What is the Unreasonable Finalist Marketplace?
Does the $10,000 cover roundtrip airfare and visa costs?
What happens to the funds raised on the Marketplace if a finalist doesn’t get into the Institute?
What if a finalist raises more than $10,000?
What is the timeline of the Finalist Marketplace? How long do finalists have to raise $10,000?
Are contributions made on the finalist marketplace tax-deductible?
Can a non-U.S. citizen sponsor a finalist?
What forms of payment can be used to sponsor a finalist?
I’m interested in sponsoring a finalist, but how do I know that my credit card information is safe?
Do you have any advice on how to raise the $10,000?
How has the Finalist Marketplace gone in the past?
If I sponsor a finalist, what information does he or she receive?
If I sponsor a finalist, what information will be publicly displayed?
Can I sponsor a finalist anonymously?
When will finalists know that they are accepted into the Unreasonable Institute?
Questions about the Unreasonable Finalist Marketplace
What is the Unreasonable Finalist Marketplace?
Up to 50 of the best applicants to the Unreasonable Institute will be selected as finalists. Each finalist will post a profile (the content of which they create) of their venture, themselves, and their team on an online platform. Through this platform called the “Finalist Marketplace”, each finalist will work to raise $10,000, the cost of attending the Unreasonable Institute. The first 25 finalists to do so will be chosen as Unreasonable Fellows and invited to attend our 6-week summer program between June 16 and July 27, 2011. Read More about the Marketplace here.
What does the $10,000 cover?
The $10,000 pays for everything while at the Institute, including housing, food, training, flying out the mentors, staffing, and all weekend excursions. The costs are low for 6 weeks because we’ve secured in kind sponsorships of space and technology from a number of our sponsoring partners. Read more about the costs of the Institute here.
Does the $10,000 cover roundtrip airfare and visa costs?
No, unfortunately it does not. However, we are keen to help applicants who require financial assistance and can provide loans, possible access to sponsorship, and other solutions to help applicants secure the financial resources they require to attend the Unreasonable Institute. If you are accepted as an Unreasonable Fellow, please speak with the Unreasonable Team if you need financial assistance with your travel and visa arrangements.
What happens to the funds raised on the Marketplace if a finalist doesn’t get into the Institute?
Finalists who are not ultimately accepted as Unreasonable Fellows will keep the money they raise on the Finalist Marketplace net a 5% administrative fee to cover the credit card processing fees, administrative costs, and the costs associated with getting the money to them.
What if a finalist raises more than $10,000?
Our payment systems do not allow a finalist to raise more than $10,000. However, if sponsors wish to help support a finalist who has successfully raised $10,000, they may be able to help pay for air travel and visa costs. How to help a finalist with their travel and visa costs will be explained in detail on the Finalist Marketplace.
How much time do finalists have to raise $10,000?
The Finalist Marketplace is open 50 days from January 20 to March 11, 2011. However, because the Finalist Marketplace is a race to raise $10,000 and the first 25 finalists to raise the funds will be accepted, the amount of time finalists have to raise the money also depends on how quickly others are able to do so as well.
Are contributions sponsors make on the Finalist Marketplace tax-deductible?
Contributions made to Finalists who are one of the first 25 to raise $10,000 will be tax-deductible for U.S. tax payers because these funds will be retained by the Unreasonable Institute, which is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization. However, contributions made to Finalist who are not one of the first 25 to raise $10,000 will not be tax-deductible as those funds will be disbursed to the Finalist who raised them and not held by the Unreasonable Institute.
Does the Unreasonable Finalist Marketplace favor finalists with larger networks of high-net-worth individuals or finalists from the United States and Europe?
We were initially concerned that indeed the marketplace would be biased in favor of Finalists from wealthier backgrounds or those who have connections to wealthy individuals, which we called “The Rich Uncle Problem.” A Finalist with a wealthy uncle, for example, could ask this uncle to provide the full $10,000 in sponsorship required on the first day the marketplace opens. To address this problem, we institute weekly maximums, capping the amount any single sponsor can give to any single Finalist in a given week. The first week, this maximum is $10. The second week, it’s $50. The third week, it’s $100, and so on until the last day when there is no maximum contribution. In addition to ensuring a more equal playing field, these weekly maximums ensure that the marketplace is a better test of entrepreneurial ability, incentivizing Finalists to mobilize hundreds of people to support them instead of just one.
Last year, we saw that finalists who were former child soldiers from Liberia, Congolese refugees in Uganda, Pakistani villagers, and Nigerian farmers were all ultimately able to raise the funds required to attend the Unreasonable Institute.
Finally, we took a hard look at online marketplaces / voting contests like Kickstarter and Global Giving to structure our marketplace. We explicitly asked Global Giving (an online marketplace that is explicitly international in scope, funding almost 2,000 projects around the world) if there was any relationship between where an entrepreneur was from and his / her likelihood of raising funds on online marketplaces. Did Americans, for example, benefit from wider networks of individuals with more money? According to Global Giving and its users, there was no relationship between where an entrepreneur was from and how much money he / she was able to raise. In fact, the entrepreneurs who were most successful in raising funds on Global Giving were simply the ones who were most diligent about raising funds. This was true for both men and women and across nationalities.
