Nope. I see that argument many times relating to crowd funding and it just isn't the case.

When you pledge to a kickstarter, they're committing to providing the rewards stated for the money provided.

The difference between that and a standard purchase is that the product generally doesn't exist yet, which is why there is a risks section attached to every campaign, so that backers are aware that the product could run into problems.

However it's not a donation.

You’re not committing to a purchase though, there is some inherent risk in a kickstarter that they won’t deliver. And there is very little mechanism to chase them (usually they have either done a runner or gone belly up) So this is an interesting case, because the company is still around, and especially so as the poor guy is suffering MS and so has a more time limited domain to see a reward

indeed in most cases where kickstarters don't deliver by such wide margins the company is long gone.

This one is probably on older Kickstarter T&Cs so it'd be harder to get money back. In more recent times Kickstarter have tried to toughen up a little after early failures like ZioneyeZ

It's not a donation but I'd argue that even most donations carry the implication that you'll use the money for the purpose the donation was solicited for and not just have a big party for your friends.

The difference is that you're usually not expecting anything physical in return.

Or a burnt offering, as the case may be.