Franklin Templeton Launches Spryng – A Crowdfund

SAN MATEO, Calif., March 07, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Franklin Templeton Investments today announced the launch of its new crowdfunding tool, designed exclusively for NJBEST and Franklin Templeton 529 College Savings Plan account holders. Spryng ^TM (pronounced “spring”) was developed in house to harness the power of crowdfunding and social media, by creating a secure and convenient method to engage family and friends in saving for future higher education expenses.

“When saving for college, it’s important to start early, invest regularly and ask family and friends for help,” said Roger Michaud, director of college savings for Franklin Templeton Investments. “Spryng helps put those tenets to work by creating a seamless and secure environment where family and friends can contribute to a child’s or family member’s college education.”

Create, Publish and Share Spryng is designed to offer “best in class” functionality that makes it easy for parents or other 529 account owners to set up and use.

The account owner can create a Spryng profile in a matter of minutes, which can be customized with a picture, personal message and information on savings goals. Once the profile is established, Spryng generates a secure URL that can be emailed or shared with potential gift givers via various social media platforms.

When gift givers access the gifting profile, they can choose an amount to contribute (a minimum of $10 and a maximum  of $2,500), enter their payment method and send a personal message to the account owner.  Payments are validated in real time, and Spryng emails a transaction confirmation to the gift giver with a thank you message from the account owner.

"Developing and introducing Spryng is part of our ongoing commitment to equip our 529 clients with investments and tools that can help them reach their college savings goals," added Michaud. “As education costs continue to increase, we believe Spryng is the right tool at the right time to harness the power of crowdfunding to help finance promising futures.”

About NJBEST and Franklin Templeton 529 College Savings Plan NJBEST is a 529 college savings plan available to New Jersey residents, and Franklin Templeton 529 College Savings Plan, is available to investors nationwide. Offered by the New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (HESAA) with Franklin Templeton Distributors, Inc. serving as the 529 program manager, the plans together have over $4.8 billion in assets under management.

For more information on the Franklin Templeton 529 College Savings Plan, please visit franklintempleton.com or connect on Twitter at @NJBEST529 . New Jersey residents interested in the NJBEST 529 College Savings Plan may visit NJBEST.com .

Investors should carefully consider 529 Plan and/or mutual fund investment goals, risks, charges and expenses before investing. To obtain the Investor Handbook or mutual fund prospectuses, which contain this and other information, talk to your financial advisor or call Franklin Templeton Distributors, Inc., the manager and underwriter for the Plan at (866) 362-1597. You should read the Investor Handbook and/or mutual fund prospectuses carefully before investing and consider whether your, or the beneficiary’s, home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in its qualified tuition program.

About Franklin Templeton Investments Franklin Templeton Distributors, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of Franklin Resources, Inc. [NYSE:BEN], a global investment management organization operating as Franklin Templeton Investments. Franklin Templeton Investments provides global and domestic investment management to retail, institutional and sovereign wealth clients in over 170 countries. Through specialized teams, the company has expertise across all asset classes—including equity, fixed income, alternative and custom solutions. The company’s more than 650 investment professionals are supported by its integrated, worldwide team of risk management professionals and global trading desk network. With offices in over 30 countries, the California-based company has 70 years of investment experience and over $728 billion in assets under management as of January 31, 2017. For more information, please visit franklintempleton.com.

Copyright © 2017. Franklin Templeton Investments. All rights reserved.

Franklin Resources, Inc. Media Relations: Becky Radosevich, (212) 632-3207, rebecca.radosevich@franklintempleton.com franklintempleton.com