Dark Horse Pros (DHP), (www.DarkHorsePros.com.) is the brainchild of Mark McDonald, the founder and CEO of the operation. Launched in March 2014, the company is a crowdfunding site seriously committed to serious athletes. The main goal of the program is to help bring to surface athletes that may not otherwise have the means to pursue the things they’re good at. Through crowdfunding, athletes can raise money and brand identity simply by utilizing something all young people seem to be good at, social media.
Clara McDonald, a co-founder of DHP, explains crowdfunding this way, “Think of all your Facebook friends, Twitter and Instagram followers, and YouTube subscribers—we at DHP call them true fans. Having those true fans support you with contributions during an online campaign is crowdfunding in a nutshell. If everyone puts a little something in, it becomes something big, plain and simple.”
After DHP’s On the Edge Video Contest concludes on July 13, 2014, the site will launch as a crowdfunding program. Open to professional and amateur athletes, ages 13 and older, participating in adventure or extreme sports, the contest is entered by submission of a video and basic biography (a ‘Snapshot’) that will spark an interest in the individual and their sports career. Each entrant’s video will do double-duty, as each athlete can use the same video, with a little tweaking, to launch a crowdfunding campaign after the contest’s conclusion.
The contest entry fee of $25 gets each athlete a chance at the following prizes:
1st Place:
$3,000 cash prize; Professionally produced feature story video by Victor Vongpraseuth (filmed on location with the athlete); DHP crowdfunding fees waived for one whole year.
2nd Place:
$1,000 cash prize; DHP crowdfunding fees waived for one whole year.
3rd Place:
$500 cash prize; DHP crowdfunding fees waived for one whole year.
See contest site for more details on the 4th and 5th place prizes.
Weekly Winner:
One $50 cash prize; 50% off DHP crowdfunding fees for one campaign (7 Weekly Winners will be chosen). May 26, 2014, 1:00 pm MST is when Weekly Winner #1 will be announced, check www.DarkHorsePros.com for the winner.
Prize winners will be chosen based on who the judges think will have successful crowdfunding campaigns in the future. Therefore, each athlete should create a video that communicates who they are as an athlete, their sports career goals, and what they need to reach those goals—all in less than three minutes. The backbone of the contest is in social media, and raising awareness of your entry through Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or anything else is the key to winning.
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