$53 million pledged to Kickstarter in two years

Kickstarter, a website which collects donations for creative projects, said Thursday that it has received pledges of more than $53 million since its launch two years ago.

Kickstarter, in a blog post to celebrate its second birthday, said 20,371 projects have been proposed on the site over the past two years and 43 percent, or 7,496, have been successfully funded.

A total of 9,700 projects did not meet their funding goals and 3,175 are still "live" -- in the process of collecting funding, the New York-based website said.

Kickstarter projects range from Diaspora, a Facebook alternative, which raised over $200,000, to a kit to turn an iPod Nano into a watch, a proposal which raised $941,718.

Many though are smaller ventures, such as Thursday's "Project of the Day," a request for $1,000 by writer and ornithologist Meera Lee Sathi for a book about birds, or requests for a few thousand dollars by filmmakers or musicians.

Kickstarter said a total of $53.1 million had been pledged and $40 million collected for successfully funded projects.

A project is launched only when it reaches its funding goal.

Kickstarter said nearly $20 million was pledged to film projects, $13 million to music, $3.6 million to design and $3.2 million to art.

Publishing projects attracted $2.7 million in pledges, theater projects $2.6 million and technology and photography projects $1.7 million each.

Kickstarter said the total number of project backers was 591,773 with 79,658 donating to more than one project.

Kickstarter creators retain full ownership rights to their projects.