ABCs of Crowdfunding: C is for Contributors

originally written for the Saskatchewan Community Futures Development Corporation

In a nutshell, as many people now know, crowdfunding is the internet-based financing approach to acquire “pennies from many” to support all kinds of people, projects, ideas, initiatives, causes, companies, communities, creations and inventions.

I’ve been both a campaigner and a contributor to crowdfunding campaigns for a few years now, so it often surprises me that people still ask the question, “Why should I contribute to a campaign?”
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Just Because…

So two weekends ago I had a rare gift: I got to spend two days in New York City, where I lived for a few years more than three decades ago. I had only gone back a couple of times after I moved away, and even that was still 20 years ago.  A lot of living was packed into that short time.

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Why Don’t We Ask for Help? (Intro)

So this is a big topic for me.  I’m probably going to write five posts on it…that’s how many different reasons I’ve come up with so far for why in God’s name we don’t ask for help when we need it. To ask for help is to make yourself vulnerable in a moment. To admit a lack of something, a chink in the armor of your otherwise amazing-ness, is like, well, it can be embarrassing. And scary. In this first post, I need to set this all up. Let’s talk a bit  about predictive science, the brain, generalization and melting butter.

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The Perfect Mother’s Day Gift for New Mothers: A Crystal Ball

(First posted on May 6, 2016 on the Huffington Post)

I’m Skyping with my friend Marie the other day, and as we’re solving the world’s problems, the subject turns to the upcoming May 8 holiday celebrating moms. We’re both moms of now-adult children, so it makes us a bit reflective on the subject. She says, “I always said the perfect Mother’s Day gift would be a crystal ball…The perfect gift you could never have.”

“Hah! No kidding,” I reply.

But what if there was? What if we could make an imaginary crystal ball, a shining orb of mom-wisdom? Stuff we wished we’d known when we were newbies. So we talk, and compare notes, like we do.

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When is Returning a Gift its Own Gift? (Part IV: A New Story)

(Continued from Part III)

We clambered down in the dark, and I ripped the dress off (as carefully as one could in a super-hurry). We now had maybe 10 minutes. I’d instructed the guys to start the second set with an instrumental if I wasn’t back by the start time; that would give us an additional four minutes if needed. The swing dancer crowd had arrived, so they’d be super-cool with that.
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David Seymour

When Returning a Gift is its own Gift (Part III: The Last Dance)

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(Continued from Part II)

I didn’t know it at the time, but today would be the last time I wore the dress. It had been pouring rain all day, but miraculously it stopped and the sun came out just before our Jazz Festival show. Puddles were everywhere, but the sun sparkled in them all, casting flirty jewels of light all around the outdoor venue. Held in an outdoor garden center with statuary, fountains and trees full of fairy lights, the scene was set for a magical early evening performance.
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When is Returning a Gift its Own Gift? (Part II: The Spirit Dress)

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(Continued from Part I)

About a year ago Marsha and I went together to a friend’s house concert. We were sitting cross-legged on floor pillows and drinking wine. “How’s the dress?” she asked at one of the set breaks. “It’s good,” I said. “I wore it a lot. It must be awfully tired by now.” We laughed. “Yah, it’s even older than we are,” she said. We agreed the poor dress might want to retire one of these days.

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