On October 23, 2011, my dad, Robert Terrence Weathersby, passed away from a 5-year battle with cancer just a week shy of his 59th birthday. He was a professor of psychology at Eastern University, a small, Christian liberal arts school in St. Davids, Pennsylvania. Throughout my dad’s illness, students, faculty, and staff at Eastern were overwhelmingly supportive of him. Many times when my Dad needed extra help they were eager to lend a hand even with the smallest of tasks. When my dad’s voice was diminished to a whisper, the university purchased a microphone and speaker system so that he could keep doing what he loved: teaching. After his passing, my family and I wanted to do something to give back to the university that gave so much to him. When a friend suggested a memorial scholarship fund, we knew we had found our answer. We met with the university's development office and informed them that we would like to start a fund to give a yearly gift of $1,000 to a B.S. track psychology major who demonstrates exceptional scholastic achievement and dedication to the field. The development office told us that to endow the fund, we would need to raise $20,000. With $20,000, the university could guarantee us a 5% interest rate that would fund the $1,000 scholarships indefinitely. In this way, the fund would forever live on as part of my dad’s legacy at Eastern University.

As I state in video, the idea for the fund came about as a way to thank Eastern University for their unbelievable kindness during my dad's illness. The idea to launch the fund on RocketHub was inspired by a special my mom saw on NBC's Rock Center. She thought it would be a creative way to start raising awareness for the fund and, after watching the special, I thought so too, but with a certain degree of skepticism. I didn't know how willing people would be to donate to something that was designed to give money to someone else. Thankfully, I was dead wrong. A project in one of my entrepreneurship classes forced me to the take the leap on RocketHub, and I nerver looked back. This campaign has been more successful that my family and I could ever have imagined.

The response has been resoundingly favorable. So many people have approached me either in person or through some other way to express their support for my family's efforts. Eastern University, as always, has been incredibly accommodating. I owe them a lot of thanks.

I have two pieces of advice for those looking to crowdfund on RocketHub. First, don't be shy. I was pretty hesitant in asking for the full $20,000 that we needed to start this fund because I thought people would scoff at how far we had to go. That concern dissipated the second day when the fund earned over $3,000 in 24 hours.

The last piece of advice I have is to think hard about your reward structure. I went through about three drafts before I got it right. I didn't really understand what I should focus on. My first draft consisted of items from Eastern's bookstore. After talking through it with my mom, I realized that we could do a lot better. That's when the leaf idea came to mind and it just took off from there. I think people have really liked seeing their personal imprint on the fund.

- Geoff Weathersby, Senior at the University of Richmond

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The Urban Farm Manifesto is a 20-page comic-zine with essay elements that chronicles some of my surreal experiences during the last three years of growing in the wilds of western Cleveland; and then combines it with socio-cultural commentary on food sovereignty versus the corporate food system, the politics of local food, and other seemingly disparate topics like “the Small-Mart Revolution” and permits. It’s about the modern aesthetics of urban farming. I liken it to the Four Elements of Hip Hop.

Justin Husher is the man behind the Urban Farm Manifesto. His experience and supporters have already ensured crowdfunding success on RocketHub. His original take on food and nutrition is innovative and empowering.

The inspiration for the Urban Farm Manifesto came from an array of sources. First has been a lifetime goal of mine to write a book. When I first started urban farming a few years ago, I had been gardening and blogging about it for a year. When I transitioned into urban farming, I felt as I developed I would have ample tales to tell from the experience. I was right. Some are good, some are bad, but that's the story of life.

Second, I visited Portland for the first time in years over Thanksgiving and went to the indie bookstore Mecca, Powell's. They have an entire wall dedicated to small and urban ag. And it occurred to me that it seems like the perfect time for an Urban Farm Manifesto. So much so, that I thought if I don't do it now, then somebody else will do it soon enough.

Third and furthermore, after browsing much of that wall at Powell’s, I found a dire lack of Midwestern representation in the literature. It’s all coming out of California, Oregon, Austin, these places that never really get that cold, where radical movements are expected. But a farm in Cleveland?! That’s kind of outrageous. The Urban Farm Manifesto is about aesthetics and is devoid of place, but it proudly comes from the Midwest.

Crowdfunding?

My experience crowdfunding has been awesome! I just read Michael F. Shuman’s Small-Mart Revolution, which is a couple years older than crowdfunding. He doesn’t directly ever suggest anything as specific as crowdfunding.But let’s face it, crowdfunding decentralizes power and money from the old heirarchy, and then subsequently empowers individuals with it instead. That’s very “small mart.” I’m stoked to be part of a new breed of American entrepreneurs, who are bucking antiquated, played-out funding systems.

My supporters have been great, and it’s really amazing to see where the generosity comes from. There’s been some surprises in terms of who has and hasn’t, and how technology adverse some thirty years olds can be. I appreciate all of my supporters, especially the total strangers that obviously have some faith in me despite never having met me. And of course, I’m still waiting for that first Cleveland Policy Person contribution, but I’m not holding my breath.

It blows my mind that people are funding science and PhDs on RocketHub.

Advice?

To any future crowdfunders, bear in mind that crowdfunding is a lot like a grant in the sense that it’s not “free money.” It’s work, just like anything else in life.

Make sure to have a wide variety of reasonably priced rewards that are in everybody’s price range. I went from $5-$1,000, and my biggest single contribution (so far) was $250. This crowdfunding stuff is a people’s movement; so the people have to be able to afford it.

