Kickstarter is a great concept. But after failing twice to reach my funding threshold my advice is don't let anyone ever tell you it's easy to raise money through that portal. I've been chasing money for my films for nearly 20 years. I've sat in numerous conferences, conference rooms, across from CEO's of major companies and fools who wished they were…but as I sat there and listened, I guess that speaks toward my being a beggar who can't yet choose.
Kickstarter works like this:
You have an idea.
You post it using their website, which is very clean, easy to use and professional looking.
They consider your project, often kicking notes back to you about adjustments you must make to meet their guidelines before you can "go live".
If they approve you (and it's not a slam dunk), you're off and running…on your own.
There's a lot of social media hype and buzz about various projects that get funded via kickstarter. They're not lying - loads of interesting and worthy projects do. But, in my experience, it's not nearly the democratizing fund-raising zeitgeist it gets hyped as. Loads of projects not on kickstarter or any other social media based fundraiser get funded, too, you just don't hear about them as kickstarter, the brand, is what's driving the story, not what's being funded. Yes, you have an easy to click portal where people can follow you, particularly linking in via social media - and I don't for one second doubt the potential (vs. guarantee) of social media. You also have the potential to have people recognize you for being part of the kickstarter community as there is a real brand name with real value there. But the bottom line is, back to marketing 101, you still have to drive the traffic. And know this: the longer kickstarter is around, the less fresh and interesting it is and the less likely, I'm guessing, people are to donate due to novelty of the brand and its concept.
Some people are put off by the restrictions kickstarter has around its projects. You can't have any affiliation with a charity or non-profit, for example. They also take a hefty 5% of all moneys you raise, if you reach your threshold and Amazon (the banking end of Kickstarter) tacks on another 3-5%. That's a fair chunk of change. All of this is not to say I dislike Kickstarter, but I don't simply believe the hype around it anymore. You want to raise money? You go to the people you know, shake hands with the people you don't and cold call, cold call, cold call.
So for my money, time and effort, I'm going a new/old route: I'm putting up a PayPal button on my site. I will track the amount raised for our project. PayPal caps you at $10,000 for donations, which is exactly how much we were trying to raise via kickstarter anyway (even if we only would have received
$9.000 - $9,200 had we reached our $10,000 goal (yes, had we gone over $10,000 kickstarter would have "allowed" us to keep raising money, too, bless their hearts…and they and Amazon would have kept taking their cut…do to their hearts what you will)). PayPal takes 2.9% +.30 per transaction -- less than kickstarter/Amazon assuming the donations are more than $1.
If you'd be so kind, the button is up and accepting donations by clicking here now. As always, thank you.
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