one in five million, seven hundred eight thousand, five hundred seventy-eight

Yep, that would be me!
According to the email kickstarter sent me today, I am one of 5,708,578 backers who have helped raise funds toward other people's hopes and dreams. As of today, we collectively have given one billion dollars to help others since the birth of kickstarter in April of 2009.
Wow!
Of that great number of backers, there are 4,018,599 backers who only gave to a single project, most likely one started by someone they knew. (As you know, that's how I started, in May of 2011).
That makes me one of 1,689,979 backers who returned to help fund a second project, or third, or even more, after that rush from a successful first funding. Of the many backers in kickstarter's five-year history, I am part of the 30%, roughly, who continued supporting the creative projects of others.
Sah-weet!
I'm also one of 15,932 backers who have funded more than 50 projects. That means I'm one of the 0.3% of people who repeatedly have sought out worthy or interesting projects and backed them. All together, I have backed seventy-six projects. Of those, sixty-two succeeded in attaining their funding goals. Of the fourteen which did not succeed, four tried a second time and were successful funding their dream. (Actually, there were five, but one successfully sought funds outside kickstarter.)
Alright, alright, alright!
One last set of numbers for you, then on to other topics. I promise!
Here's the real doozy: I am one of only 1627 backers who have successfully funded projects in all thirteen categories. In other words, I've completed my pie of colors, lending my financial support (and words of encouragement!) to those seeking funding in theatre, art, comics, dance, design, fashion, film & video, food, games, music, photography, publishing, and technology.
That makes me part of only 0.03% of all kickstarter backers.
Pretty special - at least that's how I feel after that congratulatory email!
I really needed that pat on the back from the site.
You see, late last year, I stumbled upon a page called "Backer history" that I was not aware of in kickstarter. As a backer, this page was designed for me to mark off my rewards as I received them, allowing me to know at a glance which project creators were keeping their end of the deal ...and which were not.
I've been a member of kickstarter since May of 2011 and I had no idea such a page existed. Oops! That means I had been remiss in marking off rewards received!
Tsk tsk.
Even worse, I had failed to remind project creators that I had not yet received a reward. I lend support to quite a few of the local film students, for example, projects which cap off their senior year. After the project is complete, they graduate, move on, move away. Sure, it would be nice if they remembered to make sure the rewards had been given prior to their departure, but sometimes the making of the dvd or cd takes much more time than they had anticipated. Time marches on, we all forget, n'est-ce pas?
Indeed. I am fortunate: when I began receiving my rewards, I purchased one of those protective plastic boxes and made sure all items found their way to that box. That worked very well for the books and postcards and T-shirts! All music cds and film dvds went on shelves which housed other such items.
So, when I tasked myself with checking off the rewards for all of the projects listed in my "Backer history", I at least had a starting point to verify receipt. Thank God! What a process that was! But it was my responsibility to update that list, so I did.
Mostly, I found I had received all that was promised to me. That was good news!
For those projects that had not yet sent rewards, several are still in progress, even though deadlines are long past. That's okay with me. As long as they are still posting updates, I know the creators are still being responsible.
Of the other projects, most of the creators have been quick to respond to my queries. That's good, too!
I only have three that are not responding. I'm going to continue to be patient, but I do have recourse: I can contact kickstarter about them, to see if that site has an alternate means of cajoling folks to do the right thing. I would rather not have to do that; I will continue to try to get those creators to respond to me.
It's not like I had given these three a lot of money. The quantity of money is not the point. We entered into an agreement when the creators listed rewards for different backing levels and I selected a level and backed their project. The very moment that they were in receipt of the funds is the very moment they agreed to uphold their end of the bargain.
I'll give them a little more time.
I had faith in them when I backed their project; I will continue to have faith.