IndieGoGo Passes $100,000 in Member Contributions

Slava Rubin sent me excellent news that over $100,000 has been raised by filmmakers on IndieGoGo in its short 15-month history so far. Congratulations to IndieGoGo, and thank you for continuing to include The Film Panel Notetaker as a resource. Read more about the announcement below. Cheers!

Berkeley, California, May 13, 2009 – Indiegogo.com, the most trafficked website for film funding, marked its fifteen month anniversary by passing $100,000 in member contributions. Founded on the principles of opportunity, transparency, choice, and action, IndieGoGo addresses fundraising and promotion challenges by giving any filmmaker an open platform and the turn-key solutions to pitch their projects to the world. Fans get the opportunity for VIP perks and influence the once inaccessible world of filmmaking.

Since launching in January 2008 at the Sundance Film Festival, IndieGoGo has:

• Become the most trafficked website for film funding with over 1,000,000 pageviews
• Raised over $100,000 in contributions ranging from $5-$5000; many contributions have come outside of the filmmaker’s immediate network
• Empowered over 5,000 filmmakers in 93 countries
• Enabled over 1600 free project profiles including award winners at Sundance and beyond
• Included projects ranging from comedies and horrors to social cause documentaries; from features to webisodes, and scripts to distribution support
• Reached 100’s of thousands of widget impressions across 1100+ sites
• Given fans access to many VIP perks including film credits, cast parties, and speaking roles
• Partnered with Facebook, IFP, the largest U.S. non-profit film organization, Tubemogul, and the Workbook Project
• Participated in industry-leading discussions at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals, Internet Week NY & Power to the Pixel
• Built a strong grassroots following in the blogosphere, Facebook, and Twitter

"IndieGoGo is proud that its members have raised over $100,000 in contributions,” said IndieGoGo Co-Founder Slava Rubin. A Wharton undergraduate-educated former strategy consultant, Rubin traded his eight years with Fortune 500 clients like Goldman Sachs and Fedex, to partner with a pair of UC Berkeley MBA graduates to create IndieGoGo and empower filmmakers. Danae Ringelmann, a six-year veteran in media banking with clients including Lionsgate, Pixar, and Universal, became the chief of finance and customer development. While Eric Schell, a tech consulting veteran with clients including AOL and VISA, became the Chief Technology Officer.

With over 1600 projects on IndieGoGo there have already been many case studies of fundraising and promotion. “As projects demonstrate success on IndieGoGo, they have parlayed that into reaching new production milestones, winning festival awards, and even getting distribution deals,” said Rubin. Some highlights include TAPESTRIES OF HOPE, FLOW, THE LILLIPUT, UP WITH ME, and GEMINI RISING. "Like the music industry, filmmakers are looking for easy online solutions. We are excited so many members have chosen IndieGoGo to empower their DIWO (Do-It-With-Others) approach to fundraising and filmmaking.”

About IndieGoGoIndiegogo.com is a website that connects filmmakers and fans to make more film happen. Launched in 2008 on the principles of opportunity, transparency, choice, and action, IndieGoGo’s goal is to addresses fundraising and promotion challenges by giving any filmmaker an open platform and the turn-key solutions to pitch their projects to the world. IndieGoGo is the most trafficked site in film funding and has been featured in top-tier media and blogs including BBC, AP, Reuters, Filmmaker Magazine, Techcrunch, and global conferences like the Sundance Film Festival. IndieGoGo is headquartered in Berkeley, CA.