Kickstarter

http://www.technologyinthearts.org/2012/02/kickstarter-reaches-major-milestone/#more-4199

This article discusses a fundraising website that is used by thousands of arts organizations to raise money for arts projects of all kinds. The site just reached it's goal of 150 million in pledges. I find this website model cool because people can donate to a specific cause and it holds the individual accountable, because without enough pledges, a project will fail and won't receive funding. It gives people a chance to support their passion and see projects and organizations succeed

Some downsides that the article points out that I agree with are that if the federal government see all of these individual contributions, they might cut funding for the arts even further, without fully understanding the program. The article explains that unfortunately, at little over half of the projects posted fail, as they do not reach their goal. So while a  project might get a lot of contributors, if it does not raise enough money, no money is exchanged. Therefor, if the government cuts funding based on projected donations, a lot of programs could fall apart because their project fails. Another potential issue is that certain niche projects will not collect enough supports and will fail early on. Without government funding, there is no jumping off point for smaller organizations and projects to get support.

Overall, I see this site as a great innovation in how we collect donations for arts organizations and projects, and am eager to see how it does in future years.

Betsy O'Keeffe