Scot Goes Pop crowdfunding appeal raises £3475

As the English local election results are proving so sluggish (although it's already clear they're an unmitigated calamity for Labour), I just thought I'd quickly take this opportunity to give you the final total for this blog's fundraiser. £3425 was raised on Indiegogo, and in combination with a very generous non-online donation that arrived by post yesterday, the grand total is an amazing £3475 - almost exactly £1000 more than the original target figure, which was reached within the first 24 hours.

It's testament to the genuinely organic grass-roots nature of the Yes campaign (as opposed to the utterly bogus "grass-roots" nature of Vote No Borders) that so many independent fundraisers like this are achieving their targets so quickly. I do still worry that this has been one of the less worthy ones, because to some extent it's simply funding me to continue doing exactly what I've been doing up to now without previously needing any funding. But as we all know, life does sometimes get in the way at the most inconvenient of moments, and the timing in this case has just been extremely unfortunate. Hopefully it isn't a zero-sum game, and bigger fundraisers such as the SNP's 'Double Your Donation' and National Collective's 'Yestival' won't have been adversely affected. As promised, I'll set aside some of the money for advertising, although I may now have to consider options other than Facebook - I got a shock two days ago when I tried to set up a second cheap ad, and was told that the expected reach was only a fraction of the figure for the first ad. I have a horrible feeling I was suckered in by the age-old "introductory price" wheeze! But I'll have a look around and see what the most cost-effective options are.

Once again, my heartfelt thanks to all 170 people who donated, and to the many people who publicised the fundraiser on social media and on other sites, and in particular to Tris, who did a big splash on Munguin's Republic about it. Thanks also to the people who sent supportive messages by email - I think (and hope!) I've responded to everyone. I'll put up the 'Backers' page as soon as possible, although I'll take my time over it, because I need to be careful that no-one who requested anonymity is accidentally included on the list.

So what have I learned from dipping my toes into the brave new world of crowdfunding? Mainly that there is no shortage of 'experts' and 'consultants' out there willing to help, simply out of the goodness of their hearts. Perhaps I shouldn't be too cynical - for all I know one or two of them may have been offering a genuine service. But I'm really not sure about this guy. If I ever hire a consultant, rest assured that he or she will be considerably less well-groomed than that. It's a point of principle.