At what point does Kickstarter become a NGO stand-in for the more traditional Gov't grants that are continually being short-changed in budget battles and auster

At what point does Kickstarter become a NGO stand-in for the more traditional Gov't grants that are continually being short-changed in budget battles and austerity measures? It will also be interesting to see how a move to "crowd-sourced" changes what pursuits are successful. Presumably, the upside to something like Kickstarter (as opposed to tax-funded Gov't grants) is that the individual financiers have a greater say in what they value enough to fund. The downside, I worry, is that some of the best things to come from science and technology in the last century would probably never have gotten funded... Also, it bears mention, while $1M+ is a lot for an indy game developer or starving artist, a basic biomedical research lab needs at least that much per year and the standard amount for an R01 grant from the NIH is ~$4M for a 2-3 yr project.