Flow Motion Owner Alyssa Springs set out in April to raise $49,000 in 40 days via a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to finance the creation of Whatcom County’s first and only salt cave. By the deadline of midnight last night, over 200 backers had pledged over $50,000.
Springs detailed the expected project costs on the project’s Kickstarter page as follows.
- $20,000 5 tons of Himalayan salt bricks and boulders shipped from the source
- $17,000 General contractor and design services
- $7,000 An imported Halo Generator (salt vaporizer)
- $5,000 Kickstarter fees
Backers receive rewards ranging from passes to visit the salt cave to lifetime memberships to all the services offered by Flow Motion depending on the amount pledged. At the beginning of the crowdfunding effort, Springs noted, “This is an all or nothing effort since no money changes hands unless the campaign goal is reached by the deadline.”
When asked why she was pursuing crowdfunding instead of conventional financing, Springs explained conventional financing, something she had used for building other aspects of the Flow Motion facility, located at 1920 Main Street, would result in higher prices, limiting access to Flow Motion services for some. With crowdfunding, backers will save up to 75% off passes and packages over the next year. “It’s essentially taking out a loan against my future sales for next year and paying it back 2 or 3 times to all of the backers.”
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Click for more informationThe initial response resulted in over 30% of the goal being pledged during the first 7 days. Springs spent the next 3 weeks rallying additional support by holding educational events, promotional sales and day tours to nearby salt caves in King County and Canada.
With 48 hours remaining before the 40-day deadline, Springs said they had more than $34,000 pledged by over 100 backers, leaving nearly $15,000 yet to be pledged.
Springs added additional rewards, asked backers to help spread the word to others and took to social media. By the midnight deadline on May 19th, her efforts had resulted in passing the goal of $49,000 in pledges with more than 200 pledges in total.
Springs estimates a January 2019 project completion date, “just in time for our 5th anniversary and this will give us plenty of time to acquire and ship the salt from overseas, frame the walls, construct the waterfall & build the Salt Cave.”