Fund your dream

Raising funds to kickstart your dreams has risen to a new level with crowdfunding; entrepeneurs, artists and activists utilize crowdfunding platforms such as Kickstarter to help raise funds to launch and hopefully, turn their hope from a dream to a reality. 

Crowdfunding has become a widely accepted way to raise funds by seeking support from local community involvement, although this is not a requisite as investors can be from anywhere on the web. Canada held its first Crowdfunding Summit in Toronto the week of March 3, 2015, that brought like minded people together to cover all aspects of crowdfunding.

In the province of Alberta, crowdfunding is popular and is currently being used to raise funds for many endeavours.  Three I have focused on are the following:

Chartier

A couple, Sylvia and Darren Cheverie, who want to bring an authentic French Canadian restaurant to the Alberta Canadian town of Beaumont, Alberta have turned to Kickstarter to help them make their cream possible. The owners hope they can get people to band together to create something bigger.  The town of Beaumont has a history of neighbours helping each other and this is promoted in the spirit of their campaign.  In their promo video they state they feel this is fundamental to Kickstarter. 

Sylvia and Darren currently have  140 backers, having raised $40,941 towards their goal of $95,000, with 39 days to go in their campaign.

I think the presentation of their project is well thought out and presented with a great video that introduces them to their potential backers.  The have researched the history of the town and brought in many players, like the chef and baker, to supplement and support their project.  They've done a great job.

Drawings for a dollar! by Jessie Somers sought to find supporters who would allow her to exercise her creative talents and encourage her to draw.  Jessie offered supporters a fantasy drawings from her, which she would mail to the supporter, for $1. Jessie quickly met her fundraising goals and as she states in her notes, made some typical first time errors such as not calculating shipping costs.

She currently has 127 backers, having raised $1,616 towards her $500 goal. She still has 28 days to go in her campaign.

Jessie was very successful in her first attempt at Kickstarter and aside for doing some research into additional costs, has succeeded in her first attempt at Kickstarter. This was a smart project because she is entirely within control of the project and needs little resources to meet the requirements established between she and her supporters.

The third project is Tiny Houses by Heather Giles and Brad Penney. The two are attempting to raise money to support their plan to build tiny houses for people who cannot afford typical mortgages. An added bonus is these homes are mobile and can be towed on a trailer, allowing you to transport your 160 square foot home with you.  The car/truck does not come with the house!

They currently have one backer, who has pledged $150 of their  $25,000 goal, with 12 days to go.

What Heather and Brad could have done to garner more support was perhaps show the process of building one of these houses, to show they can build them. A video of the process, with a few drawings of the interior would have been very helpful. Is the house in the picture a house they made themselves? More information about timelines and plans for the houses would definitely have helped. Also, give people an indication of how easy are they to transport, offer to come see one built and provide more details overall, would encourage people to invest or at least consider their project.

Obviously, some projects are more appealing to the public than others, but Kickstarter clearly has potential. It's really up to the project and their developers to develop their pitch. Its left me wondering if I can use this method to fund my journey around the world on my sailboat.