SWRForum.com: What is Kickstarter?

UPDATE: Our Kickstarter Campaign is open for contributions! This project will only be funded if it reaches its goal by Fri, May 6 2022 11:43 AM PDT.

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Kickstarter is a website to enable a crowd to fund a project. In our case, we hope to raise funds to begin the Spell to Write and Read Forum & Resource Center.

A fundraiser conducted through Kickstarter is called a campaign.

A Kickstarter campaign is all or nothing. The funding goal must be met while the campaign is live, or the project goes unfunded.

Crowd members, aka supporters, are called backers. Each backer makes a pledge to contribute a dollar amount. If the total of the pledges meets or exceeds the funding goal for the project, then when the fundraiser ends, the backers are charged and the funds are given to the project's "creator."

I like to compare how contributions to Kickstarter work by using this example of self-serve frozen yogurt. When you decide to make a pledge, it is like choosing your dish: small, medium, or giant. The amount of fro-yo you choose to put in your dish is your reward. The add-ons are the tantalizing toppings that sweeten the deal. 

Kickstarter backers pledge by selecting a reward and entering a dollar amount. You may choose to enter an amount greater than the minimum to receive any specific reward. After you make that selection, you are allowed to choose from a variety of add-ons. These are also like rewards, but you cannot access them without pledging an initial amount first. 

You might decide to contribute $30 to receive three months of introductory Premium Membership to the Forum & Resource Center. Then you might select two Choose a Challenge Word add-ons because you want to pick two words for dictation videos in the Resource Center. 

When the campaign ends, if the SWR Forum & Resource Center is funded, a survey will be sent to each backer. This survey will request information to help us fulfill your rewards such as which challenge words you chose. There will also be a place to request content for the Resource Center.

It is possible to opt out of rewards all together and still make contributions to help build the SWR Forum & Resource Center. Perhaps you don't use SWR but you want to support a segment of the world seeking a private platform on which to gather their community to exchange information and ideas. Perhaps your grandchildren are learning with the SWR method and you want to support their teacher(s) by funding this opportunity.

Have you visited SWRForum.com yet? From this site, you can sign up for email updates so you will know when the Kickstarter Campaign launches and also follow a link to our pre-launch page on Kickstarter.

If 300 people each contribute $30, we will exceed our minimum funding goal. Please help spread the word by asking folks to visit SWRForum.com! 

Our campaign rewards will be revealed in a future blog post.