Ballet Funding Projects

[Helene]

[Admin note: this is an edited version of a post in the Ballet Videos forum]

Thanks to a suggestion by Amy Reusch, instead of having a single thread for Kickstarter projects, to have a sub-forum for ballet fundraising projects. Since these projects can span video, choreography, compositions, live music, research, publications, etc., this sub-forum is under "Everything Else Ballet."

Instead of having one long thread for updates, each project can have its own thread.

All other dance projects, which includes non-ballet projects by ballet dancers and non-ballet projects that hire ballet dancers, should be added to this thread in the Modern and Other Dance forum:

http://balletalert.i...nding-projects/

Both this forum and the Modern and Other Dance thread can contain Kickstarter and other independent backer funding programs, such as IndieGoGo, which, unlike Kickstarter, has an option so that funding is not contingent on meeting a pre-defined goal.

[From the original post]

The way Kickstarter works is:

• Creative person sets up project, including spiel, target amount, deadline (1-60 days), and "rewards", i.e., premiums, which are required, even if they are project credits.
  
• CP submits project to Kickstarter for review to be sure it meets the project guidelines.
  
• Kickstarter notifies CP of decision, and if accepted, the project is launched, the person can get try to get everyone to FB and tweet about it, and people can start to donate.
  

The donation process:

• Donors can give $1 to a lot.
  
• There's always a running total: if people want to give more than what was asked, they can.
  
• All pledges and payment processing is done through amazon.com (payments).
  
• If the project has reached its goal by the target date, all credit cards are charged. If it hasn't, then there's no financial transaction, and the project is closed, but remains on the site.
  

.

[New info]

From the Indiegogoo website:

• Project owner chooses whether to base funding on meeting the goal.
  
• All backers are charged up front, and if the project owner chooses "must meet goal," backers are refunded.
  

[More new info-11 Jun 13]

• Organizations that are verified by Indiegogo as holding (501) © (3) status receive a discount on fees. This is noted on the project page.
  

The upsides to Kickstarter for backers are that the pledge can be canceled up to the point of being charged, and if the project owner chooses the "Meet goal or no $0 option", there are no credits in different billing periods than the charge, and the backer isn't lending money to IndieGoGo until the project deadline (and paying interest, if there's a credit card balance). The downsides to Kickstarter for project owners are no option to pay more to keep money that is less than the target amount, the backers can cancel up until the last moment, and that the charge might not go through on the deadline charge date (over credit card limit, lost, stolen, expired card, etc.)

The upsides to IndieGoGo are that the backer can choose to pay an extra 5% on money raised, if the goal isn't met.

Kickstarter's philosophy is that the project owner should know what it will take to finish the project and budget/set the goal accordingly, that the backers should know the scope of what they are backing up front, and that the project will not succeed as stated if it is under-funded. IndieGoGo's approach allows the project owner more flexibility in reducing scope based on the funding received.

I've seen several projects that have been funded on Kickstarter and then continued on IndieGoGo.

Edited June 11, 2013 by Helene
New Forum/Changed format (17 Jul 13); 501-c-3 Info added (11 Jun 13)