📘 Artizen Guidebook

Learn how to fund breakthroughs in art, science, technology, and culture.

Welcome to Artizen

Thanks for joining our mission to fund human creativity.

Artizen is more than a platform. It’s a new kind of game—one designed to be fun, fair, and rewarding for everyone who plays.

Why invent a new game? Because the old ways of funding art, science, technology, and culture are broken. The hoops we force creators to jump through—the impossible odds stacked against them; it's a rigged game with dumb rules that celebrate conformity over creativity.

At Artizen, we’re flipping the board. Here, anyone can launch their own fund to support the projects that matter most to their community. We've raised millions for artists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and creators of every kind. Not by gatekeeping—but by making the rules fair, the incentives clear, and the process fun.

Treat this guidebook like a manual for your favorite game: not a list of chores, but an invitation to play.

Together, let’s fund human creativity.

Love,
​René Pinnell
​Founder of Artizen
​
​P.S. I'm OBSESSED

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🚀 Quickstart

Artizen is a funding platform for creators. Each season:

1. Sponsors raise money for community Funds.

2. Creators submit projects to those Funds.

3. Everyone votes. Top projects get curated.

4. Curated projects sell Artifacts—a new kind of digital collectible—to their fans.

5. Each sale unlocks match funding.

6. Sell the most Artifacts, win cash prizes at season’s end.

The goal is simple: fund breakthroughs in art, science, technology, and culture.

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🛠 Setup

Three ways to play. Choose your path.

• Launch a new Fund
  Support the creators in your community by launching a new Fund.
  ​→ Apply to launch a Fund

• Become a Sponsor
  Raise money for your community and earn rewards by sponsoring a Fund.
  ​→ Become a sponsor

• Submit Your Project
  Compete for match funding and cash prizes by submitting your project to Funds.
  ​→ Submit your project

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🕹️ Gameplay

Each season has two phases: Curation and Competition.

🗳️ Curation

1. Earn Voting Power
   Back projects, sponsor Funds, or engage to earn voting power.

2. Vote for Projects
   Cast votes for your favorite projects. Smash that vote button!

3. Get Curated
   Top projects get curated for Funds and move on to the next phase.

🏆 Competition

1. Sell Artifacts
   Fans buy cultural Artifacts to earn rewards and support projects they love.

2. Unlock Match Funding
   Sell $10 in Artifacts, get $10 matched by each Fund backing your project.

3. Win Cash Prizes
   Each Fund awards a cash prize to its top-selling project. And the top 3 projects across all Funds win the prestigious Artizen Prize.

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💸 Payouts

Where the money goes each season.

💦 How Funding Flows

• 100% of sponsor dollars go to Funds. Artizen takes no cut.

• 10% of each Fund becomes a cash prize for the top project.

• The other 90% is split equally among curated projects as Available Match Funding. Every $1 in Artifact sales unlocks $1 from each Fund backing the project—while funds last.

• Any unused match funding rolls over for next season.

💰 How Creators Get Paid

• Creators keep 100% of their Artifact sales—Artizen takes no cut—but the money is held until the end of the season.

• Creators receive one combined payout at season’s end: Artifact sales + match funding + any cash prizes.

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📌 Example

Josh starts a fund for DIY Public Art in Portland. He raises $10,000 from neighbors and local businesses. All the money is pooled in the Fund.

10%—or $1,000—is set aside as a cash prize for the top project. The remaining $9,000 is split equally among the top 3 curated projects selected by community vote:

• Max Mural - a bold community painting at a public transit stop

• Tree Sculpture - a whimsical statue carved from a fallen tree

• Little Library - a network of cozy micro-libraries

Each curated project receives $3,000 in Available Match Funding. To unlock that money, they sell cultural Artifacts to their fans. For every $10 raised in Artifact sales, $10 of match funding is unlocked—until it runs out.

1. Max Mural 🎨
   ​Sells $3,500 in Artifacts → unlocks full $3,000 match + wins $1,000 prize
   ​Total Raised = $7,500

2. Tree Sculpture 🌳
   ​Sells $3,000 in Artifacts → unlocks full $3,000 match
   ​Total Raised = $6,000

3. Little Library 📚
   ​Sells $2,000 in Artifacts → unlocks $2,000 match
   ​Total Raised = $4,000

Since Little Library didn’t unlock its full $3,000 in match funding, the remaining $1,000 rolls over to the next season—becoming the starting balance for the DIY Public Art Fund.

But this only tells part of the story: Tree Sculpture was also curated by a second fund—the Fund for Female Artists—which offered an additional $2,000 in match funding. So when it raised $3,000 from fans, it unlocked $3,000 from the DIY Public Art Fund plus $2,000 from the Female Artist Fund for a total raise of $8,000.

This highlights a key strategy. Projects curated by multiple Funds can unlock match funding from each one. A single $1 raised can trigger $2, $3, or more in matching funds—depending on how many Funds backed the project.

Zooming out: Artizen also awards cash prizes to the top 3 projects across all Funds, based on total Artifact sales. In this example, none of the Portland projects—Max Mural, Tree Sculpture, or Little Library—won the Artizen Prize. It went to three other projects with the most Artifact sales across the entire platform.

​The takeaway? Get curated by as many Funds as you can—and sell as many Artifacts as possible. That’s how you unlock the most match funding and increase your shot at winning big cash prizes.