Weed said:
I know how they work I just didnt get the comparison to a lemonade stand.
The comparison is not about timing, it's about self-funding and value offering. You're offering
something for something, not something for nothing. The "lemonade stand" reference was merely an example of a
type of fundraiser where you can build equity through elbow grease ("sweat equity"). Obviously.
The most common misconception about social fundraising is that it's a hand-out or money grab, where people are suckered into giving "free money" to the host of the campaign. That's been attempted by a few slimebags, sure - as with anything unethical people will attempt to corrupt the system. But the vast majority are people trying to offer an honest good or service for a fair return, using advanced sales or rare perks/merchandise/etc. If you like the product and the company, maybe you'll get on board. If you don't like the product or company or don't feel the rewards are fair, don't give them money. It's pretty simple and seems to pretty effective at sorting the wheat from the chaff. Bad social fundraisers fail, good ones succeed. There are exceptions, but I fail to see why it stirs so much wrath in some people. Seems like irrational assumption or jealousy of others having financial success. The most frequent comment I see is the "something for nothing" line, which is preposterous - not only do the backers get something for their $, the host has to work their ass off to fulfill rewards in a timely manner. It's a LOT of work.
Since you insist on being so literal, a better example might be pre-sales of video games by a place like game stop. There are only so many games released at launch - if you want to get in on the 1st wave, you put $ down and get nothing in return but a promise that when you come back on the launch date, the game will be there for you. If you didn't pay in advance, you'll have to wait a week or two for the next shipment of that game to come in.
Are you against social fundraising? Do you see it as somehow a less ethical means of supporting a growth spurt for a company? If so, why?
By all means - contribute something to the topic.