How much money can a sponsor give a finalist in a given week during the Finalist Marketplace? Can a sponsor give multiple times? Can a sponsor support multiple finalists?
Because we have weekly contribution caps (as explained in the previous FAQ), the amount a sponsor can give to a finalist depends on the week he or she wishes to make a contribution. As long as a sponsor contributes no more in any one week than the weekly contribution cap allows, there is no limit to the number of times they can support a finalist or multiple finalists. Weekly contribution caps will follow the schedule below:
January 17-23: Maximum contribution is $10
January 24-30: Maximum contribution is $50
January 31-February 6: Maximum contribution is $100
February 7-13: Maximum contribution is $250
February 14-20: Maximum contribution is $500
February 21-27: Maximum contribution is $1,000
February 28-March 7 (last day): Contributions are unlimited.
Can a non-U.S. citizen sponsor a finalist on the Finalist Marketplace?
Absolutely. Our payment systems us PayPal, which is set up to handle credit cards from around the world. We also accept cash contributions in any currency. See the next question for details on this.
What forms of payment can be used to sponsor a finalist?
We utilize PayPal for all online payments. PayPal is the world’s most trusted international payment system and credit card processor and allows us to accept payments instantly and securely from users in over 190 countries. With PayPal, you will be able to use a Visa, Mastercard, Discover, or American Express credit card to make your contribution. If you do not have a credit card, you can also contact the entrepreneur you want to support directly, and pay them in cash or check. This is a much more laborious process, but allows individuals who do not have credit cards to still sponsor Finalists. If you make cash contributions to finalists, they will manually add you as a sponsor to the Marketplace as well as keep diligent records of who the cash contributions came from. To verify cash contributions, we will get in touch with the individuals reported by the Finalist to have made the contribution via email, phone, or other means (employing the assistance of a translator where necessary). If any individual the Finalist has reported as giving them a cash contribution denies having done so, the Finalist in question will be disqualified from participation in the Marketplace, deemed ineligible to be an Unreasonable Fellow, and forfeit the funds they have raised on the Marketplace.
I’m interested in sponsoring a finalist, but how do I know that my credit card information will be safe?
For all online payments, we utilize the world’s most trusted payment provider, PayPal. PayPal handles all credit card transactions and will process all of your payments automatically and securely. We never store your credit card number or payment information, in fact, we will never even see your credit card number. Your online payments are entirely processed and handled securely and automatically by PayPal. You can read more about how PayPal ensures the security of your information here.
Do you have any advice on how to raise the $10,000?
Absolutely. We wrote a blog post last year called 5 Ways to Mobilize Hundreds, specifically aimed at helping finalists raise funds. We also asked Unreasonable Fellows Simon Griffith and Jehan Ratnatunga of the venture Who Gives A Crap to write a blog post explaining how they raised the $6,500 it cost to attend the 2010 Unreasonable Institute in just 2 weeks! Read it here.
What happens to the $10,000 a finalist raises if, after being accepted to the Unreasonable Institute, they are forced to drop out due to extenuating circumstances?
In this case, we would treat this entrepreneur the same way we would treat a finalist who didn’t raise the full $10,000. We would give this entrepreneur the $10,000 raised minus a 5% administrative fee.
How has the finalist marketplace gone in the past?
In 2010, 25 entrepreneurs were successfully able to raise what it cost to attend the Unreasonable Institute, which then was $6,500. In total, they raised a cumulative total of over $160,000 from just under 3,000 sponsors in 130 countries. The finalists who succeeded in raising $6,500 included a former child soldier from Liberia, a Congolese refugee now living in Uganda, a Nigerian farmer and radio show host, a Pakistani villager, a Venezuelan scientist, as well as two MIT graduates.
If I sponsor a finalist, what information does he or she receive?
When you sponsor Finalists, you will have the option of sharing your contact information with them, or remaining anonymous. If you decide to share your contact information, they will see your name, your email address, and the amount you contributed. They will not have access to any additional information. If you decide to remain anonymous, finalists will only see the amount you contributed but will not have access to your name or email address.
If I sponsor a finalist, is my contribution amount publicly displayed?
When you sponsor a Finalist, you will have the option of requesting that your contribution is anonymous. If you chose to be anonymous, your name will not be displayed publicly as a sponsor and your name will not be shared with the Finalist. You will have full control over this when you make a contribution.
Can I sponsor a finalist anonymously?
Definitely! You always have the option to make any contribution to a finalist anonymously.
Does the Unreasonable Institute take any steps to protect the intellectual property of Finalists displaying their information on the Marketplace?
Finalists have complete control over what information they share on the Finalist Marketplace. It is their job to ensure that they protect sensitive information and share only information they consider appropriate for the public on the Marketplace.
When will finalists know that they are accepted into the Unreasonable Institute?
They will know no later than March 12, 2011, but they will know as soon as they raise $10,000 on the Finalist Marketplace if they are one of the first 25 to do so.