Have a core group of folks that are ready to contribute as soon as the campaign starts running to create a feeling of critical mass and trust.

Thanks Justin! The RocketHub team is very excited by your project. Support the 'Manifesto' - here.

Vlad

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With a focus on young women, Your Veil is a Battleground looks at the lives of Iranian youth.

In summer 2010, I made a trip back to Iran to work on a project on immigrating teenagers. While I was in Iran, at the beginning of the summer, the Morality Police started a new crackdown on youth, mainly the women who were targeted for their look and outfits and what the police consider as "immodest dressing."

Although these types of crackdowns are nothing new and happen at the beginning of each season with the new fashion arriving, it was really my first time paying close attention to these issues, what is considered to be 'red line' and how often these lines are crossed by the Iranian youth. This is where the project was first initiated.

Crowdfunding has been great, not only is it helping financially produce and put together my upcoming show, but it has also helped me with the publicity that I get for the project and my photography.

There has been a lot of support coming from the Iranian community and the photo community but also support from people who have randomly bumped into the page and liked the project.

For crowdfunding success, plan everything in advance and define your target audience that is where the most of your funding will come from.

- Kiana Hayeri, Artist, Photographer

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Chris Anderson is a Ph.D. Candidate in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida. He loves reptiles and amphibians and for his dissertation, Chris is studying the effect of temperature on feeding in chameleons.

Chris just concluded his successful crowdfunding campaign on RocketHub and joins a growing number of scientists turning to RocketHub and crowdfunding to make new projects into a reality. I caught up with Chris to learn more.

I've always found chameleons to be fascinating animals and as a biologist, I'm very interested in how animals exist in their natural surroundings. I started studying how temperature effects chameleon feeding performance for my Ph.D. dissertation research a few years ago because I was interested in observations of chameleons feeding at remarkably low body temperature. This was odd to me because when muscle cools down, it contracts slower and thus makes animals more sluggish as their body temperature drops. We see this typical limitation on muscle contractile ability when we think about a snake or lizard on a cold morning needing to bask before it can move quickly. Chameleons, on the other hand, appeared to be able to project their tongue extremely quickly despite their low body temperature and I wanted to figure out why.

The first portion of my dissertation research discovered that chameleons are able to maintain a high degree of their tongue's projection performance because they utilize an elastic recoil mechanism to power the actual projection of the tongue. Just like a bow-and-arrow, it does not matter how slowly you draw the bow back, or in this case, how slowly the tongue muscle's stretch and load the elastic elements in the tongue, once the bow is released, it recoils at nearly the same rate, regardless of it's temperature, and thus, the tongue launches at high rates despite its cold temperature. The tongue's retraction, on the other hand, occurs much more slowly at lower temperatures because it is powered by muscle contraction alone. This got me wondering if species that live in different habitats in the wild would specialize to their natural environment.

Research has found that between populations of a species living across diverse habitats, individuals from populations inhabiting cooler habitats often perform better at cooler temperatures than individuals from populations inhabiting warmer habitats. Because elastic recoil powered movements, however, appear to be largely liberated from the typical constraints imposed by temperature on muscle contractile properties, I wondered if I would find that tongue projection would not be specialized, or be specialized to a lesser degree to the thermal environment than tongue retraction. So, I decided to pursue answering this question by testing feeding performance at different temperatures in chameleons living along a natural temperature gradient.

What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of chameleon research - how are your supporters responding?

At first I wasn't sure what to expect but I liked the idea of crowdfunding and thought it was worth a shot, particularly with funding for research projects being as difficult to obtain as it is. I spent a couple days putting a video together on my project, deciding what rewards to offer, and writing up a description, and then posted my project and started to spread the word. 

I started spreading the word by sending the link to family and friends followed closely by posting the link on my personal social networking accounts asking people to take a look and send it on to others they thought might be interested. I then progressed into sharing the link on online forums, social media groups and email listservs dedicated to groups of people who I thought might be interested in my project. This has provided the opportunity for people interested in my project, but not necessarily familiar with RocketHub already, to learn about my project, engage me with questions about it, and contribute to it. As time has progressed, I've periodically reposted or provided updates on the progress of my RocketHub crowdfunding project page and each time it seems that more and more people are finding it and responding, either with encouragement, questions, sharing it with their friends, or contributing.

I'm a little over half way through the time period I put my project up for and I have to say that I'm quite pleased with how it has gone so far and how people are responding to it. I've always wished more research was done on certain topics but realize that the reality is many worthy projects never get off the ground due to a lack of funding availability. The people I've told about my RocketHub crowdfunding project seem to agree and like the idea that they can help some of these projects that they are personally interested in become a reality.

Now that you reached 150% of your goal, any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

I would definitely recommend that people carefully think about the projects they are putting up. Take the time to come up with a plan of how you are going to promote your crowdfunding project, what audiences you are going to share it with, and how you're going to do it. You can't just post a project up an hope it simply takes off on its own without working on making as many interested people aware of it as possible. The better and more thought out plan you have from the start, I think the more successful you'll be putting up a successful project.

From the perspective of how to present your project on RocketHub, I have to say that taking the time to put a movie together on your project to explain to people as simply as possible what you want to do is critical. People are busy and don't want to waste time on something they aren't interested in. Making a movie explaining your project is a good way to quickly grab someone's interest in a way that is as effortless for them as possible. 

