What Makes Cyberfunded Creativity Work?

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flutterbychild asked what makes a particular cyberfunded creativity project more successful than others. Here are some things that seem helpful:

A lively audience. A group of interesting people all talking together helps attract new members. Networking among CFC creators and donors helps introduce people to new projects, as does cyberfund_creat.

High audience/artist interactivity. This is a hallmark of CFC and most projects include it. People love to get involved. haikujaguar uses audience comments on the art reel to decide which sketches to paint, and chlorophyta posted a recent call for extinct animals to be drawn on buttons.

Perks for frequent posters, donors, etc. People love getting things for free, and this is an effective way to reward behavior that you want to encourage. I always post a custom-Friends-locked post for my donors after each Poetry Fishbowl. The Aphorisms of Kherishdar has a page listing all the people who donated to that project in its various phases.

A sense of personal connection. Donors frequently cite this as a reason why they donate to a particular creator. They not only like supporting a favorite flavor of literature, art, etc. but also supporting a creative person whom they want to see succeed. It's less important in some other venues -- remember LJ isn't the only one -- but here there's a very strong networking trend. shadesong gives frequent updates on her life and family, which helped drum up interest for a fund drive to send her daughter to summer camp. When I polled my audience for what they wanted more of, personal posts topped the list, and I'd been using my blog mainly for professional exposure.

Specific projects for donors to support. This not only lets donors put their money in an area of maximum interest, it gives creators a way to track what is most successful and popular. ellenmillion has an interesting "portrait adoption" feature in her graphics gallery. haikujaguar held a fundraiser to buy new paintbrushes, and then posted about why good brushes are essential.

Ongoing involvement via series fiction, artistic progress reports, regularly repeating events, etc. Benefits include giving people more of what they enjoy, and providing a long window of participation for people who want to contribute but may only have spare money occasionally. haikujaguar is well into a second series of stories, "The Admonishments of Kherishdar." shadesong even created shayara for fans of her Sharaya stories. I hold a Poetry Fishbowl on my blog once a month.

What are some other things that creators find effective and/or donors find appealing in CFC projects?