Kickstarter, the Brooklyn based crowdfunding service, has given thousands of people a platform to promote their creative ideas. On Tuesday, the company announced that it would be using the platform to help millions of people.
In partnership with the White House and the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Kickstarter has launched a week-long campaign inviting donors to make 100% US tax-deductible contributions in order to raise what will hopefully be millions of dollars to help refugees displaced by the war in Syria.
According to the Huffington Post, “About 9 million Syrians have fled their homes since a brutal civil war broke out in March 2011. More than 3 million now languish in refugee camps in neighboring countries Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. European countries, led by Germany, are struggling to cope with the influx of refugees traveling across land or over sea to reach the European Union and apply for asylum.”
The Guardian reports that the project took off after the White House contacted Kickstarter two weeks ago to talk about new ways to get the American public involved in the Syrian relief effort.
“I immediately said yes,” Kickstarter’s CEO, Yancey Strickler, told The Guardian. “This is not something that we have ever done before. We have always kept the platform focused strictly on creative projects.”
“They were looking to call upon the private sector to address the refugee crisis in creative ways,” Justin Kazmark, Kickstarter’s spokesman, told The Huffington Post. “Even though we’re focused on creativity, we’ve learned a lot about building communities of support and we’ve learned a lot about funding. We thought, at the White House’s invitation, that we can make a modest but positive impact on this really global, extraordinary crisis.”
According to the Huffington Post, in just four hours after the launch, the campaign raised about $40,000 – more than double the amount raised by the average successful Kickstarter effort.
“The average successful Kickstarter project raises $18k,” Kazmark tweeted Tuesday. “In just 3 hours 388 of us have raised more to #AidRefugees.”
As of Oct. 7, the campaign had raised over $965,000 from the contributions of 15,432 backers. Kickstarter exceeded its first goal of raising $735,000, enough money that can provide immediate necessities and a place to sleep for 3,000 people in need.
Next up, Kickstarter and the UNHCR hope to raise a total of $1,225,000 in contributions. This would be enough money to provide shelter, food, clothing, water and other lifesaving necessities for an additional 2,000 refugees.
