made-in-China plastic toy gifts that your tyke plays with for two minutes then leaves in the middle of the floor for you to step on in the dark of night?
Are you trying to instill a sense of community and activism into your offspring and help your young ones develop empathy for others?
What if your kid’s birthday could help change the world?
Pay attention, because there’s a new Myrtle Beach/Pawleys Island-based tech start-up pairing children’s birthday parties with charities and it’s becoming more than a “Shark Tank”-type pipe dream.
KidsCanGiveToo.com has been in operation for 20 months but is now considered fully funded and ready to scale, hiring its first two full-time employees, the first such start-up venture associated with tech incubator Startup.SC to achieve this status.
"I'm very excited to hear that StartUp.SC is seeing success and momentum with their first entrepreneurial company, KidsCanGiveToo.com,” said Morgan Dendy, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corporation. “Tech incubators like StartUp SC and the (Conway-based) 5th T Innovation Group are such a fantastic addition to our community. These types of organizations are fueling innovation and providing a thriving environment for local entrepreneurs and smaller tech-based companies, which ultimately contributes to the diversification of our local economy."
The project raised $325,000 from angel investors and plans to soon hire a full-time Web developer as well, while stating the goal of hosting 1,000 birthday parties per month and raising $1 million for charities within the first year.
(Pictured) KidsCanGiveToo.com Founder and CEO, Barb Royal. Courtesy photo.
“I am thrilled about closing this first round of investment, so KidsCanGiveToo can finally have the resources to become what I always knew it could be. Together, with the support of these talented investors, we are ready for huge growth," Barb Royal, KidsCanGiveToo Founder, said in a press release.
Royal, a former classroom teacher-turned-entrepreneur who dreamed up the idea for KidsCanGiveToo with her sister, was appointed CEO.
And a familiar face to many folks in the Grand Strand's marketing, public relations, media and advertising circles, Anne Marie Bailey (pictured at left), is the company's new Marketing and Strategic Partnerships director. Bailey was the long-time Marketing and Promotions Manager at the House of Blues in North Myrtle Beach, and she also was a Community Builder for Cowork MYR and most recently Social Media Coordinator for the Brandon Agency in Myrtle Beach.
"Startup.SC is really excited to see KidsCanGiveToo.com get funded and create jobs in our area. While startup incubators are raising millions of dollars and creating thousands of jobs around the country, the Grand Strand is just getting started. Our success with KidsCanGiveToo.com demonstrates we can do this with other companies and there is no reason the next big Internet startup can't come from the Grand Strand," said Ryan Smith, Executive Director of Startup.SC, a non-profit 501c(6) offshoot of the Grand Strand Technology Council (GSTC) founded in 2014.
John Sanders, Chairman of GSTC, said the Myrtle Beach area, despite misperceptions that we lag behind, is ripe for Internet and technology-based entrepreneurship.
Sanders said with the amount of computer education in local schools - from public elementary to institutions of higher learning - and infrastructure, the only missing ingredient has been venture capital.
But KidsCanGiveToo's success at attracting investors shows that it can be done.
"It lets you know we can do it all," said John Sanders. "We have the opportunity to build an enormous (tech sector) region."
HOW IT WORKS
So, how does KidsCanGiveToo.com work?
Here’s the simple version: You host a birthday party, the birthday boy or girl selects a charity, their guests donate to that charity instead of buying a gift, and the birthday honoree gets a VISA gift card to buy their own present.
Can’t you just do this on your own without utilizing a Web site?
Yes, but KidsCanGiveToo is a onestop shop and has already done the legwork, aligning itself with a slew of charities, from local outfits such as All 4 Paws, a Pawleys Island animal rescue shelter, to the nationally recognized Special Olympics. A few local montessori schools, academies and PTOs/PTAs are registered recipients on the site, too.
After you’ve signed up to host your party and sent out invitations (either electronically or old school printed invites), you can track your donations on the Web site as your guests RSVP.
The donations are split among the birthday child (40 percent), the chosen charity (50 percent) and KidsCanGiveToo.com (10 percent).
Why 10 percent for KidsCanGiveToo.com? Because it’s a for-profit business and has operating costs and, as we detailed, has full-time employees to pay.
According to the site’s FAQ page: “We considered many different business models when developing KidCanGiveToo. Our current model allows us to cover administrative costs and make it FREE for charities to participate. By charging just 10% of the total amount collected, parents have the option of choosing the basic plan that has zero up-front costs, so anyone can afford to host a KidsCanGiveToo birthday party for their child. Most importantly, this model enables us to never have to charge our charities and schools to be on our site.”
ANGEL WINGS
Securing $325,000 from angel investors isn’t exactly chump change for a start-up, and will allow KidsCanGiveToo and Royal to spread their wings and tap the far-reaching market afforded by the Internet.
“It will allow her to be more aggressive in getting users,” said Sanders.
So who are these angel investors who were impressed enough by KidsCanGiveToo to plunk down their money?
According to a press release, the investors include three local business men and a Virginia Tech professor.
They are:
- Steve Sisney, Founder and CEO of Sisney Capital in Pawleys Island
- Larry Mercado, Founder and CIO of Mercom Corporation of Pawleys Island
- Lee Hewitt, Owner/Broker In Charge, Garden City Realty, Inc. in Garden City Beach
- Dr. Janet Osborne, Associate Professor at Virginia Tech’s Carillon School of Medicine and Research Institute and Section Chief of Gynecologic Oncology in Roanoke, Va.
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