Marblejars.com (Denver, Colorado, United States) – launched on September 18 2007, is an innovative fundraising initiative to help members of the community raise money for a worthy cause via video uploading. The site has a genuine interest in helping community members reach out and help one another achieve their respective goals, and achieving that directly via video interface. 

The concept works quite simply. Individuals interested in fundraising for themselves or others purchase a marblejar, which provides the purchaser with the privilege of uploading a single video associated with a single cause. However, once purchased, members are not restricted to a single marblejar and can have an unlimited set of marblejars. Next on the list, members set a goal on the number of marbles the jar can hold to a maximum of 1 million marbles, equivalent to one U.S. dollar per marble. Marblejars could be held for a year by members, or until the member cashes out the marbles in the marblejar, or until the jar reaches its intended goal. On the other hand, Individuals who rather donate towards a worthy cause can purchase individual marbles and contribute to their favorite marblejar.

I had a chance to talk to the CEO of Marblejars.com, Robert O’Dell, and this is what he had to say:

Why is your site different than your competitors?

We feel we do not have any competitors and refuse to be compared to cyber beg sites.

What is your business plan or model?

Our exact business plan is very basic, we are a small business with one goal, One world, one mission; to connect and empower individuals throughout the world by providing a trusted and safe online community that will help enrich the lives of those less fortunate.

How are you planning to market it?

Although we have already been contacted by company’s wanting to buy our site, we are not at this time interested in selling. and as far as marketing the site we will continue with press releases, and we will sponsor some athletes along with contests on our site that will start the first of the year. We do have plans for a small television commercial and other conventional advertising.

Personally, I found the concept of helping the community via video to be quite innovative. In fact, there is a definite ingenuity in the implementation of the fundraising concept. The options for payment, including payment by company cheque, wire transfer, and a possible prepaid marblejar credit card in the future is comforting. In addition, members can take advantage of an embed link to promote their video on other social networking sites, which is another great asset. I sure hope that Marblejars will provide great satisfaction to those who donate with good heart and those who attain their worthy goals. 

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