2012 is the year of the Dragon! Do you have an idea for a product that you've been dying to create?  Something you know people would love but you don't have the know-how or the capital to even dream about beginning?  Well... guess what?  You live in the 21st century so you don't need know-how OR money!  One of the latest methods of raising private money for your projects is a concept called "crowd-sourcing".  Basically, if the idea is a good one you can create a summary of your idea, with a video, put it out there for the world to see and offer people rewards (that you will give them in the future) or allow them to pre-order a product before it's made in order to raise enough money to make the product come to life.  One of the most popular websites out there that supports this type of fund raising is www.kickstarter.com.  They have developed a platform that allows people to create "campaigns" for any sort of artistic project or product with any monetary goal for whatever it is you need money for, and people can become "backers" for your idea.  They put up a little bit of money and are allowed to pre-order something or they get some other sort of kick-back from becoming a sponsor.

I have recently created a campaign for a dual-language children's book that I am writing and I am offering it on Kickstarter.  The books are not printed, but as soon as I reach my goal (of $2400 for publishing) the books will be printed and shipped to all of my backers.  Other rewards include things like a kids' puzzle with some of the illustrations on it, a printed book tote bag, a mousepad with the book character on it, etc.  But if I don't reach the $2400 goal, all the money is returned to the backers and I don't get to print the book!~  Take a look at this video I made and if you know anyone who might be interested, PLEASE forward it along to them!  The campaign has been on the website for about a week and a half now, and I have already raised over $700 toward my goal.  

So if you have a project that you've been wanting to get underway, I would strongly encourage you to check out this website for your own benefit.  Take a look at what is on the site now, get a feel for the things that are being successfully funded, and try to figure out how your product could succeed in this type of campaign.  There are also other crowd-sourcing websites out there like:  www.indiegogo.com 

Good luck!