Campaign Notes

I just completed an IndieGoGo campaign, raising funds for my small business. I want to let people know how it went and thank the wonderful folks who donated to it. 

It was great fun putting together a video but a little more difficult writing out an explanation of my objective. First, I struggled with whether to tell people that I’m unemployed and having problems getting enough funds together to cover the basic costs. In the end, I didn’t reveal that fact.

Secondly, besides my dream to be able to support myself on writing and creating things for the Etsy shop I just started, I have a true desire to support and inspire people who are struggling with their dreams. Additionally, I think it’s terribly important to safeguard and encourage the aspirations of children. Anything adults can do to help them believe in themselves is sacrosanct, in my opinion. But communicating that belief in a compelling way isn’t easy. I could almost hear readers saying, “Yeah, yeah, another treehugger wanting to keep the kids dreaming. What’s new?”

But I did the best I could and launched the campaign. The first day, I was blown away by very generous donations from Rob Guthrie and Cinta Garcia, fellow writers.  Over the fifteen days of the campaign, other writers followed: Emma Calin, Elise Stokes, Cathy Carson and Ronald Dahle.  Then came donations from Twitter friends, Melissa Tackett and Frankie Engelbert. Two very close personal friends, Valentine and Sandy, helped me out in a big way.  These wonderful people all contributed within the bounds of the campaign.  Thank you is not enough, but still thanks to you all with all my heart.

Outside of the campaign, a follower of my Twitter entity Red Mojo Mama, @Uberbookworm sent me a Amazon gift card to begin with and followed that up with an offer to pay for 6 dolls to be made and given to Sacramento Children’s Home. This was the crème de la crème of the whole experience. Besides the great financial help it was, it truly made my closely-held dream come true. I want my Etsy shop and the blog that goes with it to benefit others. Here I’ve been given the opportunity to make something that will hopefully will give a little happiness to six children.  I cannot express my gratitude adequately for this particular gift. In fact, I have trouble holding the emotions back as I write about this. 

I started with a goal of $950, which would encompass beginning a trademark process and chose the flexible funding option (which allows you to receive whatever’s raised, with the percentage being larger if you do meet your goal).  In the end, I received $415 through the campaign and $100 outside it, plus a large commission for the dolls. I was able to buy a printer, order labels, buy materials for the products, shipping supplies, organizational tools, packaging. The commission has allowed me to order a camera as well, which I really, really need.

So, at the end of the day, I would recommend giving IndieGoGo a try if you have no other means of raising desperately needed funds.  It’s been a fabulous experience for me.