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, 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 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 " 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.

(c) 2011 AFP