Crowdfunding: Connecting Creators and Patrons

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth: Introduction

Sat, 25 Apr 2026 07:56:10 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Three Weeks for Dreamwidth is a celebration of the platform's anniversary, running April 25-May 15. During this time, people post content only visible on Dreamwidth (although it can be reposted elsewhere after the event ends). There's usually a flurry of activity as bloggers share anchor posts, new fiction, icons, banners, questionnaires, friending fests, memes, and other goodies. Community hosts often hold special activities in their communities too. Watch your reading page for more festivities.

Are you posting about crowdfunding? You can crosspost those entries here. Are you doing anything for Three Weeks in your blog or other community? Post a comment about that to attract more readers. Follow the Threeweeks feed. See my 2024 Questionnaire and a list of other thematic questionnaires.

( Read more... )

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Creative Jam

Sat, 18 Apr 2026 06:02:50 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Welcome to the 153rd Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, April 18-Sunday, April 19. The theme is "Progress."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

comments

April Monthly Post

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 03:44:35 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

What are your planned crowdfunding projects for April? What did you accomplish during March?

The April crowdfunding Creative Jam will run Saturday 18-Sunday 19 with a theme of "Progress."

comments

2026 Rose & Bay Award Winners

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 21:15:53 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

These are the winners for the 2026 award season of the Rose & Bay Awards:

Art: "Transformation Tarot" by MagicFlower
Fiction: Magpie Monday by dialecticdreamer
Poetry: "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka ysabetwordsmith
Webcomic: "Alien Romance" by gs_silva
Other Project: "The Far Roofs" by Jenna Katerin Moran
Patron: siliconshaman patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka ysabetwordsmith

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Creative Jam

Sun, 15 Mar 2026 00:24:02 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Welcome to the 152nd Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, March 14-Sunday, March 15. The theme is "Opportunity."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

comments

Runoff Vote for the Patron category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards

Tue, 03 Mar 2026 23:51:55 GMT

Posted by: fuzzyred

Voting is now closed.

There is a three-way tie in the Patron category, so there will be a runoff vote. The voting
will run from March 3 - March 15 and the winner will be announced March 16. As this is a runoff vote, each person may only vote for one project.

The winner of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards Patron category is Siliconshaman patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith

View Poll: Runoff Vote for Patron

comments

March Monthly Post

Sun, 01 Mar 2026 06:09:31 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

What are your planned crowdfunding projects for March? What did you accomplish during February?

The March crowdfunding Creative Jam will run Saturday 14-Sunday 15 with a theme of "Opportunity."

comments

Creative Jam

Sat, 14 Feb 2026 06:05:01 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Welcome to the 151st Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, February 14-Sunday, February 15. The theme is "Not Giving Up."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

comments

Voting for Rose & Bay 2026: Other Projects

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 01:23:02 GMT

Posted by: curiosity

Voting is now CLOSED for the OTHER PROJECTS category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards. Thank you for your participation!

~~Voting is now OPEN for the Other Projects category of the Rose and Bay Awards.~~ These awards honor excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes amazing projects that don't fit into any other area. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

( Read more... )

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Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Webcomic

Mon, 02 Feb 2026 01:11:01 GMT

Posted by: curiosity

Voting is now CLOSED for the WEBCOMIC category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards. Thank you for your participation!

~~Voting is now OPEN for the Webcomic category of the Rose and Bay Awards.~~ These awards honor excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes outstanding webcomics. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

( Read more... )

comments

Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Poetry

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 23:29:06 GMT

Posted by: fuzzyred

Voting is now CLOSED for the Poetry category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards. Thank you for your participation!

~~Voting is now open for the Poetry category of the Rose and Bay Awards.~~ These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional poetry. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2025 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Poetry category, the 2026 winner is "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette

( Read more... )

comments

Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Art

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 23:27:24 GMT

Posted by: fuzzyred

Voting is now CLOSED for the Art category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards. Thank you for your participation!

~~Voting is now open for the Art category of the Rose and Bay Awards.~~ These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional poetry. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2025 Rose & Bay Landing Page.

In the Art category, the 2026 winner is "Transformation Tarot" by MagicFlower.
( Read more... )

comments

Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Patron

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:18:56 GMT

Posted by: fuzzyred

Voting is now CLOSED for the Patron category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards. Thank you for your participation!

~~Voting is now open for the Patron category of the Rose and Bay Awards.~~ These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional artists. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Landing Page.

