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[mysteriosum]

Hello all!

I live in Canada, and therefore cannot do a Kickstarter myself. My associate Martine, on the other hand, has an uncle who lives in the US, and IS eligible to Kickstart. We've inquired if he'd help us or not, but it occurred to me that we have little to no information to supply him on that front.

Is there anyone who has any experience doing this sort of thing? We've heard of a fair few people enlisting 'silent partners' who simply handle the Kickstarter money... but we don't know specifics. What I'm wondering is:

-How much work is he in for?
-Will it cost him anything?
-Will he be taxed for it?
-Could it be considered a 'gift' for IRS purposes? Either going into his account, or going out?

Any other vital infos that I haven't asked about would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
-mysteriosum

[Christian Knudsen]

If you've got a proper business, maybe he can just be a 'representative' of the business that sets up the Kickstarter, but the actual funds go to your business? Maybe you'd avoid any potential tax hassles for him that way?

[mysteriosum]

The only thing that I'm doubtful about on that subject is the whole reason we can't do a kickstarter in the first place... The whole Amazon payments account. Can we tell the government he's just being a middle man or something...? It doesn't seem like that would work to me...

[SterlingDee]

Why not just use Indiegogo instead (which I know allows campaigns from Canada since I've run one)? Indiegogo also allows you to receive the money regardless of whether your dollar goal is met.

Yes, Indiegogo is not as popular as Kickstarter, but you should be the one driving traffic to your campaign, not relying on random visitors. If you drive people from your warm network (i.e. people you know or have communicated with previously) to your indiegogo campaign it should be as successful.

If you have a VIP on your team or expect media coverage then I would consider making arrangements with the American uncle because in these cases, Kickstarter's higher profile might help.

[Christian Knudsen]

Indiegogo also allows you to receive the money regardless of whether your dollar goal is met.

Flexible funding is terrible and should never be used.

[SterlingDee]

Indiegogo also allows you to receive the money regardless of whether your dollar goal is met.

Flexible funding is terrible and should never be used.

I respect your opinion, but care to share WHY? A general blanket statement isn't particularly useful. I'm no crowdfunding expert so I'd be interested in hearing your reasoning.

Cheers.

[Ant]

Well the issue is that if you're starting a project then a few donations probably won't help, you somewhat need at least the majority of the target amount to get it off the ground. So there's less incentive since there's a higher chance of you donating for something you'll never see, where as with a fully funded campaign they have no excuses.

[Christian Knudsen]

Yup.

That's why 'flexible funding' projects on Indiegogo have a bad reputation in general since most terrible projects there use them in an attempt to scrounge up whatever cash they can.

It's basically:

We need this amount of funding to complete our project and here's a breakdown explaining why...

vs.

Just gimme whatever change you have in your pocket!

[SterlingDee]

Ok, very fair points, I stand corrected!

Typically, an indiegogo campaign would include the backup plan if the entire amount is not raised. Canadians really don't have any other option at the moment (well, other than American uncles). I haven't checked if the game crowdfunding site allows Canadian campaigns, so that may be an alternative.

[siskavard]

I don't see the point in using IndieGoGo. If your project will cost a set amount of money and you don't get all of that, then what?

Kickstarter needs to hook Canada UP

[Christian Knudsen]

On the other hand, what's there to lose? If he doesn't reach his goal, all he's lost is the time spent setting up the campaign.

[SterlingDee]

I don't see the point in using IndieGoGo. If your project will cost a set amount of money and you don't get all of that, then what?

Kickstarter needs to hook Canada UP

For real yo.

With an Indiegogo campaign one is supposed to outline what will happen if one doesn't meet the set goal. I did a campaign for a film and we basically said our production quality wouldn't be as polished if we didn't meet our goal (which we didn't).

[siskavard]

It's like, "Hey guys, we need $10,000 to make a game."

Project gets $3000

"Hey guys thanks for the 3 grand. Here's a character running in a white void because we could only pay someone to model, rig & animate 1 character"

I don't get it.

(prices in my example are exaggerated)

[Christian Knudsen]

Just don't do flexible funding. Indiegogo supports fixed funding goals.

[SterlingDee]

Just don't do flexible funding. Indiegogo supports fixed funding goals.

Haha I never even knew that was an option (on my film campagin, the director actually set it up).

I wonder if most people just assume that all crowdfunding sites are "fixed funding" just because Kickstarter is? Are they even paying attention...

[Christian Knudsen]

I'm sure some of the flexible funding projects on Indiegogo are counting on people not noticing that it's flexible funding or not being aware of what that means...