However, after three turbulent years, McKenty’s website is starting to garner international attention. Created in 2005, Bountyup.com has received millions of donations to fund projects for Oak Bay science students, North Carolina choirs and Middle East social activists.

Trust me – if I had received “Millions of donations”, I wouldn’t still be freelancing for NASA. I believe the word I used was “dozens”. Ah well.

Oh, and I never got paid for being in the circus. My first paying job was shoveling horse manure, several years later.

Still, the coverage (plus the recent coverage of the Oak Bay High School Bounty) has been enough to get me excited about the project again – even after Microsoft launched their competitor. I’m toying with the idea of using 99designs.com for a face-lift, but what I really need is some improvements in usability. What are YOUR favorite contest sites?