We can all go twice as high because the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter project just wrapped up, and it was tremendously successful. Their goal was set at $1,000,000, and it was reached within the first 24 hours. People clearly have strong feelings about the series that promotes literacy. LeVar Burton and his team then set stretch goals to expand their efforts to bring Reading Rainbow back on the web and to get the program to every child, everywhere. They hoped to reach five million dollars, and they surpassed it.
The Kickstarter ended with over 105,000 backers and $5,408,916. That’s some serious cash and puts the project in the top five list of most funds raised, but it’s not the grand total. Seth MacFarlane sweetened the deal with an additional donation. On June 26th, MacFarlane promised to match up to $1 million in pledges received through the end of the campaign on July 2nd. Backers responded to that deal and raised the million dollars in one day, so once MacFarlane adds his donation in, Reading Rainbow gets more than $6 million. Guys, there is still hope in the universe.
Rewards for the Reading Rainbow project should start dropping as early as August. Celebrities such as cast members from Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica wil be reading stories live to kids and adults, there’s swag to be shipped, and content to develop to make Reading Rainbow available digitally to as many children as possible – including via mobile phones, AppleTV, and gaming consoles.
Did you back the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter project?
HT: The A.V. Club, photo via NY Daily News
i am proud to have supported it!
Hell, yah, I backed it!
I loved the Reading Rainbow show as a kid, but they never covered any of my favorite childhood books, like Gravity’s Rainbow, The Story of 0, or Professor Wormbog In Search For The Zipperumpa-Zoo 🙁
The $1 million dollar matching from Seth MacFarlane was announced with 5 days left in the campaign, right around the time we crested the $4 million dollar mark. The campaign itself didn’t get to the $5 million dollar mark until the last 24 hours. Don’t want to give false information for how fast certain goals were achieved. I supported the hell out of this Kickstarter and completely believe in the mission they have. Can’t wait to see what they achieve!
I did and I don’t even have kids that will benefit from it yet. However it was the show that got me to enjoy reading as much as I do, so I’ve got to support that for other peoples kids. 🙂
You bet your original Star Wars T-shirt i did! 🙂
I sure did! Can’t wait for my daughter to enjoy the benefits of Reading Rainbow like I did!
I love that people have cared so much for this. I grew up on this and I’m glad my daughter will have the same opportunity to experience Reading Rainbow as I once did.