The White House asked the crowdfunding giant to help make up the $4 billion that Syrian refugees still need this year.
Over the course of four years, the Syrian refugee crisis has only grown in scope as the global response has seemed to dwindle.
More than four million Syrians have been forced to flee their homes since the start of the country's civil war began in 2011. The length of the war, along with the number of other humanitarian crises around the world, has seen funding for the crisis plummet.
The United Nations asked for $7.42 billion this year to cover the needs of the Syrians both still inside Syria and those who have escaped to neighboring countries. As of early October, they were still $4 billion short of their annual goal.
The United States has donated $4.5 billion in humanitarian aid since the crisis began, but has been criticized recently for the relatively small number of refugees it has agreed to resettle.
Khalil Mazraawi / AFP / Getty Images
Two weeks ago, White House Director of Product Josh Miller reached out to Kickstarter to ask the company what it thought about helping to tackle the crisis. "We immediately said yes," Kickstarter CEO Yancey Strickler told BuzzFeed News.
That agreement came in spite of the the fact that Kickstarter normally focuses on creative projects, Strickler said. "We were really compelled by an ask from the White House because of some sense of civic duty and wanting to step up, but also just feeling what a global situation this is and felt like this is an opportunity where our product and our community could have real value."
Khalil Mazraawi / AFP / Getty Images
That led to Kickstarter partnering with USA for UNHCR, a U.S.-based non-profit charged with raising funds and awareness for the UN Refugee Agency and launching the first charity drive in the the crowdfunding company's history.
"Their expertise is on helping refugees and overseeing that entire experience and raising money to do that," Strickler said, "we had to bring the 'Kickstariness' of how can you make this communicate well on the web."
USA for UNHCR/Kickstarter
The special campaign, like most Kickstarters, has a time-limit: one week. Unlike the usual effort, though, there's no rewards for donors. Instead, users can see the sort of things their donations will provide for refugees.
Strickler made sure to be clear that there was not clear that the exact dollars donated would go to those exact goods, but felt that it was important for donors to have some kind of context for what their money would buy.
USA for UNHCR / Kickstarter
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