The Kickstarter Diaries 13: Unlucky for Some
Tim Brookes Endangered Alphabets: The Blog 0
The latest entry in my tragicomic behind-the-scenes account of life in a crowdfunding campaign.
I may regret this entry, as it is both serious and political, but in this new chapter of my life I have vowed to be braver and more open. So here goes.
In the middle of the night (when, as usual, I was awake), a LinkedIn message came in from someone whose name I don’t have permission to use, responding to one of my pitches for this Kickstarter. He wrote: “Totally understand, but my money is going toward removing Trump. You did know that’s an issue, right?”
Frankly, I could have done without the sarcastic jab in the second sentence, but the fact is, he is probably voicing the thoughts of a great many people who are accustomed to supporting worthy causes but who at the moment find their money, their constructive ideas, their hopes, their goodwill, and their patience running out.
Nobody has infinite funds (except those who are actually causing the problems in my erstwhile adopted country), and there are always choices to be made concerning whom to support. One of my own board members once said to me, “I love what you do, and it’s very important, but if someone came to me asking for money for rescue dogs, I would fund the dogs.” People have their priorities, and their own favourite causes. If you back my campaign, there is some good cause you’re not supporting elsewhere. But nowadays, instead of slicing the funding pie thinner and thinner, people are finding that the pie is actually being eaten by someone else.
As things get tighter, it is easy to misallocate blame. My LinkedIn correspondent, feeling the pinch, was apparently getting annoyed that I was even asking for his support, and thereby making his choices harder. I thought for several hours and replied:
“I’m entirely with you on your first sentence. As for the second, Trump’s policies have hit arts/humanities/non-profits especially hard, as I’m sure you know. My friends at [a non-profit in Vermont] have had to cancel much of their programming and are even renting out some of their office space. So they, and I, are increasingly driven into making fundraising appeals.
“As a result, it may seem to you as though we are trying to divert some of your disposable income away from where it is needed most, but in fact, these are all symptoms of the same crisis Trump has caused.
“This Kickstarter campaign is the single most important annual funding source for me; my livelihood and the work I’m doing is at stake. In the long run, to be sure, removing Trump is very much the goal. I hope you won’t begrudge me trying to stay solvent in the immediate term, just as I don’t begrudge you the right to choose not to support me.”
Yesterday I threw a pound coin into the guitar case of a street musician. Should I be using that pound for other purposes? Was I making matters better, or worse?
In the end, though, that’s just a question for a debate in an Ethics class. My pound is neither the problem or the solution. We all know where the problem lies. Let’s not fight each other because, individually, at the moment, we can’t provide a solution.
If you’d like to support my Kickstarter campaign, you can do so HERE.
