A former board member of Freedom Communications and his sister launched an online crowdfunding platform for Orange County individuals and nonprofit groups.
David Threshie and his sister Susan Barrett — both OC natives — created Orange-based SproutOC. The platform is for state-registered nonprofits and for individuals, such as teachers purchasing supplies for their classrooms, neighborhoods rallying around a family dealing with a life-threatening illness, or a small charitable cause just getting started.
SproutOC uses a similar business model to that of Kickstarter and GoFundMe. It charges a 3% processing fee and a 5% platform fee. It says all leftover profits go to support the SproutOC Project, a registered nonprofit initiative intended to bring awareness to other registered nonprofits with social media support and training, as well as obtaining editorial stories on their behalf.
Sprout OC also connects nonprofits with volunteers.
Threshie is a marketing and communications executive with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media. He served in various leadership roles at the prior Freedom Communications before founding SproutOC and served on Freedom’s board from 2004 to 2008. His father, R. David Threshie Jr. was chairman of the board from 1998 to 2003.
Barrett served on the boards of several Orange County nonprofits.
Sprout OC has been self-funded. David Threshie declined to disclose by how much.
