Men vs. Women: Does Kickstarter Have a Glass Ceiling?

Crowd funding has become a strong new force in the realm of small, medium, and even large endeavor funding for artists, actors, musicians, business owners, and more.

Crowd funding is a new innovative way for people with an idea to find investors who can make some kind of connection with the idea, the project of the principals (and principles) of the projects. The person or group that proposes a project is generally called a “creator.” Any person attracted to the project who decides to provide money for the project is called a “backer.”

Crowd Funding Websites

Crowd Funding websites allow creators to register on the site and upload a video and textual information about their ‘project’ that they wish to create or have begun creating, which they are seeking funding for. The creator textually and verbally specifies what amount of money they want to raise, and then sets ‘rewards’ that each backer will be given in relation to the amount of their contribution.

How Crowd Funding Works

For example, a website designer may seek to raise five thousand dollars for the creation of a webisode. He or she may set denominations of 20, 50, 100, and 500 dollars that he or she asks for. For 20 dollars, one may get a line item thank you on the video. For 100 dollars, the backer may get a chance to appear in the video. Rewards are determined by the creator. Some crowd funding sites allow creators to keep all of the money raised, even if their goal is not met. Some sites, such as Kickstarter, are all or nothing, meaning that 100 percent of the target funds specified, must be raised, or the creator gets nothing. The crowd funding sites generally set or suggest a 30 day funding cycle.

Micro-Investors

Some sites, such as Kickstarter, are free to join, while some others charge a membership to join. Some sites require the creator to have good credit, and require the them to pay back 100 percent of the money, while other sites, including Kickstarter, do not require credit evaluation, and allow creators to keep all of the money, with no repayment, considering that the rewards are enough of a fair exchange for the ‘micro-investors.’

Backers can be anyone 18 and over, from a college student on the other side of the country, to a mother at home, to an actual stockbroker – anyone from any walk of life can and often does participate to fund, as long as they like the project, and are a fan of the idea.

How Crowd Funding Sites Make Money

Most sites keep a percentage of the money raised. Kickstarter for example, keeps around 10 percent, with a few percent going to their company, and the remaining few percent going to Amazon, which is a partner of the company.

Couple Wrongly Sues Kickstarter

As the crowd funding sites are normally privately held, they generally have in their written digital policy letters for all creators that they may terminate any campaign at any time. Despite this, one couple recently decided to foolishly sue the site Kickstarter when their project was removed, wrongly trying to use the American courts against the freedom of a company to enforce its own stated procedures.

Kickstarter – Leader of Crowd Funding

The leading company of the crowd funding sites – Kickstarter, has an impressive track record of a reported amount of at least 43 percent of the projects on its site being funded. Funding dollars raised on the site have ranged from a few hundred dollars, to over one million dollars.

Crowd Funding A Viable New Tool for Funding Artists

Crowd funding clearly has proven, over the several short years of its massive growth and popularity, that it is a viable platform to help artists raise money they would not normally have a chance to get. Bringing together the world wide audience of the internet, the power of social networking, and the simple, basic platform of grassroots fundraising, the new pursuit has proven to be a successful and exciting new arena, in which artists and entrepreneurs can readily realize their dreams.

Is Kickstarter a Viable Platform for Female Artists?

Yet, as the so called glass ceiling arguably applies to the corporate world, one should ask, Is Kickstarter a viable platform for female Artists? One artist, Guadulesa Rivera, whose work may be seen at www.guadulesa.biz. is about to find out. Guadulesa says she has heard that some folks had successful experiences with Kickstarter. “I want to give it a shot,” she told the media today.

The Glass Ceiling of The Corporate World

Guadulesa feels that the so called ‘glass ceiling in the corporate world definitely still exists, in which women are often paid less than men for doing the same or greater work. Guadulesa said, “The corporate world is set up not to take chances. Some male business leaders simply feel more comfortable dealing with other men.” She continues, “The glass ceiling still exists – why? it’s so antiquated. But who do you think guards the gate – not women. Women who want to enter the corporate arena usually have to forge their own path and suck up any disappointments they encounter along the way.”

Does Kickstarter Have a Glass Ceiling?

Regarding any worry about whether the playing field with Kickstarter will be balanced for a woman among men, Guadulesa says, “I never enter anything expecting bias. My work should speak for itself.” Hollywood Sentinel publisher Bruce Edwin states that “The internet, and with that – Kickstarter, is a very equal playing field for funding.” “While I didn’t immediately find any statistics regarding the amount of projects funding men versus women,” he adds that “Many women – like men, have computers and internet access, so crowd funding is definitely an equal platform for women to compete with men in this arena.” Further he adds, “Kickstarter to me, really isn’t about male vs. female competition, it’s about who has the best ideas and projects that people want to fund, and, there are certainly many, many brilliant, talented, and creative women out there who deserve to and are getting their projects funded on Kickstarter. I am actually very excited about the site and other crowd funding platforms.”

Female Artist Guadulesa Launches Kickstarter Project

Guadulesa Painting Publish
Painting by Guadulesa

The image by Guadulesa pictured here, titled ‘Listen Up,’ a mixed medium collage on canvas, 18″ x 24″ was created and copyrighted in 1996, and is indicative of the quality and insight of her work.

Guadulesa says she is excited to launch her debut project on Kickstarter later this month. We will have to wait to see her project and the incentives. Some of her work can be seen by visiting her official website at www.guadulesa.biz or call 626-202-7073.