PULP, card & gift shop, Looking to Raise $15,000 for Store Improvements

14th and S St, NW

From an email:

We have just partnered up with Clovest, a crowdfunding company to assist us with our very first effort in crowdfunding campaign. Our goal is to raise $15,000 for store improvements and a brand spanking new website.

“Renew, Refresh, and Re-do”.

• Install new carpets on the stairs and on the mezzanine level
• Paint the entire store
• Finish and seal the concrete floors
• Install new fixtures and improve displays for products throughout the store
• Improve our storage systems
• Replace our front windows and renovate the front and rear entrances
• Improve our environment systems
• Update our web presence

For more information head over to our donation page.

Update from Clovest:

My name is Karan and I’m the Founder/CEO of Clovest, the platform on which PULP is raising the funds for their loan to improve their store and website. I just wanted to clarify how the campaign/process works and stress the following things:

1. This is a zero-interest LOAN, not a donation. All the funds you contribute are obligated to be repaid by the business (PULP) over the next three years in quarterly payments.

2. The existence of the funding campaign is NOT some sort of last resort financing for PULP. The truth is even for successful, healthy businesses, accessing financing in amounts UNDER $100K is near impossible from a bank, even those that have existing credit lines and relationships with banks — it is simply an amount too small to merit the underwriting required. That is exactly WHY we created our platform, to help businesses avoid having to use high interest credit cards for small scale financing.

3. PULP requesting your help in funding their loan stems from their desire to involve the community in the improvement of their business. We often all shop locally (as many of you have pointed out the merits of), our platform simply takes that a step further and has the community participate in the growth of a business by lending it money.

There is more detail on the project page and our website about how it works– PULP will be posting updates on the particulars of the renovation and website improvement in the coming weeks, so I’d urge you to follow the campaign if you’d like to learn more.

I’m also happy to answer any further questions that anyone may have (email me at karan AT clovest DOT com). We’re a new DC based company and its always good to hear from our local community about how we can continue to make our service better for everyone involved.

Thanks,

Karan