It's been a while since I've gotten so excited just encountering a poster in the Mission, but the 7 Squared Project was so aligned with my values that I had to learn more about it and do what I could to help. I think readers will agree with me, once they view the earnest and creative vision that two San Francisco filmmakers are pursuing, along with a group of 14 local nonprofits and businesses to fund a mini-documentary series.
The 7 Squared Project is a community-based fundraising campaign that aims to produce a series of mini-documentaries for 14 organizations that are doing purposeful, socially responsible work in San Francisco. The objective of the project is to involve as many members of the community as possible, from the seven nonprofits and seven businesses directly involved, all the way to the individuals in San Francisco who support them with patronage or volunteering. The 7 Squared Project accomplishes this by providing a large offering of gifts – 41 in total, and in many cases exclusive to the project – for every single donation made above $25.
Every gift is attached to a specific level of donation and is offered from one of the 14 organizations involved in the project. Each nonprofit or business has a micro-goal of $3,500 to have their respective mini-documentary produced, and the funding goal for The 7 Squared Project as a whole is $49,000. The filmmakers and project creators, Amber Crosby and Kyle Garrett, will produce one documentary for every $3,500 raised during the campaign – whether the project falls short of its funding goal or exceeds it.
The campaign is being funded on IndieGoGo, a crowdfunding website, and ends just before midnight on August 14, 2011. The mini-documentaries will be released beginning in September 2011. The 7 Squared Project hopes to produce more than the targeted 14 mini-documentaries.
Amber Crosby noted, “If the project is a success, we hope it can serve as a model to inspire similar projects all over the country." Kyle Garrett added, “The idea of creating documentaries about places in San Francisco that we love is why we came up with this idea. But our greater hope is that the communal nature of the project goes deeper than just the interactions between the organizations ... there is certainly something for everyone to receive – whether it’s a documentary, a job creating those documentaries, or an awesome gift from one of the incredible organizations involved ... there is so much to give and share.”
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