One of the most FAQ I get is “How do I raise money for my show?”

While raising money seems like one of the greatest challenges you will face, it’s not.  Creating a great show is a lot harder than raising money for it (and if you do the creation right, the raising part will be easier than passing Obama’s Health Care plan if Scott Brown wasn’t in office).

Raising money takes creativity, like our ladies involved in the “Producer Off” (who, by the way, lost a pair of oven mitts last week . . . it’s getting steamy over there).

There are people out there that will fund anything.  Think about it.  Imagine the worst show, the worst art exhibit, the worst book, restaurant, movie, product, etc. that you have ever paid for.  Someone invested in it or donated to make it happen.  And if those crap-tastic things can find funding, certainly you can, too!

I call this The Moose Murders Factor.  And I remind myself of this mantra whenever I start searching for the right people to invest in my shows.

They’re out there . . . you just have to find them.

Here’s a website that’s trying to help folks like you find funders.

It’s called Kickstarter.com and it’s a self-proclaimed “funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers . . . ”

Here’s how it works:

You post a project with a fundraising goal.  People see it (and you push people to it). People fund it, sometimes a dollar at a time.  You reach your goal, you get the cash.  You don’t reach your goal, you get zilch (this more or less guarantees the funders that your project will be completed).

Pretty simple, right? (You can read more about it here.)

The biggest catch is that Kickstarter isn’t open to everyone yet.  Projects are accepted by invitation only.  But, it was founded by a guy in Brooklyn, so I figure if we can’t find some invites, we can all just go bang on his door until he spreads some love to Producer’s Perspective readers.

My only other annoyance?  Theater isn’t a category/tag.  While you can post a project about anything (and there are a few theater projects on the site), you can’t filter by it.  Once again . . . dude, you live in Brooklyn, there are a zillion theater peeps living seven to a room just a few blocks from you.  Help ’em out!

And if we can’t get some assistance from KS, maybe one of you entrepreneurial web geniuses out there will start your own version just for the non-profit performing arts.

Because Moose Murders got money.  So can you.

Need more tips on how to raise money for your project?  Click here to read all my best practices.