The winner of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards Patron category is Siliconshaman patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith

( Read more... )

**Edit: If you voted for the patron category on Feb 1, or early Feb 2, please vote again. I had to change the poll because I accidentally forgot a nominee. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Fuzzyred patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
Anthony Barrette patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
Siliconshaman patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
Sarah Williams aka Dialecticdreamer patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
Stacey R Van Keuren aka Librarygeek patron of "Poetry Fishbowl" by Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith
Elizabeth Barrette aka Ysabetwordsmith patron of Feathering the Nest by Sarah Williams aka Dialecticdreamer

comments

Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Fiction

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 21:12:31 GMT

Posted by: fuzzyred

Voting is now CLOSED for the Fiction category of the 2026 Rose & Bay Awards. Thank you for your participation!

~~Voting is now open for the Fiction category of the Rose and Bay Awards.~~ These awards honor excellence in cyberfunded creativity (aka crowdfunding), and this category recognizes exceptional artists. Everyone is encouraged to vote. Please read the complete details below, and then make your vote in the following poll. For more information about these awards, visit the 2026 Landing Page.

In the Fiction category, the 2026 winner is "Magpie Monday" by dialecticdreamer aka Sarah Williams.

( Read more... )

View Poll: Voting for 2026 Rose & Bay Awards: Fiction

comments

February Monthly Post

Sun, 01 Feb 2026 06:09:57 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

What are your planned crowdfunding projects for February? What did you accomplish during January?

The January crowdfunding Creative Jam will run Saturday 14-Sunday 15 with a theme of "Not Giving Up."

comments

Rose and Bay Awards

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 20:56:36 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

The 2026 Rose and Bay Awards are still open for excellence in crowdfunding. Today and tomorrow are the last days to nominate your favorite projects and patrons. If you have not yet done so, please do that now.

The award period for eligible activities spans January 1-December 31, 2025.
The nomination period spans January 1-January 31, 2026.
The voting period spans February 1-February 28, 2026.

These are the handlers for the 2026 award season:

Art: gs_silva Nominate art! Vote for art! (4)
Fiction: fuzzyred Nominate fiction! Vote for fiction! (3)
Poetry: gs_silva Nominate poetry! Vote for poetry! (3)
Webcomic: curiosity Nominate webcomics! Vote for webcomics! (3)
Other Project: curiosity Nominate other projects! Vote for other projects! (3)
Patron: fuzzyred Nominate patrons! Vote for patrons! (3)

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Website Updates

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 23:33:31 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Thanks to a lot of work by fuzzyred, you can now read A Poesy of Obscure Sorrows on its own landing page. :D This series of linguistic poetry uses novel words presented in The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows.

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Creative Jam

Sun, 18 Jan 2026 04:22:38 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

Welcome to the 150th Crowdfunding Creative Jam! This session will run Saturday, January 17-Sunday, January 18. The theme is "Memories."

Crowdfunding Creative Jam

Everyone is eligible to post prompts, which may be words or phrases, titles, images, etc. Prompters may request a specific creator, but everyone else may still use that prompt if they wish. Prompts may specify a particular character/world/etc. but creators may use the prompt for something else anyway and post the results. Prompters are still encouraged to post mostly prompts that anyone could use anywhere, as this maximizes the chance of having creators make something based on your prompt. Please title your comment "Prompt" or "Prompts" when providing inspiration so these are easy to find.

Prompt responses may also be treated as prompts and used for further inspiration. For example, a prompt may lead to a sketch which leads to a story, and so on. This kind of cascading inspiration is one of the most fun things about a collective jam session.

Everyone is eligible to use prompts, and everyone who wants to use a given prompt may do so, for maximum flexibility of creator choice in inspiration. You do not have to post a "Claim" reply when you decide to use a prompt, but this does help indicate what is going on so that other prompters can spread out their choice of prompts if they wish.

Creators are encouraged, but not required, to post at least one item free. Likewise, sharing a private copy of material with the prompter is encouraged but not required. Creative material resulting from prompts should be indicated in a reply to the prompt, with a link to the full content elsewhere on the creator's site (if desired); a brief excerpt and/or description of the material may be included in the reply (if desired). It helps to title your comment "Prompt Filled" or something like that so these are easy to identify. There is no time limit on responding to prompts. However, creators are encouraged to post replies sooner rather than later, as the attention of prompters will be highest during and shortly after the session.

Some items created from prompts may become available for sponsorship. Some creators may offer perks for donations, linkbacks, or other activity relating to this project. Check creator comments and links for their respective offerings.

