As of now, you can also pledge your support for the Gooseberry project using credit cards. This means that you'll only get charged if the campaign is succesful.
So: are you a super sceptic and you don't think the campaign will succeed? Well, you can safely pledge your support now :)
Ton Roosendaal writes:
Great news: we now have been authorized to accept credit cards directly. This is all secure, PCI Compliant, using braintreepayments.com. The strict Braintree review we had to pass through took a couple of weeks longer than expected. Meanwhile we could improve our campaign website too.
We’re also editing a new video – I have a personal message to share with you! We will also email everyone who has supported us before, to invite them to take part in the project.
No money gets charged from your credit card, until we reach our campaign goals.
Pledge Now!
Link
15 Comments
Honestly, I can't figure out why this is not on Kickstarter. There is much bigger userbase, better visibility and all the pledging mechanisms (payments, pledges management etc) included right out of the box. Not mention that the structure of KS facilitates more clear, transparent goals, rewards etc.
No offense, but I really don't get it.
This was there stance on kickstarter:
http://gooseberry.blender.org/gooseberry-campaign-launched-we-need-10k-people-to-help/#more-174
That stance wasn't a very strong one. Thanks for the links.
I agree. I think they're wasting their potential in not using Kickstarter. They're right up Kickstarter's alley in terms of becoming a front-page campaign, and we'd probably see far more than what they're asking for, just in the nature of their cause alone. It's not just an animated feature, but an advancement of something bigger--the development and promotion of Blender.
Sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo don't support the 'cloud funding' aspect of the campaign though - you can only support with a 'one-time' pledge, right? Given how important the cloud side is, I believe that that's one of the main reasons for having not using them.
Totally don't agree. Using KS, You can set different Tiers, giving You access to the cloud for different periods of time (like "Pay 100$ and it's 4 months acces", "Pay 150$ - 8 months and so on). So the problem with including cloud access in KS is rather artificial.
EDIT: Additionally, there is no problem giving 3 months access for KS pledge, and then let pleople prolong the access outside KS (actually, that's exactly how it works with funding on Blender site, so no differences here)
EDIT 2: I also don;t know why many people mention IndieGoGo as a potencial alternative, while KS is much more popular (bigger possibility of funding a project).
I could turn this around; why are you so in love with Kickstarter?
I can see no compelling reasons in your posts or those of others to go with any of the main crowdfunding operations. In fact there several reasons not to:
- Kickstarter (and Indiegogo :P) take commissions, why pay them when the BF can do all the same things themselves?
- So far the campaign is aimed squarely at the Blender Community, not the general public. What possible advantage would advertising on KS bring? How many in the Blender community regularly read KickStarter, but don't read Blender Nation, Blenderartists or Blender.org?
- Kickstarter is American based. You have to be a US citizen with a US
bank account to launch a campaign. Sure, there are ways to work around
this, with quite a bit of hassle, but again, WHY?
I believe there will be a phase of the crowd funding which will target the general public, and *maybe* a case could be made to use an established crowdfunding operation for it, but even then, the reasons are thin and unconvincing.
You can also set up a UK Pound campaign on KS.
1) Kickstarter takes commission, but the success a project like this could easily see on Kickstarter could easily offset the 5% commission rate. Plus, most Kickstarters add to their asking price enough money to help offset the fees and taxes. Raise the goal to 525000 euros, explaining the fee. Again, people who support Kickstarter know this by now.
2) This campaign is aimed squarely at the Blender community, but does that mean we should ignore any of those who would like to support this effort for its greater cause? Isn't Blender supposed to be for the "general public" to begin with?
In any case, I don't see the argument in saying this Project Gooseberry is focused to the Blender community as a strongest of points.
Valve Software isn't the Blender community, but they've supported this cause with 10,000 euros. They see this as a great endeavor to support, for both interest in their own community (Steam Workshop) and the interest of the Blender community.
Again, there are many other kinds of people who'll support this project, for various reasons, everything from gaining the pledge rewards and benefits relevant to them as Blender users, to just simply wanting to see a neat movie they helped supported.
Does it really matter why someone supports this effort? As long as they understand what they're supporting and what they're getting into in supporting it, their support weighs all the same.