Finally, I recommend people try to be creative with how they share their project with people and what audiences you share it with. Your project can be a perfect opportunity to tell your friends and family about what you've been up to recently. It can be a perfect opportunity to introduce yourself to online communities of people interested in a related topic. Take advantage of the opportunity to share you project with people and ask them to share it with anyone else they think would be interested.

Thanks Chris! We love your project and science at RocketHub and look forward to seeing many more academic projects.

-Vlad

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We found that the existing research on crowdfunding wasn't doing what people wanted; it wasn't providing people a snapshot of how big the market was, what Americans can learn from Europe's experience with equity based crowdfunding, a good taxonomy for crowdfunding, or fully express who was donating and where from. All of this information we believe will be a tremendous help to businesses and investors. 

It has been great fun talking with incredibly clever new start-ups and hearing their own angles on crowdfunding as well as getting the perspectives of the more established sites. The diversity of their input and interests has been providing us a great basis for building a comprehensive report. Crowdfunding is a fascinating phenomenon, and our analyst, content, and marketing teams have been excited to get all this valuable information into the limelight.

Our approach to getting funded has been a mix of pre-selling and garnering excitement for preparing for all the new developments in crowdfunding by being in the know. To meet this challenge, we have tried to offer a variety of prizes to meet people at their level, explaining to people why this research is needed, and understanding our audience. When we learned that our largest audience were start-ups, not companies in their prime, we realized it made sense to pre-sell our reports for hundreds, not thousands. Also, we realized that we should be helping both donation based and equity based platforms, and we have split up the report and offered it at different prize levels accordingly. Since our goal is to provide something valuable to the industry and to help grow crowdfunding, keeping our audience's needs in mind has helped us raise more funds and more excitement.

In the end, whether they know it or not, we create these reports also for the end user; once armed with the right knowledge, companies, the media, and bloggers and enthusiasts can spread the right message about crowdfunding for inventors, artists, entrepreneurs and the everyday Joe who has an idea. This report is one of our many efforts to grow crowdsourcing, and we are excited that we have had the experience of crowdfunding to get there.

- The Daily Crowdsource Team

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XELLE (pronounced "excel") is a pop girl group with a twist. XELLE is made up of two girls and a drag queen, and is taking the pop world by storm. The group's first music video, for its smash debut single, Party Girl, is a viral sensation on YouTube and got everyone talking on Perez Hilton, MTV and LOGO TV.

Now, XELLE is taking RocketHub by storm to fund a new video for their song Hologram. I caught up with the ladies to learn more.

We always want to give our fans the best possible product, whether it's a song, music video or live performance, and with our Party Girl music video, we've set the bar pretty high for ourselves. For our second single, Hologram, we wanted the video to be so amazing that even the people going nuts over Party Girl would be completely blown away. We live to entertain and excite our fans, and we can't wait to see what they think of Hologram.

We've been so happy to see that even with a big budget and a top secret plot for this video, our fans are trusting us and supporting us 100% because they know that when we promise something amazing, we deliver. We're blessed to have such supportive fans, and we've been excited to see donations come in from as far away as Hong Kong and Australia, as well as from right here in our hometown of New York City.

You've done quite well - what have you learned?

Always do your best possible work on any creative piece you release into the world. The better your art is, the more your fans will be excited to see what you have coming up next, and the more supportive they will be when you want them to be a part of what you're working on.

Thank you for bringing your energy to RocketHub! Join the movement and help support Hologram.

-Vlad

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In Montauk is a narrative feature film about pregnant photographer Julie, who's on the cusp of artistic success. While in Montauk to take photos for an upcoming show, she meets Christian, a composer, who becomes her muse and lover. Her extramarital affair leads her to a life-changing decision.

Kim Cummings is an award-winning filmmaker that recently concluded a successful Fractured Atlas sponsored project on RocketHub. Being that I grew up on Long Island, I was intrigued by Kim's film setting and original story. So we chatted about her inspiration and crowdfunding experiences.

In Montauk was conceived when my ten-year-old twins were very young. I was completely sleep-deprived, dealing with the intractable NYC school system and trying to write. I felt like a failure on every front and I no longer felt like myself. I'd kept my hand in filmmaking by working on friends' productions, but wasn't doing much creative work myself. The biggest project I felt could handle was a five-minute experimental film, with a one-day production schedule. I started thinking that I was in an impossible situation, trying to create art while trying to be a good mother to my children.

I started to think about how to depict this struggle and came up with the idea of a love story where a female photographer is torn between two men, one representing her art and the other representing her family. I starting thinking about what decisions she might make differently when she finds out she's pregnant. Around the same time, my DP, Brian Dilg, was working on a documentary that he'd shot on high definition. He was saying that the projection quality was really good and that if we just had a script with a few characters, we could shoot on HD, doc-style very quickly. I pitched the script to him, he signed on, and the project was born.

What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of innovative film in New York and beyond - how are your supporters responding?

This has been an interesting journey for me. People have been incredibly supportive. I had a sneak preview screening in Queens, NY in early December, and after that screening, people came up to me and asked how they could give. That's where my first RocketHub supporters came from.

