Chris Waddell wants to climb Kilimanjaro in a wheelchair; George Del Barrio wants to make a film in Cambodia; Jeff Edwards wants to write a book about a sci-fi writer: They want you to fund their dreams.
Web site Kickstarter.com is making it possible for people like this to raise sums ranging from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars to fund anything that captures the imagination of Internet users with a little money to spare.
It worked for Emily Richmond, a 24-year-old living in Los Angeles who plans to sail solo around the world for two years.
She raised US$8,142 from 148 people who will receive rewards such as photos from the trip, an origami sailboat or a telephone call when she crosses the equator.
Landon Ray, who runs a marketing software firm called SendPepper.com, gave US$500 after showing his five-year-old daughter Richmond’s video promising to keep donors updated by blog and send rewards such as a coconut mailed from a far-flung port.
“I thought this was a perfect learning experience for my daughter,” Ray said, adding that he also dreamed of sailing the world himself, so it was partly about living vicariously.
Many of the projects are by filmmakers, musicians, artists and writers. Project creators set a time limit and a target. If they don’t reach it, they get nothing.
Jason Bitner’s pitch for US$7,500 to pay for post-production of a documentary about the small Midwestern town of La Porte, Indiana, was so popular it raised US$12,153.
The film is about an archive of portraits by a photographer who died in 1971. Bitner came across boxes of the pictures in the back room of a diner and has published a book. The film features interviews with the subjects 40 or 50 years later.
About a third of his 149 backers were friends and family. Others include residents of La Porte but also people from as far afield as Denmark and Australia.
Jonathan Scott Chinn, who is seeking US$16,500 to make a short comedy-horror film called Always a Bridesmaid said the site was an efficient “creative marketplace.”
“You’re given the opportunity to make your pitch and if it’s really interesting, it will take off,” he said.
Kickstarter cofounder Perry Chen said about US$500,000 had been donated in the four months since it was launched, with more than 60 percent of projects achieving their goal.
Until now the site has charged no fee, but from the middle of this month it will charge 5 percent of funds donated to successful projects.
Chen said so far there had been no scams that he knows of, though plenty of projects simply don’t take off.
“The model works really well to prevent any type of misbehavior because the people who fund these projects; there’s always a core group of the person’s social network,” he said. “Those are bridges people will work very hard not to burn.”
When Shanghai-based designer Guo Qingshan posted a vacation photo on Valentine’s Day and captioned it “Puppy Mountain,” it became a sensation in China and even created a tourist destination. Guo had gone on a hike while visiting his hometown of Yichang in central China’s Hubei Province late last month. When reviewing the photographs, he saw something he had not noticed before: A mountain shaped like a dog’s head rested on the ground next to the Yangtze River, its snout perched at the water’s edge. “It was so magical and cute. I was so excited and happy when I discovered it,” Guo said.
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