Erik Gingles describes himself as a “socialist entrepreneur’’ and believes his eponymous SaaS product will make money while helping worthy causes.

Gingle (he dropped the ‘s’ so the name looks a bit like Google) is a mobile live streaming app developed for iOS, the Apple mobile operating system, and Gingles plans to license it to charities to help with their fundraising.

Presenting his business case at the Launch36 Demo Day last week, Gingles noted that “raising money is a bitch”, especially for charities because the fundraising field is too crowded, and they often pay too much to professional fundraisers. He noted several examples of charities being hurt when it was reported as little as 30 percent of the money they raised actually reached its intended purpose.

So he hopes that Gingle.tv will help charities to raise money at a lower cost than rival funding systems, and that charities will pay his company to use this technology. The charitable market was worth about $328 billion in 2011, and one problem charitable organizations face, is trying to draw money from Generations X and Y - those born after 1965.  “Generations Y and X want to give, but they want to know it will have an impact,” said Gingles.

His plan is to let charities use his live-streaming app for live broadcasts to people’s computers or devices for fundraising efforts. In particular, the app could be used by celebrities who patronize a specific charity, which would be effective because of the power of celebrity in reaching this demographic.

For example, the singer Justin Bieber has the power to reach 153 million people over social media, said Gingles. So if Bieber is being driven to the airport, he could use this time to be on Gingle.TV to reach out to fans, sing for them and ask them to make donations to the charity of his choice.  The screen features buttons fans can click, stating exactly how much money they want to donate.

Gingles, who is also the President of the Moncton marketing and advertising firm i communications, has run his vision by 16 charities, all of whom are having to do more with less and accept that the gentle world of fundraising has become more bare-knuckle. They like the concept, and they really like the fact that Gingle.TV will only cost 10 to 15 percent of the money raised, not the 30 percent charged by most fundraising organizations.

The March of Dimes, a charity for people with physical disabilities, is interested in a trial with Gingle at its Rock of Dimes in Halifax in October, and Gingles is hoping the two parties can sign an agreement in the next month or so.  Gingles is also in discussions with the Alzheimer’s Society of New Brunswick about a trial. Gingles is now beta-testing his product with a view to an official launch in November, and is seeking $365,000 in investment to help roll it out.