Sigma Phi Epsilon - San Diego State University

Page 3 Sigma Phi Epsilon W e got to work this semester, holding our first chapter meeting on the 1st of February, followed by challenge meetings, which allowed each member of the Balanced Man Program to know what the semester had in store for him. Before anyone could blink, recruitment was here—a five-day process including food from sponsors throughout San Diego and music and entertainment. As recruitment came to a close, we extended 25 bids to the most qualified men this campus has to offer and received 100% acceptance. In February we had the assistant dean of the College of Business, Christine Probett, come to the chapter house to lead a workshop on academic success. Christine went over everything from how to take notes in class to the best ways to study for tests and how to get on teachers' good sides. In March, we headed to Huntington Beach to attend the 2014 Carlson Leadership Academy along with the rest of the chapters in the Western Region. Twenty of our members were in attendance. Our next big event will be the Sun Cup in April, where brothers from SigEp chapters across San Diego will rally to organize a two-day beach soccer philanthropic event with proceeds benefitting Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy research, a cause personal to Cal Delta members due to a brother's journey. Day one will be an all-day community service event with the sororities at SDSU. On day two, SigEps will cheer on the sororities of their respective schools as they compete in the tournament at Mariners Point. We are extremely focused on the success of Cal Delta as we strive for the Golden Buchanan Cup. We are looking to combine our efforts, maximize our strengths and accelerate the chapter in the right direction. Fraternally, Samuel Wolfsohn '16 Communications s.wolfsohn@yahoo.com Brothers Work Toward Excellence in Spring Activities O ne of the most recent and growing trends in the way people or companies raise money is crowdfunding. Through online platforms, crowdfunding is the process of allowing people to collect money from supporters or backers, across the world, as micro investments for their current project. In 2009, Kickstarter, the most famous crowd- funding platform, launched to offer people from all different backgrounds an opportunity to raise money for their entrepreneurial endeavors. These projects include films, music, stage shows, com- ics, journalism, video games, product design, and food-related items. In November of 2013, two members of Cal Delta partnered on a venture to build a news source covering the growing crowdfunding industry. Andrew Little '12 and Nick Warner '14 launched CrowdDistrict.com. Their premium news source began as a site dedicated to giving crowdfunding project creators a voice to promote their ideas and businesses. By covering some of the most innovative projects raising money in real time on reward- based platforms like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and GoFundMe, their goal was to create a site that fans of crowdfunding projects could find other inventive ideas to back or support. Andrew shared, "The idea initially began after I completed a Kickstarter campaign for a company. We successfully funded our project idea, but getting the big media publications to cover us was difficult. There was no site or blog dedicated to crowdfunding news." He sat on the idea for six months, until he approached his SigEp brother to help him launch the project. In the beginning, the site primarily focused on projects from the reward-based platforms. They wrote about projects they had supported or ones that were disrupting their respective industries. The site began to gain some traction and they were invited to cover the Crowdfund Global Expo in January of 2014. They have continued working with many of the CEOs, launching new equity-based crowdfunding sites. Nick, who graduates this semester, stated, "We see the crowdfunding revolution to be similar to the post-bubble in the mid-2000s up in Silicon Valley. Startups began raising a ton of money and were being acquired by bigger companies. Everyone was interested in who was doing what in tech, which gave us TechCrunch, Mashable, and VentureBeat. We intend to be like them, covering crowdfunding." While the site is still very much in its infancy, we look forward to seeing how these two young entrepreneurs can shed some light on a growing industry. Visit their site at CrowdDistrict.com. How Two Cal Delta Members Are Shaking up the Crowdfunding Industry SigEp Friendships Run Deep Spotlight on Joe Dendy '70 I n San Diego, in the fall, it usually rains sometime right around the time school starts. According to Joe Dendy '70, when that first rain came, you left whatever class you were in to get to the huge athletic field by Cal Delta's house to play mud football. That camaraderie with other SigEps was a highlight of his time at San Diego State and he looks back on it with great regard. "When I went to SDSU and met the guys, we seemed to have a connection. It was a natural fit. After I learned more about the principles and history of SigEp, I had an even greater sense of what the organization meant and a sense of belonging to something that had a higher purpose." That group of men became a family to Joe and he created deep friendships that would hold a special place in his heart long after college. "The longevity of those relationships is something special. I have known those guys for almost 47 years. Belonging to a men's organization at that (Continued on page 4)

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