Kickstarter connects creativity and cash
January 28, 2026 9:13 AM
Creative minds everywhere have always yearned to make their innovative dreams a reality. However, there has always been one immutable obstacle getting in the way: money.
But now, with the explosion of a digital phenomenon known as “crowdfunding” it has never been easier to begin producing your own works.
“Crowdfunding” is an approach to raising the capital necessary for a project by appealing to a large group of people and receiving contributions from them.
Unlike investing, donors don’t actually receive any money from their donation but usually get some sort of thank-you or credit. Recently, this approach has been seen on Kickstarter.com.
Kickstarter.com is a website designed to provide the necessary funding for would-be filmmakers, musicians, adventurers, athletes, and artists to make their creative ideas and ambitions a reality.
Say for example that you want to write a novel and decide that you’ll need $5000 in order to make it happen. You post a video on the website explaining what you need and why; give a deadline between one week and three months, and then wait for the donations to trickle in.
If by the end of your timeline you haven’t raised the requested $5000, then you don’t get any of the money because it would be unfair to donors and to your thus-underfunded project. Because Kickstarter.com wants projects to get funded (so that they can collect their 5% fee), they make sure that project creators offer tangible incentives to donors based on a reward system.
The reward system is perhaps the most ingenious part of Kickstarter.com. Project creators (i.e. those looking for funding) decide on rewards based on how much a donor contributes.
For example, the proposed sketch comedy television show Celery TV offers those who pledge $30 or more a handwritten postcard with a thank-you note, $100 gets you a producer credit in one of the episodes and a signed DVD copy of the first season, and with $1,500 they’ll write and direct a short video or ad on a topic of your choice, include a signed script of the series, and give you a producer’s credit on the entire season.
Essentially, the reward system is like shopping for the donors, and best of all, nobody else will have the same stuff as you.
Instead of spending Christmas money at the mall, imagine spending $100 and being immortalized as a character in a graphic novel, getting a private reading by an author, or even getting to ride in a prototype electric car. And best of all, you aren’t being selfish, you’re actually being charitable.
There have been several success stories on Kickstarter.com. Recently backed projects include a documentary on William S. Burroughs, which raised $3,500, several records that raised between $2,000-$5,000, and a 360-page book that has all the artwork from the Obama campaign, which raised a staggering $84,000!
Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, only project creators who have a U.S. address and bank account can receive funding, although Kickstarter.com is currently in the process of expanding their reach.
For the time being, Canadians will have to content themselves by donating to the creative projects they believe in, and ultimately end up with some cool swag and perks.