Fundraising is a battlefield.
I remember. My dad used to run a youth center - we didn't get money from schools or churches and any grants we managed to land were the result of my dad slaving away until the wee hours of the morning - typing, cursing, envelope stuffing...So we wentdoor to door, we had art sales, we started a community theater troupe and gigged at conventions and festivals...
We worked hard to keep that place open. Me, my family, and the kids who loved having a place to paint and listen to Nirvana after school.
Now, that place folded about 13 years back, but the memories are still fresh in my head, and I wonder if it would still be open if we'd had Kickstarter back then...I'm going to give you three solid reasons to start with Kickstarter, before slaving away over a mailing, canvassing a neighborhood or writing a single grant...
Kickstarter Advantage #1: Urgency.A Kickstarter project only gets funded if you raise the amount you need in the time you specify, so if you want to raise $5,000 on Kickstarter, your funders will know that they can't delay - they have to act immediately or risk costing you your funds... which leads me to the next awesome thing about Kickstarter:
Kickstarter Advantage #2: Community.The "Kickstarter Community" is a mongrel audience, but I mean that in the best way. Kickstarter relies on you to bring in donors - and once a donor is in the door, it's a slippery (and very fun) slope... Many Kickstarter funders are serial givers, they fund many projects that they take an interest in.
That means, not only will you have a way to raise money from your social circles, but you'll also be in front of their community of people who genuinely LOVE funding cool projects.Kickstarter Advantage #3: Name Recognition.
It may not be a "Facebook or Twitter" yet, but more and more, people know the name. The more buzzworthy projects they help fund, the more buzz comes back to them, so it's a great opportunity to raise funds using a trusted platform that's already got some street cred.Kickstarter is a fantastic site, brimming with possibilities - but beware - not all crowdfunding projects are created equal, and many go un-funded.
Hit the link below, and grab the free audio on the next page, it's a quick little interview that reveals some surprising facts you might not know about Kickstarter and successful crowdfunding...