The challenge after that was to figure out how to get across the message of the film to people who hadn't seen it. I started with a teaser, which got some notice, and ended up drafting my daughter to interview me about the project, since I wasn't really used to talking to the camera. The next challenge was to reach out to people who'd been supporters of mine in the past. I'd never been very rigorous about my e-mail list, just using e-mail groups to send sporadic updates to people. I finally did some research and discovered MailChimp, which has been great! I've been able to send out updates and see who's actually getting them and responding to them.

It's been an enormous help. Once I put up my campaign, I had an easy place to send people who wanted to see what I was up to. I believe this campaign was instrumental in getting selected for IndieWire's Project of the Day.

It seems that you got a lot of very positive momentum. Any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

Like production, preparation is key!  

- If you can launch around an event, a screening, a reading, or a rough-cut screening it helps to get people excited about the project.

- Have a good method of sending out information about your film, a good e-mail list is a great start.

- Be clear about your message and get some help filming your video, preferably from a supporter.

- Take a good look at your support network and be realistic about what they can give when setting your fund-raising goal.  

- Reach out to everyone in trying to get additional press for your project.

Thank you to Kim and to our partner, Fractured Atlas, for this awesome project. We hope to see you back on RocketHub soon.

-Vlad

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For the past year I have been a stay at home mom. While it's been an incredibly experience, it's also been very isolating. I haven't been writing, I've been living off cereal, and my opportunities for socialization have been limited. When my daughter turned one I realized it was time to start writing again. However, I found myself craving adult conversation. I remember literally asking myself, "What am I hungry for?" That's how The Chat and Chew Supper Club was born. It takes all of the things I enjoy and miss and puts them together into one evening. Even though I'm a playwright by trade, I wouldn't call it a play. It's really more of a performance essay.  

One of the things I've loved most about being a writer is all of the amazing people my writing has brought into my life. Probably the thing I'm the most excited about is to see what it's like putting 12 people, who may or may not know one another at a table together. It's a little bit of a social experiment, I suppose.  

In the future, I'm hoping to be able to branch out and take it to other kitchens.

Overall, everyone who has read about the project has been excited and intrigued. Since it's not a typical theatre experience, people seem to be curious about the project. I've been fortunate to have friends and family who have been incredibly supportive of the project.

Being a small, one-woman project I have found my network of people to appeal a bit limited. Bigger projects that involve more people have more opportunities for networking. If your project is small and you are the only person involved, I think you have to think outside the box in terms of where you look for support. I have asked friends and family to post the project on their Facebook pages, which has been helpful. My local newspaper also did a small story about the project and they were kind enough to include information about RocketHub.

- Elyzabeth Wilder, Playwright, Journalist, Teacher, New Mom, and Amateur Cook (not a chef, a cook)

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She and the sun are the brother/sister musical duo of Melissa Ahern and Andy Stack.The two have recently joined forces to write songs, play instruments and make musical tracks. All the sounds and production are handled soley by the duo and recorded in a humble home studio.

I've had the pleasure of hearing/seeing Melissa and Andy play live at many live RocketHub music events in NYC. Now it's awesome to see them have an uber-successful crowdfunding project. I spoke to Andy about the new record and growing fanbase.

The music was inspired from many sources; Some pieces were written as instrumentals at first, others were poems. Most of the lyrics on the record were written by my sister Melissa Ahern and deal with a coming of age theme, particularly in the digital era, from my interpretation. She may not be as comfortable with such a broad description though. 

What was really inspiring was the collaborative nature by which this music was written and produced. Many times we e-mailed ideas and tracks back and forth before getting together to flesh out more complete versions of the songs. Working at home has also been inspiring, not being limited by time in coming up with creative sounds and parts.

A lot of times the sounds were unconventionally achieved by whatever hi tech or lo tech means we had in the moment. 

What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of new music in Queens and beyond - how are your supporters responding?

The experience has been very positive. We made a music video and used it in conjunction with RocketHub to raise awareness of our project. We had a few hi-ticket supporters early on who helped us achieve our goal really quickly.

Some of our fans who have the means were very happy to support the project in part because RocketHub frames things in a very appealing way. The sense of other creatives in a community doing the same thing, as well as the incentives make it much more than just donating money. 

You reached your goal in only a few days! Any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

Brian Meece put it best in his advice to send as many personal e-mails as possible. I think people like to know that you are asking them specifically for a reason. 

Funders want to feel apart of the project, and they are of course.

Thank you Melissa and Andy for the good times, good music, and super campaign. Support the music and the project, here.

-Vlad

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While visiting a grade 4 classroom in 2005, I did an impromptu “nasty” thing. I challenged the students with an unsolved problem of mathematics from 1937 and asked them to solve it. I didn't tell them it was unsolved. The students became wonderfully enthralled and that experience woke me up.

Seven years and hundreds of classroom visits later, MathPickle.com shows students tackling a wide range of tough problems - the gems of mathematics that deserve to be in every curriculum. Engaging a wide spectrum of student ability is MathPickle’s mission:

Engaging the top students without losing the bottom students...

Engaging the bottom students without boring the top students.

That is inspiring.

MathPickle’s supporters are K-12 teachers - mostly based in North America, Australia and Europe. However, I have asked them not to contribute. Teachers everywhere are hard pressed financially. I want other members of society who value education to be my RocketHub supporters.

In the first weeks, several have donated generously. Kin Lo, a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia was the first to fuel the MathPickle rocket. Amir Fazel, Robert Hamilton, David Wees and Maria Droujkova followed. David and Maria are both dynamos in mathematics education so their participation is a valued endorsement.