Also, compare Blender's website's 40-50K unique visitors daily to Kickstarter's 700K unique visitors daily. And I'm pretty sure a many among the Blender community browse Kickstarter at least once a month or so--I scour Kickstarter at least about once a week, just to check out games alone.
One other thing to consider is that you can run a Kickstarter while you're running your own fundraising on your own. Many Kickstarters run a second crowdfunding on their own websites to cater to those people who want to pay using a means like PayPal and Kagi, which Kickstarter doesn't offer They then add the funding of the simultaneous efforts together to achieve their goal.
Finally, if most of the Blender community regularly read BlenderNation, BlenderArtists or Blender's website, just direct their attention to the Kickstarter page. We lose none of our audience's attention in using a Kickstarter--we only gain a wider audience of more kinds of supporters.
3) Kickstarter is American-based company. And this project happens to feature a American group partnering on the project, who are a trustworthy name among the Blender community: CG Cookie, based in Illinois.
Since they're a legit part of the team, it's simply doing the project with their help as a U.S.-based business. There are plenty of campaigns on Kickstarter are based outside the U.S., but done with the help of a contact within the U.S.
My point is, it's all in how you sell yourself, and this project has all the makings of being a million-dollar Kickstarter success--which happens to be what they really need. Their 500,000 euro is their initial goal, but they're hoping for much more. At the rate they're going, they'll be lucky to reach 500K.
Though, I don't suggest that they end their current effort. They're already going at it now, and I can only hope for its success. However, if they don't wind up meeting their goal, perhaps they'll consider other options. I used Kickstarter as the most prominent and popular example, but there are other options.
To be honest, I've seen far lesser efforts gain far more money, from far fewer people than 10,000. I think between:
• the sheer scale of the team united across the globe
• the impressive track record of Blender Foundation making past projects
• the successful charm of the animation style (even Disney featured Pablo Vaquez's latest work on their website)
• the goal of developing new features for and during this project
• the professional, well-polished promotional art we've seen with Project Gooseberry
• their voice for the cause of promoting and developing a robust software that's free for all
...this is a million-dollar campaign written all on it, if you ask me.
Kickstarter has its pros and cons, but the pros are heavy: Kickstarter gets national and international attention, by the millions, every single week. This project is exactly what Kickstarter loves to promote on their front page. Blender Foundation would well exceed their 500,000-euro goal.
Anyways, this is all merely a friendly suggestion, if push comes to shove. I think we all still hope this current project proves successful. I'll support them regardless.
Point by point:
1. Yes, KS and IndieGoGo take commissions. But I think 3% of the total amount is not a big amount for having MUCH bigger userbase around, who can potentially back the project, hah?
2. First, starting campaign on KS doesn't mean You're not allowed to post the info about it on Blender Nation, Blenderartists or Blender.org. You can, why not? You can even make a permalink to the KS campain site, flashing on the main Blender website. As I said, this problem is totally artificial.
2a. Ok, it's mainly for Blender community. Why? What's wrong in having another people, outside the community, to support the project? Sometimes I really think the Blender community is rather hermetic, not wanting to go outside of it's narrow box. And, sorry, it';s really sad...
3. Why? Because it gives You the possibility to actually fund the project. Funding independantly on Blender site showed clearly it's not a good idea. How much time passed? Half of teh campaign. And how much was funded? 20%? Sorry, I really like Blender community, but there are times when You just have to open Yourself for the Big World in order to achieve things.
Loving Valve Software right now for their pledge! (http://gooseberry.blender.org/sponsor/ ) If cool people like Gabe Newell thinks Gooseberry's worth a pledge then we gotta get this funded!
I just read this: http://gooseberry.blender.org/gooseberry-campaign-launched-we-need-10k-people-to-help
No offense, Blender Foundation, but that entire stance was rather weak.
The minimal budget for making Gooseberry has been realistically
estimated to be 3.5M. Minimally! Optimal would be 6M euro even.
(Multiply this with 1.35 to get USD). We can cover with own resources
(subsidies, big sponsors) about 1.6M – which means we should try to get
1.9M crowdfunded. That’s not very feasible really."
