Donadora, Unlocking Fundraising's Access to Everyone

Q: What opportunity did Donadora spot in the Mexican market to launch a crowdfunding platform? 

A: Donadora was born out of the need to address personal causes and social initiatives as an alternative to traditional fundraising methods. Among the profiles of people who use the platform are individuals like you and me who have unforeseen expenses for various reasons, from health emergencies, educational opportunities that you cannot afford, social ventures that need a push to turn into reality and a wide variety of altruistic projects that need to materialize. Normally when we think of an emergency or want to start a social project, we think of loans both from close relatives and banking institutions, this is where Crowdfunding comes to break with this scheme. Thanks to technology, fundraising becomes more accessible to everyone. Just by having a smartphone, internet and empathy for a cause, anyone from anywhere in the world can make a difference in the lives of many people.

Currently, 45 percent of Mexicans' medical expenses are out-of-pocket, which is an alarming figure, and many of us would not know where to find the funds to treat a chronic illness, receive a cochlear implant, a bone marrow transplant, pay for twelve chemotherapies, or pay for emergency surgery, for instance. Donadora's mission is that all Mexicans know where to turn when something like this happens. As an open platform for anyone with a need for funds for personal causes and social initiatives, by simply creating a profile on the platform, you can create your campaign.

Like any crowdfunding platform, we get our financing through the fees charged on the total amount raised from each campaign. This allows us to continue operating and maintain our team, which is partly what differentiates us from other platforms.  In addition to providing the platform, we offer a personalized consultancy service to accompany our promoters, which is what we call the people who publish their campaigns on the platform. At all times, we share best practices with them, accompany them through the process, answer questions and teach them how to get the most out of the platform.

Q: What sets Donadora apart from other crowdfunding platforms in the country? 

A: The personalized support we provide to our users is undoubtedly our core strength. We are backed by excellent customer service, in addition to the reputation, we have built since 2016.  Both the support we provide and the partnerships we have forged with the best companies, universities, banking institutions, project incubators and government entities are part of what sets us apart. More than MX$239 million (US$11.8 million) have been raised through the platform, thanks to more than 527,000 donors. For these reasons, Donadora has positioned itself as the leading crowdfunding platform.

Q: What do you consider to be the key to the success of the most successful campaigns on the platform? 

A: Planning is a must, many people come to Donadora thinking that by publishing their campaigns, the fundraising will be immediate, which is one of the biggest myths to bust. Successful campaigns are not achieved by simply creating your profile on the platform and waiting for donations to pour in. There is a lot of planning behind it.

Q: What opportunities and challenges has Donadora faced due to the COVID-19 crisis? 

A: These times of crisis allow us to reaffirm our mission to offer an alternative to fundraising for social causes. Crowdfunding undoubtedly played a very important role in the COVID-19 crisis at the global level, and Mexico was no exception. More than a business opportunity, we sought to show solidarity with what was happening. Thus, for the first time in our four years of operation, we decided to reduce our commission in pandemic-related campaigns.

In terms of whether we are experiencing some kind of crisis because of the pandemic, I would not say not directly. I would define our “crisis” as a happy problem. The operational team worked harder than ever, we put in more hours than usual, to the extent that we could not cope with the campaigns we were receiving. Donadora's team is the driving force of the company. We are clear about our mission, we share the same values and we have the same goal. Despite the long working hours, we are happy to be able to help in these times of unprecedented crisis. 

Q: What are the platform's goals for 2021? 

A: In the short term, we want to offer a better user experience, both for our campaigners and our donors. Technology is at the heart of our operation and we want to offer the best crowdfunding donation service in Mexico. Ultimately, we are looking to operate in Latin America. We receive many requests for campaigns from Venezuela, Colombia and Belize, for example. It is great that they have Donadora as a reference for their crowdfunding campaign. We hope to be able to offer this service outside of Mexico in the near future.

Donadora is the leading social crowdfunding platform in Mexico. Founded in 2016, the online platform has raised over US$11.8 million in more than 6,800 campaigns.