- Gordon Hamilton, Mathematician, Educator, and Game Designer

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Animating Autism is a feature length documentary on autism that follows seven individuals on the spectrum as they collaborate to create a short animated film. The documentary follows them as they learn how to turn their sketches into movies and form lasting friendships.

The creative team behind this fascinating documentary has ran a great crowdfunding campaign on RocketHub. I spoke with Sean Feely to learn more about how autism became the launchpad for a fundamentally new story.

Originally, we had planned to do a documentary exploring the latest theories on the causes and neurobiology of autism spectrum disorders. We quickly realized how much of a maze the subject is. At the moment, we simply don’t know enough about how the brain works. So, instead we decided to take a gamble. We wondered what would happen if we brought together a group of individuals with autism and tried to teach them how to create hand drawn animation.

We weren’t sure how well the kids would respond to the animation process, which can be incredibly tedious. Our theory was that because it wassequential, repetitive, and predictable it might play right into the strengths of many individuals on the spectrum. We had no way to know whether any of the footage would be useable or if the subjects would be compelling. We were lucky that every one of the kids who appear in the film ended up being really unique and interesting.

What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of documentary film-making and Autism advocacy. How are your supporters responding and what advice do you have for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

We don’t consider ourselves pioneers or autism advocates. We’re just very curious and enjoy telling stories. Services like RocketHub are a blessing to small production outfits like ours. We don’t have a lot of experience when it comes to marketing and financing. RocketHub provides an affordable architecture that allows us to engage in some good ol’ fashioned trial and error. We may not end up reaching our goal, but it has been amazing how many people have contributed to our campaign. We will definitely work crowdfunding into all of our future projects. If we would have known how easy it was we would have started doing it earlier.

It’s always the case that most of your support will come from friends, family, and their networks. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and try to make it worth their while by offering rewards that make contributors feel a part of your project.

Thank you Sean and thank you Beyond 1 Film team. Learn more about this great project, here.

-Vlad

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I have loved to bake for years, got it from my mom. The idea began to form about doing it as a business. Then one day driving down the street I was looking for this cafe and I heard the words....they need cakes. I said to myself...really....my cakes ummmmm...why not? So I began to sell cakes and cupcakes. I wanted to get my pastries out and more available to the community.

When I would go to a coffee shop my desire began to grow with ideas and I could see my creations sitting there on a pedestal for someone to purchase. I would purchase a pastry and try it out and that would give me further inspiration. But also reality began to set in when I began to put all of the legal things in place to establish a food business.

Crowdfunding is an awesome concept. I had not had the need for it so when my son mentioned it some time ago in conversation about a film project it went right over my head. I wanted the business but did not know how to launch it without loads of debt. I saw RocketHub on a business blog as I was exploring business ideas and the light bulb came on. Now I have been able to talk about it and expose it to many people who were also unaware of this kind of funding concept. They say...crowd what? Some get it right away. But others that do not quite understand the process have just given me money. I try to get to them to do it on the RocketHub site. I feel it is important for what I get on this project to go through the project site so I just do it for them and put there name on it. A lot of my supporters have responded quite well and your encouragement to do a video helped the words and vision of what I wanted to do become something tangible that they could become a part of.

Just do it. It has opened up a whole new thing for me to explore. I now am looking for projects to fund. I did not want to look back and say I wish I could have done something with my passion for baking. I got the awesome opportunity to help a friend who had recently finished film school and wanted projects. She did our video and is looking at doing a crowdfunding project. There is a sense of responsibility that comes with it. Do what you say you are going to do with the funds. People are trusting me to keep my word and are helping me do something that I care about. I like that, and the rewards are fun to do for me. I get to give them something I love. Now that's cool.

- Clarice Green, Baker and Entrepreneur

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Ghetto Pony is nearly done mixing their second full-length album. It’s 16 songs and a handful of interludes. An hour’s worth of tidal synth waves, lightning bass bolts, six-string cyclones, and break-beat landslides. This sound storm has been brewing for a quite some time now. Recording and mixing has proven to be a drawn-out process for Ghetto Pony. Choosing, or defaulting to D.I.Y. methods, it’s been years of trial and error. The truth is Ghetto Pony has always had trouble asking for favours. At first it was foolish horse pride that kept them from getting others involved. But as this beast matures, it’s apparent we need support to make it to the finish line.

They had me at "Ghetto Pony" - but that was one of the best RocketHub project introduction paragraphs I've read in a long time. So I decided to connect with Peter Jarecki, the leader of Ghetto Pony's crowdfunding project, to learn more about this Montreal-based trio.

I'm in a Montreal band called Ghetto Pony. I've been mixing our second album for years now and after having labored over it for so long I want to get it mastered professionally. Even though today's technology provides a lot in the way of the home studio, it is still highly recommended that the mastering process be done by an experienced engineer.

I found out about crowdfunding through a friend of mine who I was talking to about mastering. She made me realize that Ghetto Pony will need a fair amount of money to get it done right. After she showed me a few crowdfunding pages I felt inspired to start one because I saw that my band could potentially pull it off.

I'm glad you found us. What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of new music in Montreal and beyond - how are your supporters responding?

