Ever heard of Kickstarter? It’s a site you can use to raise money for a project – music, art, journalism, technology, a whole host of categories – through online backers that pledge money. The project creator sets a goal, and people pledge money. It’s all-or-nothing funding, which means if the project doesn’t meet a goal they don’t get a dime — all the pledges get canceled. Sound frustrating? Kickstarter’s FAQ page explains why. It’s less risk for everyone involved and it takes. As the page says, “it’s tough having $2,000 and a bunch of people expecting you to complete a $5,000 project.” Also, people can test out their concepts – if it looks like it won’t fly, the few people who did pledge won’t lose out. And it motivates people to spread the word.

If you’re looking to save the day, all you have to do is head over to the “discover projects section” and click on “ending soonest.” Then you’ll see everything in the order of how long they have left. You can also separate them by category. There are a few ending this weekend that are close to their goal.

In music, for example, there’s Suzy Sellout, who is looking for money to record a demo and needs, at this time, about $300 more. Many others, like the We Can Do It! Campaign are ending soon but are farther from their goals.

Some campaigns surpass their goals before their deadlines. Remember Brooklyn Soda Works? They funded their project through Kickstarter and raised 190% of their goal.

So, my dirty-handed friends, have you ever backed a project? Why? Category? Uniqueness? Flashy graphics on their Kickstarter page? Because it was someone you know?