survivethestreetsWhen you donate money to charity or give someone a few dollars on the street, it’s hard to tell exactly where and how the funds will be used.

Survive the Streets wants to fix that by using crowdfunding and social networking to help those near the brink of homelessness.. The non-profit organization, which started in 1999 as a charity event on Thanksgiving Day, just launched an online platform that allows donors to see exactly who donations are going to and for what reasons.

survivethestreets2“We know we can’t help everyone in need, but there are a lot of people out there who are one paycheck away from heading towards a path of being homeless,” said Survive the Streets co-founder Michael Grabham, who also runs monthly Startup Grind events in Seattle.

It’s true. About four in five American adults now struggle with joblessness and there are more than one million homeless students in the country.

Here’s how Survive the Streets’ new platform works. Non-profits who are unable to meet the demands of their candidates can submit them to Survive the Streets. The individual or family can then fill out an online profile with information like their background, why they need help and how they’ll use the donations.

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Patti Dunn and Michael Grabham, founders of Survive the Streets.

Donors can pick a specific family or individual to help and also share the campaign across social media and email. Donation requests can range from services and items like dental appointments, car repairs, hospital bills, education, workforce training, work shoes, or a bus pass.

Grabham, along with his wife and co-founder Patti Dunn, are piloting the new service in Seattle. Eventually, they want to implement this across the nation, and to do so, they’ve just launched a campaign on Razoo to raise $75,000.

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