The word I would use to describe the overall feeling I have for our crowdfunding experience is fun. It's really fun and encouraging to see capital congregate around a project you feel passionate about. Some of our contributions came from people I would of never expected and that's testament of how far gratitude and reciprocity can take you. Crowdfunding is also proving to be a great way to promote our band in general. Once Ghetto Pony's second album is done, there is already a bunch of people who have pre-ordered it.

I love the look and feel of your project - any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

One of the best things about crowdfunding is that you can come up with unique rewards for your contributors. So take some time to really think about what your fan base would like to receive in return for their funds. Post links to pictures of your prizes, or feature them in your video. Also think about what somebody who doesn't know anything about your project would have to read, see, or hear to feel really good about contributing. And of course follow the indispensable advice that the crowdfunding site sends you upon launching your project.

A big thanks to Peter and Ghetto Pony. Check out their music - it's very good - and grab a copy of the new album.

-Vlad

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We're excited to announce the chosen submission for the Be Almost Famous LaunchPad Opportunity on RocketHub. 

Gleb Osatinski and his film project, Pisces of an Unconscious Mind, will have the opportunity to work with a top publicist, Arien Rozelle. Arien has landed clients in The New York Times, Thrilllist, and Good Magazine. At the close of 2010, she was named one of “New York’s Top PR Firms and People: The Most Influential and Connected” by Marketing Company Sparkah.com.

Gleb's unique personal story, quirky and innovative short film, and massive vote-getting prowess convinced the judges and the RocketHub team that his story should be amplified.

Special thanks to our judges Lonny Knapp of AOL’s Spinner.com, Octavio Blanco of CNNMoney, and Jacob Shwirtz of MTV.

We were all astounded by the quality and passion of many of the submissions - so Arien was gracious enough to provide two extra publicity consultation sessions for two finalists:

Lloyd Godson and his fascinating underwater research initiative. "The aim of the project is to establish a globally unique underwater research, education and outreach facility in the Vinkeveense Plassen, a freshwater lake area in The Netherlands."

Nicole Ballivian and her internationally relevant feature film. "Sleeping on Stones will be a feature film, to be shot in the West Bank city of Hebron. It will be the first dramatic feature film of Hebron and it is both a Palestinian and an American story."

Congratulations to Gleb for the publicity support he'll receive from Arien and to the finalists, Lloyd and Nicole, for the promo strategies they'll gain!

-The RocketHub Team

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The catalyst for this project actually happened years ago when I was in high school. There was just something about traveling to do mission/work trips that called to me back then and it followed me into adulthood ... my faith is really at the heart of everything I do and what I want most for my life is to be of service. I love traveling, meeting people from other cultures, and being of help wherever and whenever I can be. I am inspired by people of all walks in faith and enjoy experiencing anything that has to do with spirituality. I am currently working on a master's degree in divinity and the chaplain at my seminary sent an email around a couple months ago describing the trip to Jamaica. I knew immediately that I wanted to go ... this is the type of thing I have always dreamed of doing and it was finally presenting itself to me.

But it's a tough financial time and after sitting down with my husband, we figured it wasn't going to happen this year ... maybe another time. Then a friend, knowing my disappointment, insisted the chance wasn't going to pass by and reminded me of a friend's recent RocketHub campaign. "You should do it, too," she said, excitedly. And the next day I jumped on RocketHub and started to put things together. In the midst of my excitement, I'm nervous, too, but I love the Eleanor Roosevelt quote, "The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer richer experiences."

The whole RocketHub experience has been a lot of fun, both as a Fueler and as a fund-raiser. I was introduced to the concept of RocketHub when a good friend and musician set up a RocketHub campaign to fuel his EP recording. Helping fund the project, watching as he reached his goal, getting updates and videos of the whole recording process all made me feel like I had really made a difference. With starting my own RocketHub project, I have been blown away by the generosity of my Fuelers ... friends I haven't seen in years, and some I haven't even met, have fueled my trip and have helped spread the word about Outreach Jamaica.

Setting the site up was fun and got me revved up to give crowdfunding a whirl -- any uncertainty I had was quickly replaced with excitement as support rolled in. I've received many fond well-wishes and some folks said that they are living vicariously through me as I get ready to go on this trip and do the work that lies ahead in Jamaica. I am so glad I gave RocketHub a try.

First, I must say that I have an amazing and supportive circle of friends and family who are really coming through for me on this project. Secondly, a social networking site like Facebook is extremely helpful. I took RocketHub's advice and started with an email sent out to about 20 of those who I thought would be the ones most likely to be interested in my trip and who would probably start the ball rolling with donations. Once I had a couple of Fuelers in my corner, my next step was to announce the idea on Facebook along with a link to my RocketHub page. Then it turned into one big virtual party!  

Facebook also gives me a venue for publicly thanking those who fueled my trip and is a place to keep interest up through little updates about what percentages I had reached. I'd say don't be afraid to show your excitement about your project, do lots of upbeat and fun updates, keep it light, and be sure to express your gratitude.

- Melissa Miller, Writer and Do-Gooder

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Zegas is a comic book series that I, Michel Fiffe, launched last year in an effort to fully realize the kind of thing I've always wanted to create: a full color one-man anthology comic, serializing a main feature while having room to cultivate additional content. Zegas #1 was hand stamped, signed, and numbered with a limited print run. This venture into self-publishing was and continues to be an exciting way to present the comics I want to make.

