Creators: Establish Relationships

In addition to raising funds, initial evidence finds that creators are motivated to engage in crowdfunding for the direct connection to the funders through a long term interaction that extends beyond the moment of the financial transaction. An informant noted: “[The funding process] creates a longer-term connection to people that you know. Weeks later, months later, you’re still interacting, and they are expecting to get something….I

think potentially you can build relationships with people, you know, over the course of time.”

Such committed long-term interactions allow creators to collaborate directly with funders, blurring the role between
producer and consumer. An informant noted:

“[Participating in Kickstarter] made me realize that I don’t
want my projects to be like only mine. Like, I want others to
share in my projects. So, I think all of my projects moving
forward, they would all have some type of either
interactive, interactivity to them? Or some means of crowd-
based engagement.”

The long term relationship stands in contrast to the short
term relationship that occurs in many online financial
transactions, however it is consistent with many online
communities that are not focused on financial transactions,
such as online discussion communities [13].