I received this notice from a project today (thoroughly paraphrased to protect the innocent):

You might have seen some unusual things on our account recently. We’d like to clarify what happened. Earlier this week we received a $3,200 contribution that brought us past our $10,000 goal. We still had a week to go, so announced a new $15,000 goal to take this project even further. Less than a day after, that donor pulled back their contribution (the Kickstarter people we spoke with said this person has dropped in on projects and pulled out of them before). It left us a few thousand short of our original goal.

Fortunately, this project had no trouble rebounding. But I could see this becoming a tactic of disruption when more politically charged projects are building momentum.

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Witness, Third Wave Foundation, CodePink, Teachers for Justice, Make the Road, Common Ground, NYU, PODER, the Street Vendors Project, Fresh, Benetech, The Nation, Streets Films, and Human Rights First were just a few of the organizations and campaigns creating this stellar event at the Brooklyn Creative League.

Arwen Lowbridge had a few words about her experience at the event:

I found myself at a wonderful event last night amidst social and political activists working in the fields of human rights, education reform, climate change – just about any cause you could name. It was held at my office-away-from-home, Brooklyn Creative League, and presented by theCoup and Witness.

After a screening of the film, we broke up into groups based on topic of interest (stories, visual representation, mobile & tech, community & networks) and briefly discussed the film in relation to our topic, our work and our experiences. I was in the community and networking group and was somewhat relieved to learn that every cause seems to be having trouble turning virtual networks into physical action. How to get people (besides the Mad Tea Partiers) off their butts and out of their seats and into the world to do something in real-time seems to be the $64,000 question.

10 tactics is a great resource for those of us looking to connect with people in meaningful, authentic ways and Tactical Technology Collective provides free tool kits and informational resources as part of the project. It was fascinating to reflect on how these tactics have been used (or misused) in advocacy/awareness campaigns in the arts. More on that in another post…

Congratulations and thank you to everyone who made this an inspiring, informative and engaging event.

Photos by Kavita Kulkarni

Think about it.

Art by Marc Johns.

Not sure what to ask them? Ask us!

“JustCoz.org is an online relay system that lets you donate a tweet a day to help raise awareness for causes that matter to you.”

It’s a small ask and a simple task for volunteers, and a pretty great chance for organizations to spread their network.

I became obsessed and couldn’t figure out why. A friend had invited me to support her art project. It was great! By the end of the week, however, I had donated to a few other project by people I didn’t even know. I would have unloaded my checking account without an intervention.

I was confused. I started talking with everyone about Kickstarter. Why did I become so obsessed?

Kickstarter is a fundraising platform. You or anyone, even organizations, can use Kickstarter to raise money for a project. It gives you little features to share your project on facebook, and lets you receive donations by credit card.

I was eager to make more donations. They were small donations, but if I didn’t cut myself off, it could have become a very expensive habit.

Two Questions

I had 2 questions:

• Why am I eager to talk about Kickstarter?
• Why does it make me such an easy donor?

I found an answer. Before I share it, you have to understand a little context: I’m a talented finder of new web tools and gadgets. I’m not a huge twitter fan, but my username @mw is just two letters long, created long before many people had signed up. I’ve upgraded to Firefox 3.6, but started using it on version zero-point-four. This doesn’t make me special, but it does give me some perspective on what makes web tools click.

Kickstarter is 5 or so years late in the game. There have been countless wonderful platforms that do similar things, including kiva, prosper.com, pledgebank, chipin, fundable, firstgiving, and dropcash. They have different features and tools, but are all variations on a similar peer-to-peer fundraising theme. I tried each of these platforms, and most are great tools, but none of them became an obsession. None of them became a risk to my personal financial future.

Update: Indiegogo is a similar service. They do not require an application, and are open to cause related projects, tax exempt fundraising, and entrepreneurs. www.indiegogo.com

The FAQ and frequent answer to life’s mysteries

To answer my questions, I turned to the FAQ on Kickstarter. I thought, maybe other people wondered Why am I so eager to talk about Kickstarter? Or Why am I compelled to donate to these project? And well, much to my surprise, I found my answer.

At the top, the 3rd FAQ under “basics” says:

• Why do people support projects?

And the answer in one word:

• STORIES! Kickstarter projects are efforts by real people to do something they love, something fun, or at least something of note. These stories unfold through blog posts, pics, and videos as people bring their ideas to life. Take a peek around the site and see what we’re talking about. Stories abound.

Kickstart is not an innovation in technology. It’s a platform built around stories. All of us who have taken a fundraising 101 course knows the importance of good stories. But we forget this, especially when we get excited about new tech and new tools.

Kickstarter succeeds, because (pay attention to this part) by design, it requires people who might know nothing about fundraising to build their campaign around a story, a growing narrative that engages donors and then invites them to become part of the story.

In particular, Kickstarter:

• has people lead their campaign with a video, a narrative about the project
• builds suspense, like other tools, by counting down to a deadline and counting up to a goal
• prominently features a space for blog updates about a project’s progress, sent to donors by email, giving meaning to that timer and goal
• not only reveals donors with names and picutres, but it gives them a chance to add their voice … to add their story to what becomes a dynamic narrative of fundraising success.

Now that I understand Kickstarter and its influence on me, I’m ready again. Send me your projects and ask me to donate. Tell me stories I will never forget.

h3. March 16th – 7pm

Join us March 16th, 2010 at 7pm for the film 10 Tactics for Turning Information into Action.

The film explores stories from 25 rights advocates around the world who have successfully used information and digital technologies to create positive change. We will break into small group discussion with other activists after this 60 minute film.

theCoup will screen the film in partnership with Witness at the fantastic Brooklyn Creative League. The film is by the Tactical Technology Collective.

h3. Tickets

Space is limited and tickets are just $2 through the end of February.

bq. Sold Out?? We will try to make room for you. Add your name to the waiting list.

h3. Directions

Directions: brooklyncreativeleague.com/location

h3. Tweet

Follow @mw on twitter for ongoing updates.

h3. Bonus!

Email info about your campaign for a chance to win a free copy of the dvd and tactic cards. Tell us about your success or struggles with digital activism. Share your future plans or past experience. Email your info.

Spread the word!