So a few years ago I wondered if this idea would work: live entirely based on crowd funding, getting people (not employers) to pay you every month to do what you want to do. Sounds kinda crazy. Shopped the idea around to a handful of people and they all said I was crazy. Nobody would want to fund other people’s life that way.

Today I found out that in May 2013, a site that does exactly that was launched. It’s called Patreon. The aim is to bring the old patronage system back and give it a modern spin. Everything would be tracked and the site owners take 8% fee from each pledge; 3% credit card processing and 5% commission which they say goes to running and maintaining the site.

Patreon is dedicated to funding artists or creators, people who make things, basically, and it can be pretty much anything as long as it’s continuous. The patrons can stop funding any time.

I don’t know how popular it is and it’s only been up for less than a year, so its success has yet to be entirely determined. Will be keeping an eye on this.