With roots in tech and comedic entertainment, Goimagine founder Jonathan Lincoln is looking to serve as the “Etsy for charity,” by creating an online marketplace that provides 100% of its profits to children in need.
Founded less than a year ago, Goimagine is an online marketplace open to all budding entrepreneurs seeking to sell their products, and for consumers who care about charity work.
After its launch in August, Goimagine hosted a 60-day starter campaign that raised $50,000 in seed funding. Its 87 investors have contributed the amount through equity crowdfunding.
Trying to bring joy to people's lives is nothing new for Lincoln, a former comedian and founder of Mottley’s Comedy Club in Boston, which closed in 2011.
While working in comedy was a blast, Lincoln says, “I always like to tell people, during my 20s I had a business that was successful, but was really successful for a single guy trying to make rent."
When he became a husband and father, he transitioned into tech to better serve his family’s needs. But after operating an insurance software company, Veruna, he wanted to do more in the world than starting a business than just making money.
He says he imagined a world where “there was a marketplace that took that economic engine of earning money, but routed it to charity instead of Wall Street,” Lincoln said.
Goimagine's business model allows the provider of the product or service to make money, and for the buyers to get what they want. But it's also a philanthropic engine to send money towards a good cause.
The company partners with local charity Horizons for Homeless Children while connecting makers of unique artisanal handmade products with socially conscious consumers around the country.
“I feel like so many people want change in the world. But if you're going to the corporations and the government for change, it's not going to change, change happens with people,” Lincoln said.
With 1,000 sellers on the platform, Goimagine donates 100% of all transaction fees to charity. A separate fee called the "maker membership fee" is the primary revenue source to run the company, which is used for marketing, software development and business operating expenses. At the end of every year, remaining profits from the fees will be determined and donated to charity.
As the company expands, Lincoln is looking to diversify the charity work by providing donations to nonprofits that aid underserved children of color and more.
