Contributors are how Indiegogo projects get funded. Some contributors return again and again. Meet Praveen, who has contributed to 14 Indiegogo campaigns.

Praveen Sinha

Praveen is a software engineer and all around hacker living in San Francisco. He is passionate about up and coming technology and social justice.  Among other things, he is a microtrustee of San Francisco Awesome Foundation, a founding member of Liberating Ourselves Locally, and can also often be found at the Noisebridge hacker collective in the Mission.

How did you first find out about crowdfunding/Indiegogo?

I first found out about crowdfunding, when my friend and artist/entrepreneur Jerry Paffendorf was able to raise enough money to erect a statue of Robocop in Detroit.  Since then I saw a number of Burning Man related projects being successfully funded through Indiegogo.

What motivates you to be a part of a campaign as a contributor?

I have a couple of reasons for contributing to campaigns:

• One of the big reasons is mutual aid for friends and community projects.  I am lucky to live in an amazingly creative place, and am surrounded smart and talented people that I want to support.
• I often give to projects and people that are a little outside the mainstream view, and are often marginalized and in need of support.
• Finally, I love getting an edge on bleeding edge tech that is up and coming and get a sneak peak through project rewards.

Could you choose one or two campaigns you’ve contributed to and share why you liked these campaigns and supported them?

Blow the whistle on Stop and Whistle was a really creative protest to draw attention to racial profiling in Brooklyn.   Even though I didn’t live there, this was a community based response to a bad policing policy that had the threat of going national.  To get a protest like this off the ground would be very difficult before crowdfunding.

The Temple of Transition is a centerpiece Burning Man project.  I go to Burning Man year after year, and the Temple is a big reason why.  I am very grateful to be able to support a project like this.

MuBiome is doing gut biome sequencing.  That is just hella sexy and who doesn’t want their intestinal flora sequenced?

Have you experienced any serendipity as a result of contributing to crowdfunding campaigns?

I have been able to meet cool people through rewards like t-shirts, which publicly indicated who I crowd funded.  It’s also a really great feeling to meet someone who is heading up a project that you have never met before and be like “I crowdfunded you!  You are awesome!”.

What would you raise money for if you ran a campaign?

We will be crowdfunding soon for Liberating Ourselves Locally — this is a hacker/maker/diyspace in East Oakland that is dedicated to advancing STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) and entrepreneurism in communities of women, people of color, low income, etc. in a grassroots bottom up fashion.

Thank you to Praveen for helping the dreams of others come to life! If you’re interested in helping too, check out some of our Popular Campaigns!