Business & Tech

Want to Stick It to Trump When He Tweets? This Chicago Startup Lets You

The site iKeedo lets groups create fundraising campaigns that channel the public's anger on certain issues to make a financial difference.

A new Chicago-based donation website is allowing people to focus their outrage surrounding Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and other issues and turn it into cash for a cause they might find more palatable.

Called iKeedo, the site lets groups set up fundraising drives that give individuals the chance to donate to those counter organizations each time a certain action occurs, the Chicago Tribune reports. Donation pledges can be as low as a dime and can be capped between $1 to $1,000. The company also collects 5 percent from the donations on the site, according to the Tribune.

"It's allowing everyday people to feel like they can make a meaningful difference on an action-per-action basis," iKeedo's founder Chris O'Brien, an Evanston resident who works in advertising, told the Tribune.

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For instance, the left-leaning MoveOn.org has created a campaign that accepts small donations "every time [Trump] takes to Twitter to spread another lie, hurl another insult, or threaten another group of people." The effort currently has generated $691 from 20 supporters.

Even the City of Evanston has become an early adopter of the site, creating a fundraising drive on the platform in order to raise money to help plant more trees in the community. Donations from residents (or people who just want a greener Evanston) are triggered each time a tree is cut in the city. So far, the campaign has 10 supporters and has raised $107.

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Debuting March 11, iKeedo takes its name and general philosophy—"Redirect your opponent's force; for good" is the company's slogan—from the similarly pronounced Japanese martial art of aikido.

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