Alaska agency turns to crowdfunding for park project
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — With Alaska's fiscal crisis drying up funding for a number of state projects, officials hope a crowdfunding campaign will raise $50,000 toward shoring up a crumbling riverbank creeping toward century-old buildings at a state park.
The riverbank project marks the state's debut in the increasingly popular practice of financing ventures through small payouts from large numbers of people.
In recent years, funding sites such as Citizinvestor and Spacehive have provided cash-generating platforms for those public entities, tweaking the formula of private pioneers such as Kickstarter and GoFundMe.
About 250 feet of the Tanana River needs to be stabilized at Big Delta State Historical Park, where the problem is threatening a roadhouse and an old telegraph station once used as part of a military communications system built in the early 1900s.
Since it was launched nearly two years ago, the service has been used for 50 projects across the country.
Along with the $50,000 sought through crowdfunding, park officials have $100,000 in hand and want to raise the remaining $169,000 by soliciting donations from businesses, foundations and other government agencies.