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Make Some Dreams Come True

April 18th, 2011 | 3 Comments »

We all know that Internet is such a wonderful tool to fold the distance between people all around the world. Many good causes have been benefited from it. Now… I’m sure at least some of you have heard about KickStarter.com.Those who haven’t might wonder what it is all about. Well, in a nutshell, it is a crowd-funding website for creative projects. We all know there are a lot of creative people with amazing, imaginative ideas out there. A lot of them are committed to realize their dreams and would work really hard for it. Unfortunately, funding doesn’t come easily for most of them. Now, this is where KickStarter.com makes a difference.

From Wikipedia:

Kickstarter is an online threshold pledge system for funding creative projects. Kickstarter has funded a diverse array of endeavors, ranging from indie film and music to journalism and food-related projects.

One of a new set of fundraising platforms dubbed “crowdfunding”,Kickstarter facilitates gathering monetary resources from the general public, a model which circumvents many traditional avenues of investment. Project owners choose a deadline and a target minimum of funds to raise. If the chosen target is not gathered by the deadline, no funds are collected (this is known as a provision point mechanism). Money pledged by donors is collected using Amazon Payments, and initiating projects requires a U.S. bank account.

Kickstarter takes 5% of the funds raised; Amazon takes an additional percentage (around two). Unlike many forums for fundraising or investment, Kickstarter claims no ownership over the projects and the work they produce. However, projects launched on the site are permanently archived and accessible to the public. After funding is completed, projects and uploaded media cannot be edited or removed from the site.

What do you think? Isn’t it such a super brilliant idea? And it works too! There many excellent projects succeeded with the help of people who believed in their creators. Currently only those with US bank account can submit/start projects, but there is no country limitation to back a project! I believe most of us can afford to spend a few dollars here and there (most accept donation for as low as $1). There are unique rewards as a token of gratitude for the Backers too – depending on how much is pledged. Here are the projects I am currently backing up: