Kickstarter is really becoming a part of my life as I have helped fund at least four projects there now. They offer such a wide variety of opportunities to help folks with interesting ideas that just need a little financial support. It is limited to projects and not for fundraising for causes or “fund my life” kinds of things. The idea of micro-funding is so great. A little from a lot of folks can go a long way.
So far, I have helped:
- a movie director create a film in Brainerd, Minnesota
- a new social networking platform
- a bakery/blogging business in South Carolina
- a digital storytelling class
The most interesting aspect, IMO, is that I have some form of connection to almost every person that I have funded. For the movie, I knew someone from Brainerd through a conference and he told me about the project. So, a friend of a friend connection. The social networking platform came into my knowledge based on a tweet from someone I respect who had funded it. That influenced my decision. The blogging bakery is being developed is by a WordPress developer who I follow on Twitter and the storytelling class is also a Twitter connection but I have also met him in person at a conference. I think without that Twitter or other connection, I would not be inclined to make a donation to the Kickstarter appeal. So crowdsourcing is an amazing thing but I do see that the crowd has to be connected and willing to share that connection in order to motivate folks to share as well. It actually is more crucial than I first realized.
Now, I need to come up with an idea to put up there for funding!