While many donors are happy to give without expecting much in return, perks and frequent progress updates from fund seekers have been key ingredients in the increasing popularity in crowd funding.
Many sites, require campaigns to give back a perk — ranging from personally signed postcards and Twitter shout-outs to an invitation to production sites. Blog posts and Twitter updates from project creators also keep donors engaged and help generate more funds, Strickler says. "The projects that have a video succeed twice as often. Effort is just a big part of it."
Beneficiaries give back
Steve Taylor, a filmmaker in Nashville who turned to Kickstarter for his feature film Blue Like Jazz after original investors backed out, promised to call any donor who contributed at least $10. His project became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns ever, with many fans of the original book by Don Miller chipping in. Some $350,000 was collected, more than double the goal of $125,000. Taylor estimates he made about 3,500 phone calls. "It took about a year to finish all the calls," he says. "I loved making those phone calls. A lot of them wanted to tell me what the book meant to them. Many were mindful that I had a lot of calls to make, so they kept it short. But I never said I had to go."
Fundraisers also often pledge their products as a reward. Brydge, a start-up in San Francisco that is making an iPad keyboard with funds raised on Kickstarter, promises to ship a keyboard to donors who give $170. "You have a lot of people who contribute because it's a product they'd want to use," says Sam Gordon, a Brydge co-founder.
Vocabulary and Notes
perk n. benefit, something extra
generate v.
to cause to exist; produce
mindful adj.
giving attention to
start-up n
a new business, or the activities involved in starting a new business
mms://203.69.69.81/studio/20130322adace6ce233fe34034856fa0860a137770f.wma
No comments:
Post a Comment