Yes,
but this isn't just any animated film. It's an
animated film with a greater purpose. While the film is produced for an
entertainment value, it's truer purpose is to advance and promote the
development of the free and open-source Blender, advancing both its
technology and its prestige to new heights.
This benefits anyone
in the world who otherwise wouldn't have such the option as Blender, and
stands for something to stand for an ideal greater than the animation's
result itself.
If there's one thing these
crowdfunding services see a lot of, it's of everyday people supporting
something with a greater cause, sometimes more than the product's even
worth. Plenty of crowd-funded efforts have seen great
support more for the idea it stood for and the cause it was about, even
more than its quality was even truly worth. Some of the most
successful crowd-funded efforts have been such.
Now you add to
the case with Blender Foundation that we have a whole
league of talented, proven small-business
professionals around the world working together to create an animated
feature of the popular character design charm of Pablo
Vazquez (an artist with recent recognition from Disney--a solid
credential), and you've suddenly got both a promising cause
and a promising product supporters can enjoy.
A huge community of people who like to be involved, share and cooperate.
Blender.org gets 40-50k unique visitors daily, about 2M per year. That’s really huge – so why bother trying to get some dollars from film fans on Indiegogo, if we have our audience already right there at blender.org?"
If
they let this very same community they're reaching through sites like
Blender.org and BlenderNation know about the Kickstarter page, they
would gain the same audience, and
then the extra interest of those passing by on
Kickstarter, who might find the whole endeavor as interesting and
something they want to be a part of.
Simply direct our attentions
to the Kickstarter (or similar service) page the
exact same way they've been directing our attention
to the Project Gooseberry donation page. Blender.org might get 40-50K unique visitors a daily, but a service like Kickstarter sees 700K unique views a day.
And since your success would be Kickstarter's success, I think your project will get Kickstarter's attention, just the sheer ambition of your effort alone and how you're going about it, you guys stand a great chance at being a front-page campaign. Your project is the epitome of what crowdfunding is all about: everyday people supporting the little man's effort, working together for a cause that benefits thousands of other people, championing an ideal.
This isn't just an
animated feature, but an endeavor to promote the free and open-source
Blender, for all to use and enjoy. It proves what the "little man" can
do together. And Blender has a proven track record of past successes
that adds to their credibility. People simply eat this stuff up, donators big and small.
And I do mean "donators big and small," because while it's great that you've managed to get a contributor like Valve Software, Kickstarter in particular has been known to have a lot of big donators who give support to popular campaigns. You'll easily find campaigns with their "$1000" or more levels filled. Some from large businesses and some from just-plain wealthy people.
We can do better – and especially if we use the Blender Cloud as the
platform where the Gooseberry teams cooperate. We then can give our
donators access to the same facilities to peek inside the
making-of-a-film as if you were actually working in the project itself."
Yes,
traditional crowdfunding perks do, but none of the
major crowdfunding services require you to use irrelevant perks. Heck,
IndieGoGo in particular doesn't require you to offer a perk at all,
other than perhaps the final product itself. There have even been
Kickstarter campaigns where the offer was simply of the final product
itself, offering only a couple pledge rewards in return.
People
understand that not every crowdfunding effort can offer them a world of rewards,
and crowdfunding has been out long enough for most who support these
efforts know that offering pledge rewards and perks can be
time-consuming, expensive, labor-extensive work that too often delay the
actual product. What you can offer varies on what you're offering.
With
this campaign with Project Gooseberry, you're offering something money
can support, but cannot buy--freedom. Freedom of Blender and the growth
of its development as the free and open-source 3D modeling software.
The same freedom that schools and businesses worldwide rely on, and
everyone from the amateur hobbyist to the small-business professional
uses. You're free from major publishers and not owned by major
corporation.
You're more than just an animation effort--you're an
independent voice. Such voices are what crowdfunding supporters are
all about supporting. Blender is the embodiment of what independent
publishing is all about: freedom. Sell it that way, and you can get by
with not being able to offer a big offering of perks.
But even
your current offerings are enough. Plenty of people would love to be a
part of being an exclusive access to the behind-the-scenes of such an
ambitious project, even if they don't do 3D modeling themselves.
Donators love feeling privileged, regardless of the campaign.
