Kickstarter

“Kickstarter is the largest funding platform for creative projects in the world,” is how the website announces itself. “Every month, tens of thousands of amazing people pledge millions of dollars to projects from the worlds of music, film, art, technology, design, food, publishing and other creative fields.” Money is pledged by visitors to the site for projects ranging from books to films to flip-flops to lockpicks “designed by a competitive lockpicker,” as one fundseeker put it. Each of the many projects seeking funding on Kickstarter has a stated funding goal that, if reached in the allotted time period, allows potential donors’ credit cards to be charged for the amount pledged. If a project doesn’t reach its funding goal, no money changes hands. Typically, donors receive some sort of “prize” for their support—perhaps a T-shirt, a band’s CD or a mention in the credits of a film. Some projects are looking for big money, some much less, and many are successful. In tough financial times, when public funding for the arts and other endeavors not directly linked to survival is increasingly hard to come by, an entity like Kickstarter is a proverbial godsend for artists and inventors alike.