Kickstarter: Reading Rainbow online for schools

[DaddyTorgo]

There's a separate Kickstarter thread, but this clearly deserves its own.

Bring Reading Rainbow Back for Every Child, Everywhere. by LeVar Burton & Reading Rainbow — Kickstarter

LeVar Burton is doing a kickstarter for $1m (they're basically halfway there on the first day) to take the Reading Rainbow app and pivot it to the internet so that it can be used in classrooms, and then they'll donate it to schools that can't afford it so that kids everywhere can use it and discover books.

I'm literally like...teary-eyed at my desk. This is so feel-good.

[Subby]

There's a kickstarter thread. Use it.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Subby

There's a kickstarter thread. Use it.

This deserves its own based on its sure appeal to many of our childhoods.

[Blackadar]

Or not.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Blackadar

Or not.

I weep for your childhood then.

[digamma]

Hmm...I guess I always assumed Reading Rainbow was a non-profit, but it looks like not. If Reading Rainbow floats your boat, great. If you want to support a really great non-profit that puts books in kids hands, check out First Book.

[Grover]

Looked this morning, it was at $70K, last check over $550K.

[stevew]

Reading Rainbow was the shit that was on when GIJoe was preempted for an after school special.

I could maybe get behind Picture Pages though.

[ColtCrazy]

Originally Posted by stevew

Reading Rainbow was the shit that was on when GIJoe was preempted for an after school special.

I could maybe get behind Picture Pages though.

Exactly. Picture Pages >>>>>> Reading Rainbow

[General Mike]

I loved Reading Rainbow as a kid. I can still remember some of the books they featured on it

[JonInMiddleGA]

It debuted when I was finishing my junior year of high school.

Apparently "damn I'm old" would be fitting here.

[MacroGuru]

1.3 million on launch day...that is awesome...

I know Wil Wheaton and several other celebrities got behind this one...

[stevew]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

It debuted when I was finishing my junior year of high school.

Apparently "damn I'm old" would be fitting here.

So would "You didn't miss much".

I didn't realize it was private. I wonder how much payola went on. It's interesting how their $9.99/month app must have failed to reach traction.

[Blackadar]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I weep for your childhood then.

Reading Rainbow wasn't around during my childhood.

[Matthean]

[Subby]

You might want to reconsider that donation to the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Subby

You might want to reconsider that donation to the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter

That article's pretty misleading.

It's addressed in his AMA that he did on Reddit today for one, and also in the reddit comment thread about the kickstarter.

Watch his videos on the kickstarter page, breeze through his AMA - the guy is as genuine as they come.

It's not necessarily about teaching illiterate kids to read IMO as it is inspiring a love of reading, a love of learning, in all kids. This isn't "hooked on phonics" or something. It's about the next generation of kids picking up a book and exercising their minds.

So no, it's not a charity for teaching kids to read. It's a company (for-profit, non-profit, whatever) that I believe, based on the track-record of the guy in charge, is passionately devoted to exposing kids to quality books.

[digamma]

I'm missing how the article is misleading. The main point is that the kickstarter is being pushed as a charitable pursuit when in reality RRKidz is a for profit corporation selling a subscription product.

The subscription product may be great and the people running it may be great people who deserve to be successful, but that's not really the point.

As the article said (and as I posted yesterday):

If you’re donating to the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter out of nostalgia for a show you watched and loved, by all means, proceed.

But if you’re donating to Reading Rainbow because of the grandiose charity rhetoric Burton’s employing on Kickstarter, you might want to look elsewhere — maybe the nonprofit Children’s Literacy Initiative or the Washington, D.C.-based First Book, both of which get high grades from Charity Navigator.

I think the most interesting point of the article is the one made just prior to that, and it's what initially rubbed me the wrong way about the kickstarter campaign:

All this adds up to a criticism that has been levied at high-profile Kickstarter campaigns before: Crowdfunding is theoretically supposed to bolster charities, start-ups, independent artists, small-business owners and other projects that actually need the financial support of the masses to succeed. It’s not supposed to be co-opted by companies with profit motives and private investors of their own … which, despite Burton’s charisma, is exactly what the Rainbow reboot is.

I think the paragraph is a little bit over the top, but the basic point is that RR clearly had other potential capital raising options. They either failed with those or chose not to pursue them, and in either case, landed in a spot where they can capitalize on publicity, nostalgia and whatever else, without really having to be accountable--other than sending out thank you tweets and having Burton, who I do not doubt is fantastic and sincere and a great picnic guest, show up at a few lunches and dinners.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by digamma

I'm missing how the article is misleading. The main point is that the kickstarter is being pushed as a charitable pursuit when in reality RRKidz is a for profit corporation selling a subscription product.

The subscription product may be great and the people running it may be great people who deserve to be successful, but that's not really the point.

As the article said (and as I posted yesterday):



I think the most interesting point of the article is the one made just prior to that, and it's what initially rubbed me the wrong way about the kickstarter campaign:



I think the paragraph is a little bit over the top, but the basic point is that RR clearly had other potential capital raising options. They either failed with those or chose not to pursue them, and in either case, landed in a spot where they can capitalize on publicity, nostalgia and whatever else, without really having to be accountable--other than sending out thank you tweets and having Burton, who I do not doubt is fantastic and sincere and a great picnic guest, show up at a few lunches and dinners.

They'll sell the subscription product to those who can afford it in order to have revenue to reinvest in the company so that they can continue to product more material. They're going to give it away free to schools/libraries/etc. that can't afford to pay for it.

And there's nothing "shady" about that - they say that right in the video, right in the text, etc.

On your second point: You'd rather the company go into debt or sell part of itself to someone that'd force a profit motive onto them and try to make $$ off of them rather than take an average of an average of like $50 from people who have an appreciation for what the show did for them in their childhood and want to "pay it forward?"

[digamma]

First, they have a profit motive. I'm not criticizing that; I just think it is important to recognize.

Second, I could care less what they do. They can run their company as they see fit. And this obviously ended up being great business decision for them. My only commentary is that the use of Kickstarter by known entities is interesting to me. Maybe the response they get is more interesting.

Anyhow, it isn't for me. I don't have an emotional or nostalgic tie to the product that would lead me to donate money to the company, particularly when I think there are other organizations which do similar things really well and for which I believe I'm better incentivized to contribute.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Given how many bands I follow on social media, I'm so over the whole crowdfunding appeals that I can't really describe how much so.

Fatigue has definitely set in afaic.