There is no one way to find funding for your project. Whether it’s donations or investments that you’re after, people still need to know the same thing. Who are you? What is your project/story? What’s your project’s goal? What is the budget? What is the timeline? And, what am I going to gain from this? The answers all vary but this is what makes your story unique and important.
Last year, you may remember, we produced the TACOathon. This was an eight-hour fundraising live stream to raise money for two projects: A Boy’s Life (short film) and Replaced Series (indie TV pilot). I, Allison Vanore (Producer of both projects) and Rob Gokee (Music Composer for Replaced) went head-to-head raising money and eating tacos. Every $50 donated to one of the projects would mean that rep would have to eat a taco. Now this may seem strange, crazy or just plain stupid HOWEVER that day we raised close to $2,500 total for the two projects. That’s more in one day than any other day we were fundraising. Why did this work? It’s because Rob and I have a large, supportive network online and offline, Rob also has a reputation for being taco obsessed and we can stream from our home for 8 hours without much technical support.
What do you need to produce a TACOathon?
Graphics to support the show (Taco Count Photos for Twitter and Facebook)
Chat Room Moderator (Krista Vanore)
Twitter and Facebook Updater (Diane Beck)
A Guest Interview per Hour: Vianessa Castanos, Jamie Fishback, Alicia Ying, Robb Padgett, Heath Vinyard, Sheila Daley, Laurie Records, and Eli Benavidez (all of whom have a large social media presence and network to draw from)
Taco Ingredients prepped and ready to cook
Laptop w/ a built-in camera (and internet connection)
UStream Channel
Promotion to your networks at least a week prior
IndieGoGo Campaign
After our show aired we had a few friends and acquaintances try something similar. One of which Rob actually took part in: The Destructathon (raising money for Hollywood Wasteland).
There’s no wrong way or right way to raise money. They key is, be creative, think out of the box and do what your network, friends and family will find entertaining. We knew that our networks would pay money to make Rob eat tons of tacos. And they did.
To watch the TACOathon, visit our YouTube Channel.