I realize this is a bit off topic, but hope it's forgivable as I'd say the crowd funding sites like Kickstarter display a spirit akin to that of the Free and Open Source Software community (i.e. people from all over the Internet pitching in to help bring a project to fruition rather than just big money banks and corporations getting to decide what gets made..)
My brother, Sam, just launched a kickstarter project here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/538185773/monster-of-the-sky-a-mythic-ta...
If you're not familiar with kickstarter, it's a crowd funding site.
According to wikipedia: Crowd funding describes the collective effort of individuals who network and pool their money, usually via the Internet, to support efforts initiated by other people or organizations. Crowd funding is used in support of a wide variety of activities, including disaster relief, citizen journalism, support of artists by fans, political campaigns, startup company funding, movie or free software development, inventions development and scientific research.
Basically, once it goes live, they have 30-40 days to meet their goal of $25k for the film or they don't get any of the pledged donations. Contributors' accounts don't get charged unless the team meets its goal, so there really is little risk to donors, and they can get some pretty cool swag as rewards if the project actually goes through. Plus, if you like the idea behind the project, it's a really cool chance to be part of something larger than one's self.
Please check it out, consider donating, and spread the word to anyone else you think might be interested.
Thanks, Jonathan