Kickstarter Rewards from Curacao

Thanks again to all the wonderful people who contributed to my Kickstarter project so that I could come Curacao and make a documentary about Tambu.  Some contributors were promised a postcard from Curacao, so yesterday I mailed 18 postcards! 

"Posterijen," written in Dutch on the red mailbox, means postal service.  The newer ones have a modern logo on them.

Kickstarter and Tambu of Curaçao

The beauty of using Kickstarter---as opposed to just asking your friends for cash or a transfer on PayPal---is that there is a goal and deadline.  If you do not raise enough money by the deadline, you lose all the money you have raised up to that point.  It would be a shame if your goal were $1000 and you raised $999 and never saw a penny of it.


Kickstarter is very user-friendly, but there were more steps than I had anticipated.  For example, I had to set up a merchant account on Amazon.com and fill out and submit a W9 form so Uncle Sam can tax me.


I created a basic e-mail explaining that I wanted to make a documentary and that I was using Kickstarter as a fundraising site.  I also talked about the goal and deadline, and all-or-nothing aspect.  Then I personalized the message with the recipient's name, and sometimes a few sentences more.


Many friends thought it was a spam letter.


Several friends didn't want to create a Kickstarter account and an Amazon account.


Several friends wanted to write me a check or give me cash, not understanding the point of Kickstarter.  I don't say no to checks or cash! 


Several friends thought I was crazy to risk losing everything I had raised.  Others thought I was insane for having my campaign in the weeks before Christmas, when every charity is asking for donations and people are low on funds.


But thanks to friends and acquaintances, I made my goal in exactly two weeks, with several days to spare.  I contacted colleagues in a local professional women's networking group, most of my Facebook friends, and lots of people from my personal e-mail list.  My donations ranged from $1 to $250 with most of them right $25, just like the Kickstarter website says!


At least three people knew before I did that I reached my goal: 1) a friend who was monitoring my progress, 2) the person who made the pledge that put me right at my goal, 3) his wife.  I was away on a Christmas caroling job! 


We live in marvelous, exciting times with such mind-blowing possibilities!

Tambu of Curaçao Kickstarter Project Page

Here's the video:





Here's the link:
(Click here.)