$44,000 - that's the sum raised by Kickstarter to make a potato salad. It all started with a $10 crowd-funding campaign by Zack Brown from Columbus, Ohio last week. He wanted to make a tasty side, but did not have enough cash for the ingredients. "Basically, I'm just making potato salad," writes Brown on his Kickstarter page. "I haven't decided what kind yet." As of Tuesday afternoon, the project has more than 4,100 backers and raised about $44,000 - and money keeps rolling, BBC reports. The funding period ends on August 2. Brown is already preparing for the big day as his culinary skills are not that perfect. "It might not be that good," he says. "It's my first potato salad." Brown's project isn't the first odd campaign on the crowd-funding website. Earlier this year a guy sought $8 for a creative presentation explaining the "deliciousness" of a chicken burrito from Chipotle fast food chain and can carry out a research with $1,000 he raised. "Kick starter's a global community of millions of people who fund projects of all shapes and sizes," Kickstarter said in a statement. "There's no single recipe for inspiration." But what is the reason for Brown getting so much money? Maybe because his idea is just fun. "It’s a way for people to unite online,” Brown told the local Columbus Dispatch. "It’s not controversial. It’s not snarky. It’s not mean. I think that everybody is having a really good time with it." The campaign was reported by BuzzFeed, The Times of London and Food & Wine magazine, and Brown has appeared on Good Morning America. He also has been listed at the top of a marketing website’s "8 Oddly Successful Kickstarter Campaigns". Now, as more money is coming, he has added the promise of yummy mayonnaise and live-streaming his salad making. He also created categories of donors. For $1 or more, you get a "thank you" posted on his website and he promises to say your name out loud as he makes potato salad. For $2 or more, you also get a photo of him making potato salad. For a pledge of $20 or more, you’re in the "Potato Madness" category: "Receive a potato-salad theme haiku written by me, your name carved into a potato that will be used in the potato salad, a signed jar of mayonnaise, the potato salad recipe, hang out in the kitchen with me while I make the potato salad, choose a potato-salad-appropriate ingredient to add to the potato salad, receive a bite of the potato salad, a photo of me making the potato salad, a "thank you" posted to our website and I will say your name out loud while making the potato salad." For a pledge of $50 or more, you are in the VIP "Potato Salads of the World" group: "Receive a recipe book with potato salad recipes inspired by each country where we have a backer along with a bite of the potato salad, a photo of me making the potato salad, a "thank you" posted to our website and I will say your name out loud while making the potato salad. The recipe book will have a dedication page with the name of each of our backers." For this, however, you must add $20 for overseas shipment. Brown himself was astonished with the popularity. While participating in a Reddit Ask Me Anything, he wrote: "I never thought it would go this far. Ten dollars seemed like a good, conservative goal. I think the thing people are responding to is the opportunity to come together around something equal parts absurd and mundane." Source: The Voice Of Russia
