Kickstarter Fundraising & Funding

I just want to say something about Kickstarter, a website that allows individuals and groups to post projects they’re working on that need funding. I LOVE KICKSTARTER. I think it’s an amazing platform and I really want to talk about why I love it. I’ll be dispersing projects I’ve backed throughout the post too.

Here’s the deal:

1. You have a great idea or a new album you want to record or you’ve invented something to make your life easier and need the money to get it off the ground.
2. You make a video about your awesome idea. (Optional, but most do and it really helps me see you and your ideas!)
3. You post the idea and video to kickstarter.com and you give yourself a goal amount and a number of days to reach the goal.
4. You set rewards for people who back you. This is the incentive to fund for most people. From simple thank yous to movie production credits. It could be anything.
5. You let everyone you know in the world about the Kickstarter.

And that’s how it gets to me. You get your idea out there and through Twitter, Reddit, Facebook etc people like me find out about Your Awesome Thing. And then we agree to fund it if others do.

Kickstarter is an all or nothing fundraiser. So, if you set a goal of $3000 in 45 days, and your time runs out with only having raised $2995 you do not get any funding. You have to meet your goal in the timeline chosen to get anything.

From the funding side Kickstarter uses Amazon Payments. The funding process is like so:

1. Find a project that is awesome and deserves to see the light of day (sorry folk singers whose albums I always ignore!)
2. Look at what kind of money the project wants and what incentives they’re giving away.
3. Input an amount you’re willing to pledge and if you choose, what reward in that range you would like to receive.
4. You’ll be sent to Amazon after selecting to authorize the payment.

This is the part where I tell you that Bank of America shut down my account when a payment went through for Kickstarter once. I have no idea if other banks do it, and BoA hasn’t done it again, but it did happen once and I had to call and automated system to reactivate my account.

If you decide to back a project then you should get regular updates about the projects from its creators. All the projects I’ve back have included lots and lots of communication and transparency into how my money was going to help and after funding how it was being used.

As you can see from above I’ve backed 4 successful projects at this point, and I agreed to fund some more that never raised enough money to be finalized. Last year I used a Seattle Toursaver book that I got as my reward from the Global Citizen Project to get deals around town. I’ve got mathematician dice in my purse. Last night Jason and I played a hilarious game of Creatures before bed. And here’s a picture of Flux I took with my Pinwide pinhole cap:

People are out there making enjoyable, neat things at a ridiculously fast rate. I love that I get to help out in some way, and I enjoy all the rewards I’ve chosen. With the Anthony Ryan Auld project I’m trying something new. I’m backing for a single dollar. Lots of projects only slightly interest me, but most of them have a $1 to $3 dollar level with no physical reward. If it was interesting enough to get me to look and read through everything, then I feel they deserve that little bit. Every dollar helps toward a goal.

Now, go find something interesting on Kickstarter and give them a dollar (or more).