Crowdsourcing: In the cards?

Kitten medical bills (gofundme.com)
Local woman April Jones-Cole created a fundraiser to help someone who rescued a litter of week-old kittens in Lansing. Anna Brooks of Lansing took the kittens to an animal hospital in Mason to be nursed back to health. The kittens are malnourished and one is injured. Jones-Cole is looking to help Brooks with the medical bills of her endeavor.

She said the cost of keeping the kittens at the hospital until they are healthy is $13 a day.

The gofundme campaign seeks $2,000 worth of donations. On the first day it raised $215. Gofundme campaigns do not require a sunset date, so this fundraiser will be operational until the goal is met or exceeded.

“It takes a village,” Jones-Cole said.

The Dolls We Love (kickstarter.com)
Lansing’s Valerie Donally has a virtual museum vision. An avid doll collector, she wants to share her collection, as well as those of other local collectors, with the world. By creating the Dolls We Love Virtual Museum and Learning Center, Donally will provide photographs of the three collections of 200 dolls using retail software that gives viewers at 360-degree look at the dolls.

“I spent weeks searching the Internet to see that no other museum online is doing the same thing,” said Donally. “So it is different.”

To do this, she’s looking to raise $7,820 to afford the Ortery Photocapture 360 software. She said she hopes to get national recognition by reaching out to organizations like United Federation of Doll Clubs to spread the word. Donally’s campaign ends July 4.

“Its a new innovative idea, not just for my dolls but other antiques can be shown this way,” Donally said. “It can be a better and more fulfilling experience.”

Dead Apocalypse (indiegogo.com)
Jchon Bahl II, a local entrepreneur, is using the web to obtain funds to manufacture a playing card game to start his business, Mystery Suit Games. This game will bring the zombie apocalypse craze into the player’s household. It will involve immortal zombies, human heroes, infections and weapons to save mankind.

Bahl hopes to raise $6,000 and has already raised $1,715. Bahl is also offering incentives to his contributors, such as a copy of the card game, a digital artwork book, Dead Apocalypse merchandise and the contributors name in the game as an honorable mention. Bahl’s IndieGoGo campaign ends on June 24.

Success stories
The local band Jackpine Snag had a successful Kickstarter campaign that resulted in exceeding its proposed goal. The band asked the community for $500 to get its new EP pressed onto vinyl. By offering donors a pre-sale of the new record, it raised $711 with 33 backers.

Another recent crowdsourcing success was a campaign by local theater troupe Ixion Ensemble, which was raising funds for the premiere of its debut show, “The Four Disgracers.” Ixion raised $2,594; funds paid for venue rental, production of the play and promotion.

If you have a crowdsourcing event to promote, send a link and a short description to allan@lansingcitypulse.com.