But supporters could even donate
the pledge rewards to people such would be more relevant, if they so please, such as
educational environments or a small Blender-based business (creating a list of such available beneficiaries shouldn't be too hard). That's making them as supporters of
two great causes.
Again, success is all in how you promote it.
Okay? And how exactly does not choosing a popular, high-traffic crowdfunding service have to do with putting the people first? You say it's about the people first and not money, but you still need money. You need money to serve this cause that's for the people.
You'll see the same commitment and interest of actual Blender users to support you, but you'll also gain the interest of thousands of other people who would like to support such the worthy cause nonetheless. It's not everyday that an animated feature is a project that promotes the nature of free, accessible, open-source professional-grade software.
Children are learning 3D modeling skills at school thanks to Blender. Small graphics-related businesses are being built all thanks to Blender. Thousands of people have found an unlikely creative outlet and pastime in 3D modeling thanks to Blender. Several interesting technologies have been developed and tested thanks to Blender. An entire new generation of content creators is being fostered, thanks to Blender.
Sell this! You have no exaggeration in your worth--only a truth of a revolution you've started. Lay it on thick!
I will say this much: €500,000 ($687,350 USD or £413,692 GBP) is a helluva lot of money to seek to raise in just 30 (currently: 23) days, regardless how you crowd-fund it. Though, I think it'd be a whole lot easier if you were to use a service that's got one of the biggest attention with a campaign that has one of the best causes behind an animated film. You just never know how well this project would take off, with the right attention.
With that said, I do wish your current funding efforts its success, and I hope to become a contributor at some point soon. I really want to see the advancements to Blender that Project Gooseberry will bring. Thanks for reading.
On another note, you can just continue this current fundraiser while hosting a secondary Kickstarter fundraiser at the same time. Many people do this, in fact, since Kickstarter doesn't accept PayPal and Kagi, so what people will often do is run a second separate campaign on their own website and then combine the generated profits from both Kickstarter and their own effort.
To me, this seems like a solid idea for this campaign, because it lets you keep what you've generated so far and it also benefits from the higher public attention generated from Kickstarter. Plus, it gives people two options for how they want to support the project, since some would rather use PayPal, which the Gooseberry pledge accepts.
"They've done far more than I (and I'm assuming you also) ever did. It's probably best not to assume that they're all idiots."
I never assumed this. But I think they really believe in whole open-source idea and community too much, assuming that solely the idea can make things happen. The example is right in front of us: 20 days passed and how many people backed the project that could lead to large Blender improvements? Less than 1000! It's time to say it clearly: this funding's going to fail. Period. It's no time for making statements and pray to whatever gods for a miracle. It's time to learn from the failure and change the idea - maybe for Kickstarter.
"However, they are trying to do many things at once and so far nobody has
had the time to construct a campaign pitched to the general public."
But that's the beauty of Kickstarter--it's really simple to construct a Kickstarter page. They've already got their mission statement, their promotional art, their list of talent working on the project, and their pledge offerings all set. Plus, they're showing that they've got initiative already to try on their own.
All they'd simply have to do is transfer this ready information over to a Kickstarter account, using CG Cookie's help, and speak with the same passion they're using now. They can run two campaigns, with relatively little effort: One on their own, and one with Kickstarter's help. Twice the campaigning means a higher chance of success.
It takes like 10 minutes to sign up and fill out all the account information and consent to their agreement, and maybe about 20 minutes to set up the Kickstarter page information. That's part of the point in using Kickstarter, actually--Kickstarter is for convenience. Setup is simple and straightforward.
It's a high-traffic, trend-yielding, ready platform, which Blender Foundation could use in addition to their current independent crowdfunding effort. Kickstarter allows you to host a separate crowdfunding to run in addition to your Kickstarter, so that you can offer services like PayPal and Kagi. I say, they should use it to their advantage.
At the moment, unless some very generous donor steps up, the effort is slower than one would hope and the trend with fundraisers is that usually support wanes as it progresses. Though, anything's possible here. This thing isn't over yet.
But still, I wouldn't say that there's no point in using a popular crowdfunding site. You use that argument that this is "for the Blender community," but isn't Blender supposed to be for the public, anyways? If someone just wants to support the project's worthy cause, isn't their support just as valuable?