I finally got around to reading Craig's post<http://craigmod.com/journal/kickstartup/>about the funding price points. It's fascinating on a lot of levels, I'd highly recommend taking it for a spin.
I noticed something interesting: the successful price points are almost exactly the same ones (with almost the exact same spread of success) that I've used in raising funds for some of Indy Hall's larger social events. Our first birthday party in 2008, for instance, was thrown with ~$9k in community-contributed funds in amounts of $25/$50/$100/$250/$500/$1000/$3000. The most popular amounts were $25 and $100, followed closely by $50. A couple of big checks put us over the top, but the "base" of our fund raise (and the majority of the buzz that led to more contributions) was in a larger number of smaller contributors. With large fund raises, it's tempting to hit up a few deep pockets. Barcamp did a good job of setting an example by discouraging organizers from letting a single company "buy" the event and use an upper limit on sponsorship of $250 or $500 per sponsor. Not only does this help mitigate risk in case one sponsor pulls out (and you're now stuck to find someone who will shell out $5k or more), but it also gives you a chance to engage with individuals and businesses that normally can't afford a sponsorship package. They tend to be smaller, more personal institutions that provide, but they also often have reasons for providing other than self-promotion, which is a great relationship to have with your sponsor. I've also repeatedly seen the trends that Craig illustrated in terms of the "waves" of contribution activity. Looking at the last couple of days of New Work City's fund raise (which is going very well by my estimation), they're on track to see a similar trend of the remainder of August. I've been raising funds for my projects and events this way for something like 7 years and it's fascinating to see how the model is coming to the forefront in the world of business and project financing through tools like Kickstarter. Kudos to Tony and team for putting together such a comprehensive plan for mobilization. -Alex /ah indyhall.org coworking in philadelphia On Mon, Jul 26, 2010 at 1:11 PM, Tony Bacigalupo <[email protected]>wrote: > Hey everyone, > > Today, I’m kicking off a grand experiment. Actually, it’s more of a hundred > grand experiment. > > As was touched on in an earlier thread, New York City’s not an easy place > to open a coworking space. To put together the money we’ll need, we’re > pulling out all the stops. > > That plan is wildly diverse, opening up every practical channel we can > conceive so long as it doesn’t detract from the integrity of the community > (my personal integrity, however, is in play, which I’ll discuss in a > moment). > > New Work City’s new space is being financed through the following methods: > > - Its own cash on hand (proceeds from assisting with the design, > planning and launch of the Hive at 55 and profit from membership payments > over the first 18 months) > - A big loan from Darrell Silver, one of our most loyal and successful > members (his awesome blog post about it: http://bit.ly/cU3eCe) > - Prepayments from existing members > - Friendly-term loans from friends & family > - Taking dares for money (seriously -- http://mydunktank.com/nwc) > - Sponsorship of new programming in the space > > Today, we’re adding a big piece to our arsenal -- Kickstarter. > > Kickstarter’s NYC-based and has developed a fantastic reputation for > helping fund some great world-improving projects in a way that helps > everyone to feel more like participants and less like anonymous donors. > > If developing a community and doing good things through coworking builds > social capital, this is an experiment in converting that social capital to > financial capital. > > I’m really excited to see how it all unfolds. > > As always, I’ll be sharing the experience along the way. When it’s all said > and done, when the space is open and the finances are stabilized and I’ve > caught up on sleep, I’ll share with you a recap of all my experiences about > what worked and what didn’t. > > Indeed, all of NWC 2.0 is intended to be a prototype that others can learn > from. Everything we do, including all our successes and failures, should be > of value to people starting and running similar spaces everywhere. > > *If you want to help us in that effort, the Kickstarter page is here: > http://bit.ly/nwckick* > > Help me spread the word-- the more support we get here, the more of a > statement we can make that what we are doing is something that people want > and need and believe in. > > Thanks to everyone who’s been such a help and inspiration on here. I look > forward to continuing to contribute to this group as much as possible along > the way, so we can all collectively make a difference together. > > Let me know your thoughts! > > Cheers, > Tony > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > New Work City - People who can work anywhere work here. > Web: http://nwc.co > Blog: http://nwc2.tumblr.com > Twitter: http://twitter.com/nwc > <http://twitter.com/nwc>Meetup: http://meetup.com/coworking-nyc > Address: 394 Broadway, Fifth Floor > Help NWC build its new home. Support us on Kickstarter! > http://bit.ly/nwckick > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Coworking" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<coworking%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/coworking?hl=en.