Prompters, creators, and bystanders are expected to behave in a responsible and civil manner. If the moderators have to drag someone out of the sandbox for improper behavior, we will not be amused. Please respect other people's territory and intellectual property rights, and only play with someone else's characters/setting/etc. if you have permission. (Fanfic/fanart freebies are okay.) If you want to invite folks to play with something of yours, title the comment something like "Open Playground" so it's easy to spot. This can be a good way to attract new people to a shared world or open-source project, or just have some good non-canon fun.

Boost the signal! The more people who participate, the more fun this will be. Hopefully we'll see activity from a lot of folks who regularly mention their projects in this community, but new people are always welcome. You can link to this session post or to individual items created from prompts, whatever you think is awesome enough to recommend to your friends.

comments

Call for Themes

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:52:24 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

We've reached the end of scheduled themes for the Poetry Fishbowl project. It's time to brainstorm some new themes! If you have ideas, comment under the theme call post in my blog.

comments

January Monthly Post

Sat, 03 Jan 2026 00:18:58 GMT

Posted by: ysabetwordsmith

What are your planned crowdfunding projects for January? What did you accomplish during December?

The January crowdfunding Creative Jam will run Saturday 17-Sunday 18 with a theme of "Memories." This will be our 150th session, wow! Spread the news to all your creative friends and invite them to join us.

crowdfunding was created on September 9, 2010. Thank you all for sharing in this adventure!

Comments Received: 10,841
Journal Entries: 3,878
Tags: 89
Memories: 11
Icons Uploaded: 3

Interests: 52
Members: 225
Subscribers: 228

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Nominations for the 2026 Rose & Bay Award: Art

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 02:19:29 GMT

Posted by: gs_silva

Nominations are now OPEN for the Art category of the Rose & Bay Award. This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes poetry. Everyone is encouraged to make nominations and, later, to vote. Icons and banners are available to help spread the word. Please read the complete details below, and then make your nominations in a comment under this post.

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year. After that, it is eligible again. In the Art category, last year's winner was "Anubis & Bastet ☆ Pharaoh's Guardians ☆ Plush" by Kayla AKA

( What is The Rose and Bay Award? )

comments

Nominations for the 2026 Rose & Bay Award: Poetry

Fri, 02 Jan 2026 02:10:58 GMT

Posted by: gs_silva

Nominations are now OPEN for the Poetry category of the Rose & Bay Award. This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes poetry. Everyone is encouraged to make nominations and, later, to vote. Icons and banners are available to help spread the word. Please read the complete details below, and then make your nominations in a comment under this post.

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year. After that, it is eligible again. In the Poetry category, last year's winners were a TIE between The Neurodiversiverse: Alien Encounters - A Sci-Fi Anthology by Thinking Ink Press and The Haiku Foundation by The Haiku Foundation.

( What is The Rose and Bay Award? )

comments

Nomination for the 2026 Rose and Bay Award: Other Project

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 23:35:56 GMT

Posted by: curiosity

Nominations are now CLOSED. Thank you for your participation!

~~Nominations are now OPEN for the Other Project category of the Rose & Bay Award.~~ This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes exceptional works that don't fit neatly into other categories. Everyone is encouraged to make nominations and, later, to vote. Icons and banners are available to help spread the word. Please read the complete details below, and then make your nominations in a comment under this post.

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year. After that, it is eligible again. In the Other Project category, "The Mending Circle" by Martin Nerurkarwon last year.

( Read more... )

comments

Nominations for the 2026 Rose & Bay Award: Webcomic

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 23:23:53 GMT

Posted by: curiosity

Nominations are now CLOSED. Thank you for your participation!

~~Nominations are now OPEN for the Webcomic category of the Rose & Bay Award.~~ This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes webcomics. Everyone is encouraged to make nominations and, later, to vote. Icons and banners are available to help spread the word. Please read the complete details below, and then make your nominations in a comment under this post.

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year. After that, it is eligible again. In the Webcomic category, "Bronwyn: Short Story Collection" by Isaac George won last year.

( Read more... )

comments

Nominations for 2026 Rose & Bay Award: Fiction

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 18:06:37 GMT

Posted by: fuzzyred

Nominations are now CLOSED. Thank you for your participation!

~~Nominations are OPEN for the Fiction category of the Rose & Bay Award.~~ This award honors excellence in creative crowdfunding, and this category recognizes exceptional writers. Everyone is encouraged to make nominations and, later, to vote. Icons and banners are available to help spread the word. Please read the complete details below, and then make your nominations in a comment under this post.

Note: A project or person which wins one year is not eligible in the same category for the next year. After that, it is eligible again. The 2025 winner of the Fiction category was "Feathering the Nest" by dialecticdreamer aka Sarah Williams.
( Read more... )

comments