Lately I’ve been receiving a lot of requests from friends to fund their Kickstarter projects. Leery as I always am when it comes to anyone asking me for donations online, I have mainly ignored them. But last week a person I admire was jubilant when their Kickstarter campaign got fully funded and she was able to complete work on an important eco-project.
Curious as to what Kickstarter was and who is using it to do what with, I began to ask around and here is what I found and why I’m convinced this is an amazing way to raise funds for all sorts of endeavors.
- Art
- Comics
- Dance
- Design
- Fashion
- Film & Video
- Food
- Games
- Music
- Photography
- Publishing
- Technology
- Theater
So how does it work? Anyone can submit a creative project they have developed and write a compelling plea for others to fund them to complete their project. Once the project is made public, anyone can choose to fund a project and when the entire project has met its financial goal, all of the pledges are collected. So it’s an all-or-nothing funding project, meaning the project has to meet its goal before anyone’s pledge is collected.
“Since our launch on April 28, 2009, over $500 million has been pledged by more than 3 million people, funding more than 35,000 creative projects.“ ~ Kickstarter
What type of projects are on there? Anything creative; you name it, there is most likely a project waiting to be funded. “Everything on Kickstarter must be a project. A project has a clear goal, like making an album, a book, or a work of art. A project will eventually be completed, and something will be produced by it. Kickstarter does not allow charity, cause, or ‘fund my life’ projects.” ~Kickstarter
When I did a search for “eco” projects, I found 220 that are in need of funding or have already been funded: Check them out! There are some cool ideas that need funding and it’s a great “armchair” activist way to get involved.
Here is one of my favorite: Markup Paperless Grading for Teachers.
The 71 million tons of paper used in the U.S. annually comes with a high environmental price. About 63% of all paper today is virgin, meaning it was obtained from trees. Once these trees are cut, they’re sent to mills where manufacturing processes release poisons like dioxins into our air and water. The result is less forests and more pollution.
If America cut its virgin office paper use just 10%, we’d preserve 22.8 million trees, reduce greenhouse gas emissions by an amount equal to taking 481,000 cars off the road, and keep over 60,000 truckloads of solid waste out of landfills and incinerators! That makes every sheet we save one upon which a brighter future can be written.
via- Green is Universal’s One Small Act
Here is a video of the Kickstarter Project:
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