I don't think that it is clear to many people what a Kickstarter is actually. It is neither and investment, nor a pre-order. I personally view it more as a gift, which perhaps has a reward at some point. The backer "rewards" are aptly named- they aren't items for purchase, but something you might receive if the project happens to be successful.
When I back Kickstarter projects, I personally have no expectation of getting anything. I just want to see something cool happen.
While perhaps off topic, this is pretty much the model we take with the Awesome Foundation. We give money to people with a cool idea, expect nothing in return, and simply hope that they do something great with it. We take no ownership, and if it fails then that's ok. It was up to our judgement if we wanted to back them or not, and if we failed in that judgement then thats our fault and just a lesson to learn from.
Whatever it is called, you should never gift, invest, etc more than you can afford to write off and lose.
I feel too, that's it's sort of a gift or a "vote" that this project/idea should happen.
It's very much an "if, if, then" proposition. If you donate X amount and if we're able to build Y, then you'll get Z.
I think the risk is entirely on the donors, but since it is crowdsourced and the large majority of donations are so small, it seems like a fair trade most of the time.
The big problem comes when you get people donating 1k, 5k, 10k, etc and not seeing any return. I think those are the times where funds are seen more as "investments."
When I back Kickstarter projects, I personally have no expectation of getting anything. I just want to see something cool happen.
While perhaps off topic, this is pretty much the model we take with the Awesome Foundation. We give money to people with a cool idea, expect nothing in return, and simply hope that they do something great with it. We take no ownership, and if it fails then that's ok. It was up to our judgement if we wanted to back them or not, and if we failed in that judgement then thats our fault and just a lesson to learn from.
Whatever it is called, you should never gift, invest, etc more than you can afford to write off and lose.