Michel Fiffe is the artist and innovator behind the Zegas series. As MTV described it: "Zegas tells the story of Boston and Emily Zegas, a brother and sister who are quite literally lost in a void-like world. Michel Fiffe's surreal and delicate art and humane dialogue creates a unique and breathtaking environment to tell a deceptively simple story of an optimistic young woman and her nihilistic but sensitive brother."

Michel recently launched a great RocketHub campaign to fund "Zegas Issue Number Two" so I wanted to learn more.

I'm a cartoonist who's always wanted to make his own comic books, physical and pulpy comics with the room to create all sorts of stories. I always believed that the intimate nature of printed matter really informs the reading experience of comics, which is already a complex juggling act of visual narratives. With my series, Zegas, I want to push the strengths of a story told on paper, and how a unique experience like that can be an essential, beautiful thing.

I love the intricate and quirky world you have created. What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of innovative comics and animation in Brooklyn - how are your supporters responding?

It's been overwhelming in the best possible way. Self-publishing can seem daunting at first, but it is such a necessary step to making sure that people see your work the way you intended them to. RocketHub has been more than instrumental in helping me move forward, as have the many friends who have come forth to support this campaign. Word of mouth has been wonderful as well, as many new readers and those curious about the comic have taken a bold step in supporting this project.

What advice do you have for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

Don't hesitate to try it out, especially if you're not good at waiting for somebody's approval or permission. It's no longer enough to just sit back and create, you have to now push your vision and convince the world that it's a vision worth taking note of. It's a lot of work but the payoff can be incredible.

Thank you Michel for your creativity and cool project. Support Zegas and grab artwork and other beautiful rewards, here.

-Vlad

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Big Vision is led by the creative team of Alex Cirillo and Dani Faith Leonard - whose collective support and passion is evident in BVEW's rapid growth and awesome community. And any organization that invokes Mr. Miyagi's wisdom must be cool.

To get the ball rolling, RocketHub has joined Canon, Boston College, and other sweet sponsors in supporting BVEW's National Film Pitch Competition - with the grand prize valued at over $100,000. So be sure to check that out.

- The RocketHub Team

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Alex Berger is an award-winning British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. His RocketHub campaign has captured trans-Atlantic attention and support from music makers and music lovers. I quickly caught up with Alex to learn a bit about his inspiration and process.

While recording my first album in New York a couple years ago  ('Snow Globe' - partially crowd-funded), I was out enjoying live music and meeting incredible songwriters most nights in the Lower East Side. The scene there is very open and nurturing and I began to reach out and co-write a little. All of a sudden the idea for my next record seemed obvious; I should make an album of songs co-written with my favourite songwriters.

Crowdfunding has a well-established foundation in the US now but is still new to the UK - especially to the music scene. However, there is a growing desire for real, unprocessed music. There's an army of independent artists ready to deliver this who are now armed with entrepreneurial skills & online tools. The stage is set for crowdfunding to take off. 

Personally, as long as people have been made aware up front that this is not charity, but a simple exchange of funds for rewards, they've been incredibly receptive. I hope that this is just the beginning.

With a few days left, your campaign has a good deal of steam and is ending quite strongly. Any advice for others looking to crowdfund a similar project?

Haha, let's see how my campaign ends before I start offering advice! I would say that the best thing is to research as much as you can what worked/didn't work for other artists' projects and shape your campaign accordingly.

Thank you for your music and your passion. Check out Alex and his music, here.

-Vlad

Photos by Alexander David and Deborah Lopez

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The inspiration for my project was a culmination of a few curiosities that I encountered as I grew up... and that I just couldn’t let go of. Some of these were: 

• Mind over matter: learning about one part of Aboriginal culture, “the pointing of the bones,” where according to their beliefs they will die if the bones are pointed at them;
• Unexplained connections: having the experience on a number of occasions when you randomly think of someone and then they suddenly call you or you bump into them on the street; 
• Hearing of stories about twins feeling each other’s pain across the globe; and,
• Paranormal activity: in France I experienced being haunted, which at the time defied my reality. 

I was in search of an answer to these experiences and couldn’t find one readily. So I took it on myself to research and find them. Over four years of hard work I discovered a profound answer in the world of quantum physics. Answering those curious questions, and simplifying the world of quantum physics for the lay person is all in “Is Your Fork in Tune? The Search for Resonance.”

RocketHub is such a fantastic platform for a person to catalyse their self-publishing dreams. When I first heard about the concept of crowdfunding I thought it was a fantastic resource to help me leap forward in my creative pursuit. I researched a lot of crowdsourcing websites, which at this point in time is limited in Australia. RocketHub was the most popular one on the web that actually allowed anyone, including us Aussie’s, to blossom with our projects. 

My supporters that have been a part of my journey from the beginning following me on my Facebook page, reading my blog, as well as friends and family have been absolutely so generous and are all constantly bugging me for the final copy! RocketHub has provided the platform where they can pre-order a copy whilst supporting my journey to be the best I possibly can be and for that I am truly grateful!

The first thing I did was read all the information provided by RocketHub - you give a lot of information on your website to get started and that helped a lot! The biggest thing that I noticed was that you shouldn’t expect a magical influx of support straight away. Even though you may have a lot of interested followers you still need to make them aware of RocketHub and direct them to the site. Giving them A LOT of value for their contribution helps as well.

