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Erik: How have perks incentives been game changing for fundraising campaigns?
Slava: Crowd funding is not new, so if you go back to the late 1800's the Statue of Liberty
was actually crowd funded. Back then, Joseph Pulitzer was able to use the New World -- the
precedent to the New York Times to be able to raise, I believe nearly $120,000 on average
contribution of 83 cents. At that time they didn't use any perks. So, you didn't get your
name on the base of the Statue of Liberty. You didn't get a tax deduction. It wasn't
a 501C3 and you definitely didn't get any profit meaning you didn't get $5 back for
your $1 contribution. There's really four reasons why anybody funds anything in life.
Number one is because you care about the person, the cause or the campaign. Number two, is
you want the perks like you're bringing up. Number three is you wanted to be part of the
community, your personal ego and number four is for profit. So, on Indiegogo and really
any platform in America, it's illegal to do number four through public solicitation. So,
the first three are what's really important. The perk concept, very similar to the PBS
or NPR sponsorship model is key because people get something in return. People like something
exclusive, special, limited edition or discount. So, it's amazing to know that in funding somebody's
campaign or vision or idea you get something tangible, virtual or very unique experience
in return.