I still don't understand how Kickstarter is different from Pledgie, from which has been around for much longer. At first I thought that Kickstarter would hold the funds for the backers and return the funds if the project fails, but that appears not to be the case. How is Kickstarter anything more than a Donate button, a donation counter and a mailing list?
The hold the funds until the funding round is over. If the goal is met, it's a success, otherwise it's a failure and everyone gets their money back. It'd be much harder to determine what exactly constitutes a "failure" of a project.
With Kickstarter, if you get the money you said you needed you actually get it. It sounds like what you're talking about, you'd have to still completely finance the project yourself with the understanding that you get that money if it works out. Completely different (and pointless?) thing.
