7 OCT 2014 :: Almost forgot my blog today! Been looking into crowd-funding options

I spent the past several hours looking into the "indiegogo.com" crowd-funding website. It is a recent discovery for me. I think I saw a Facebook campaign post for an Indiegogo project and went to see what it was about, checking on the Indiegogo site just briefly. Later I saw a news program advocating for a local Indiegogo campaign. I didn't have time to explore it earlier, so I decided to take some time today and discover the costs, requirements, and process to create a funding campaign. I also wanted to see what kind of funding requests they already include and which were more successful.

I have been planning for many years to organize a Kickstarter campaign for one or more of my many business projects at a personal level...I don't think Kickstarter allows business kinds of funding (but I recall some environmental and community, maybe non-profit projects). I have to check on that.

Recently I started to register at Kickstarter so I can start something finally. I am currently going through the required Amazon Payments verification. This is a personal registration so I need to limit my first project to a personal effort...maybe my Letters to Inmates or my book writing efforts, I'm not sure yet. I have a LONG list of things I need to have in order to get anything done/accomplished. :-)

For Working Together, the goal is January 2015 or January 2016...it will take more time to plan something for WT.

As someone who will never be "loan-worthy" by traditional standards, someone who is just beginning to explore social media and blogging in a serious way, and someone who is getting desperate to get some things done before I die or lose the little I have...crowd-funding and winning the lottery seem to be my only financial hope. 

For a variety of reasons, my struggles of the past many years have moved me into a kind of isolation. Health issues made that worse. I rarely go out now, have problems getting groceries, "attend" church by TV and radio, and am searching for better solutions to my limited future. I look for the ways I might be able to continue with my goals for Working Together, and how I can gain the ordinary income I need just to accomplish ordinary goals. A regular wage would change everything for me, so I pray for wages through WT, and continue my efforts to sell online at Etsy and other sites. My early retirement from Social Security doesn't begin until February (I was just informed), and that is a mere $375/month. I have only had SNAP/food stamps and about $140 in cash gifts since January. The little that my retirement income will be, it will still be better than what I am dealing with now, and help with some expenses. Right now I am praying to survive until my February check.

All of these issues make it hard to plan a funding campaign, but I think it is the only hope for me right now. How do I put my life and dreams into words? It has been an ongoing problem.  :-(

Years ago, when I first started Working Together, I tried to contact established non-profits (probably foundations) for start-up funding. As an individual, I couldn't qualify for anything. That is still the situation for my goals...as far as I have been able to search. Every now and then I would make a new effort to find a foundation that might take my request...I haven't found one yet. This is one reason I planned to focus on membership and benefits to help individuals through its products and programs.

In my search for the place to start the gathering of Christians to Working Together, the foundation of membership keeps coming up. I was rewriting my fiverr.com profile for Working Together and that became one of the important statements. I have decided to focus on that program for two reasons: 1) that it will give me the funding start I really need to begin building Working Together into the member ministry it needs to be, and 2) I planned to have a yearly membership drive in December and January...and that time is near.  :-) 

I think most of our "progress" as a civilization comes from the hardships we endure. They make us want to find answers, to change the pain that we have suffered so others don't need to experience it. I am still hoping to accomplish that.