If called upon to imagine a historical benefactor, you might picture someone with a royal title before his name like "Count" or "Duke" and bags of money stored in some type of treasure chest (think Uncle Scrooge McDuck). The modern equivalent would likely be someone like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet, who is giving away billions of dollars yet still has billions in the bank. The common theme: Being a benefactor throughout history has almost always been about size.

Well, what if we lived in a world where this was no longer true? A world in which you didn't need to be a billionaire or rule your own kingdom in order to fund something significant? You might find the answer at Kickstarter.com, a site dedicated to making this dream of small-scale benefaction a reality. On Kickstarter, anyone can enter an idea for anything, along with an amount of money that they need in order to "kickstart" their project and make it happen. You can browse the current projects and donate money to any cause you feel worthy of contributing to and the rewards range from karmic good vibes to getting your name in the end credits of a film.

Though a single donation may be small (suggestions begin at five dollars), if the right individuals are inspired by the work, they can take the place of those old, royal benefactors and contribute to its funding. The site features everything from film and art projects to entrepreneurs seeking seed money--if you have a dream for doing something but lack the resources, or you have a dream of helping others find resources, Kickstarter can help.

For example, featured recently was a grant request for $10,000 to fund a film called Brasslands about the World's Largest Trumpet Festival, which takes place annually in a small town in Serbia. The project is more than two-thirds funded already with more than two weeks left. It's not just niche video or creative projects that you'll find on Kickstarter, though. A recent successfully-funded project was the Providence Juice Company, an idea for a mobile food truck that promises to, "sell fresh juice and smoothies from a stunning, converted Grumman Kurbmaster food truck at farmers markets, festivals, sporting events and parks" in Providence, Rhode Island.

Why is a juice truck or a film about a trumpet festival so significant? Because, for the first time in history, any one of us can be a benefactor. New movements and ideas can erupt, funded entirely by small amounts of cash from passionate followers. More importantly, each of us can dictate and support a trend based on what we believe in and what we like. In this way, Kickstarter is not just helping anyone get funded to do what they love... they are involving a much wider base of supporters in the process.

Ultimately this makes the world around us more rewarding--not necessarily because we wrote the script for it, but because we helped buy the pen and pay for the ink. For offering anyone the power to fund--or start--a cultural revolution a few bucks at a time, Kickstarter.com is Character Approved.

[Image: Kickstarter Blog]