I am giving away a free copy of the first chapter of my book to anyone who pre-orders a copy through RocketHub. So not only are they getting a book that they were going to buy anyway, they can start reading the first chapter before it’s published. They are also supporting the cause to raise global awareness of people’s ability to realise their true potential from reading the book. My advice for anyone looking to fund their book via RocketHub is to do as much as you can and spread the word to everyone! Here is some of the things I have done:

• Linked the offers on my Facebook page as well as my author page;

• Post links on my blog;

• Created a web page for my book which has a link to RocketHub;

• Emailed friends and family;

• Created a video and put it on YouTube; 

• Ask other successful RocketHub entrepreneurs to see what they did to help; 

• Write articles and give them to popular relevant blogs; and,

• As a recommendation from Vlad, hold parties or a social event to help raise awareness.

Good Luck on your RocketHub venture – enjoy the journey as it is a fun learning ride!

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The Hoover Dam Collective produces performances which feature music, dance, film, theater, and visual art. The RocketHub team loves seeing the intricate and media-rich Hoover Dam offerings - and we've raved about their talent in the past. So it's super cool to host the Hoover Dam Collective crowdfunding project.

The Hoover Dam Collective is a group of young artists based in Brooklyn, NY who are particularly interested in making work that crosses the boundaries of traditional art disciplines. The Collective was founded in 2009 by a group of dynamic individuals from the world renowned art conservatories at the State University of New York at Purchase College.

The HDC produces performances in and around New York City which feature collaboration between music, dance, film, theater, and visual art. We intend for our shows to create an accessible and intimate atmosphere in order to expose our art to new audiences and break down the barriers between spectator and performer. We hope to cultivate local talent and give artists the chance to learn through collaboration, while also providing exposure opportunities.

What has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of indie art in NYC - how are your supporters responding?

The Hoover Dam Collective has existed for about a year and a half, and we have yet to conduct a formal fundraiser. The fact that we have survived this long without a source of funding is testament to what a supportive and generous community we have created. A year and a half into it's existence, the HDC has developed into something bigger than any of us could have ever imagined. Especially in the last 6 months, we have really begun to see the potential of the Collective, and we feel that, in order to see our greater visions for the HDC realized, we need to raise some funds. It is our hope that the Collective can become a safe place for artists to share their work, be part of a community, and gain exposure to work in other disciplines. 

One of the greatest things about the Hoover Dam Collective is our ability to make art flourish in untraditional environments. For example, our third show ever (and to this day, one of our favorites!) took place in an abandoned room behind a bodega in Bushwick. We feel that the HDC is characterized by a sort of scrappy, "make-it-work" mentality, and that this has contributed vastly to our success thus far. We want to take high-quality art down off of a platform and make it more comfortable and accessible. However, we have realized that, in order to make our shows available to a broader audience, we need to investigate the possibilities of new venues. We hope that this fundraiser will give us the ability to afford to produce shows in bigger, more centrally-located spaces, so as to be able to share what we do with more people.

It is also incredibly important to us to be able to pay the talented people who perform with and lend their services to us. We hope that this fundraiser will help us compensate those who have tirelessly and consistently shared their work with us without any expectation of payment. We also hope to be able to hire artists who are further along in their careers to perform alongside those who are just starting out in order to broaden perspectives and continue conversation.

Additionally, we just want to get the word out about the Hoover Dam Collective. We all believe so strongly in what we are doing, and want to involve as many people as possible. We feel that the motivation behind this campaign is a strong sense of generosity- we believe in art as an incredibly powerful tool for creating community, and we want to share this community.

As a group of people who have little to no experience fundraising, this campaign has been an interesting journey thus far. We have really cultivated our ability to reach out and to communicate why this project is so important. It was interesting to sit down as a group and talk about the value of the Collective, a conversation that later turned into much of the interview footage used in our video. I think that anyone who has been to one of our shows has a pretty solid idea of WHY the HDC is so valuable and unique, and all of the members have an innate sense of the importance of what we are doing. However, many of the people to whom we are reaching out have never been to a show, and perhaps don't even really understand what it is that we do. The trick was to figure out the best way to communicate this to potential donors.

Conducting a fundraising campaign really forced us to examine ourselves and clarify what our goals are, and how we can market that to the public in a way that makes sense. It also made us take a deep look at the expanse of our community, and how far our network can possibly reach. The vast majority of the people who come out to our shows are under the age of 30. However, most of these young folks aren't financially stable and settled enough to donate a significant amount of money. The campaign is helping us to reach out to a different generation of audience members and fans, which is really valuable: it has been one of our primary goals in the last six months to expand and include audiences of other generations.

Personally, I was surprised by how many people I barely knew immediately jumped at the chance to participate in the fundraiser, while it took people who were closer to me (like my parents!) a longer time to warm up to the idea. I think the disparity lives in the personal experience potential donors may or may not have had with the Collective. Almost all of our initial donations were from people who had attended HDC shows and had discovered something relevant or meaningful.

Something else that was difficult (and still is!) was to communicate to donors that we don't just want them to give us money, we want them to be a part of what we have created. A crowdfunding campaign is so ideally suited to what the Hoover Dam Collective is trying to accomplish, because the point is to include as many people as possible, which is really what we aim to do with the shows we produce. Our advice would be to think of the campaign not just as a fundraiser, but also as a means of sharing your project with the public, and increasing awareness. In the end, perhaps meeting your goal isn't necessarily the most valuable thing. For us, the Rockethub campaign has served, most importantly, as an opportunity to self reflect and rediscover why we do what we do.

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