Crowdfunding Platforms - Kickstarter vs GoFundMe vs Indiegogo (2024)

FAQs

Is Indiegogo better than Kickstarter? ›

Established to provide more opportunities to backers than Kickstarter, Indiegogo is usually perceived as a less strict and more flexible platform. It is available in over 230 countries and provides more categories (28 in Indiegogo vs Kickstarter 15).

When you compare GoFundMe vs Kickstarter in terms of fees, GoFundMe charges 5% for each donation and a 3% processing fee for each donation in both USA and Canada. Kickstarter charges a 5% fee of the total funds raised, plus a 3-5% payment processing fee from each pledge.

If you have a good product and know what you're doing, you are set up for success. Indiegogo, on the other hand, has around a 9% success rate.

It can be done. So, the short answer is yes, you can launch a crowdfunding campaign on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo.

Indiegogo is another popular crowdfunding platform, but it operates on a different model than Kickstarter. With Indiegogo, you can keep the money that you raise even if you don't reach your goal. The downside of this is that you might not raise as much money as you would on Kickstarter.

Over $5.8 billion has been pledged to Kickstarter projects, with a success rate of around 39%. The category with the highest success rate is dance, at 62.1%, and as of February 2021 there have been over 204,000 successfully funded projects on the platform.

DonateKindly is a free year-round giving alternative to GoFundMe. This customizable donation form can be embedded directly into your nonprofit's website with little effort to start raising funds quickly. It's known for being user-friendly for your staff and donors alike.

In summary, if a Kickstarter marketing project fails then:

The pledges stay with its backers. Refunds are returned automatically back to backers' debit/credit cards.

With a fixed funding campaign, you only keep the funds you raise if you meet your funding goal. If your campaign does not meet its goal by its deadline, all your backers will be refunded by Indiegogo within 5-7 business days.

Can you get your money back from Indiegogo? ›

You can request a refund directly from your confirmation email or from your Indiegogo account.

If you're using Indiegogo, the standards for maximum and minimum are the same as Kickstarter. Campaigns can be as short as a day and, while Indiegogo allows for a one time extension, the maximum length of their campaigns is 60 days.

Kickstarter is considered the OG of crowdfunding platforms launching in 2009. It is still one of the most used and visited crowdfunding platforms in the world today. Businesses get the funding they need for their ideas.

Project creators keep 100% ownership of their work, and Kickstarter cannot be used to offer equity, financial returns, or to solicit loans.

Any funds raised beyond the goal will help the creator to cover any manufacturing or shipping costs related to their add-ons. In other cases, overfunding leads to better margins and the creator may even profit from the project.

Indiegogo will send a disbursem*nt to your bank account within 15 business days after your campaign ends, provided your bank account information is correct and accurate.

That's because any funds raised on websites such as Kickstarter, Indiegogo and GoFundMe are considered taxable income. Creators can, however, write off supplies they use to make products to offset costs.

The Pebble Time is the most funded Kickstarter ever, even though the campaign was launched in 2015.

In March 2015, Pebble's second smartwatch project completed its crowdfunding and publicity run with 20.34 billion dollars raised in Kickstarter pre-order funding, becoming the most successful Kickstarter project as of July 2021. In 2022, however, the crowdfunding project Surprise!

What is the average Kickstarter donation? ›

A wee reality check: The most common donation on Kickstarter is $25. Since launching on April 28, 2009, Kickstarter has seen almost 2.5 million pledges of $25. The next most common donation size is $50, with the crowdfunding platform clocking 1.6 million of those.

Success rates (on average) are significantly lower if you end your campaign during the months of August, September or December and significantly higher if you end your project during the months of February, March and May. Again, further analysis is needed to determine how the holiday seasons effect success rates.

$24M in Two Campaigns: MATE Raises More Money Than Any Other Team in Indiegogo History. The team behind MATE eBikes shattered records by raising over $24 million with their campaigns for MATE and MATE X.

One of the challenges every entrepreneur faces when it comes to raising capital via crowdfunding is figuring out how much money they should raise. While you might think this is just a simple matter of deciding how much money you need to invest in your startup, other things also come into play.

How much does GoFundMe charge for the transaction fee? GoFundMe charges one transaction fee—that's it. So, what percentage does GoFundMe take for transaction fees? A transaction fee of 2.9% +$0.30 is automatically deducted from each donation, so you never have to worry about paying a bill.

Here are some of the top reasons why Kickstarter projects fail: Bad pricing plan (e.g., the product is being sold too cheap and is expensive to produce). Components of the final product are bad quality. Creators of the project don't have the required experience or understanding.

Funds raised on Kickstarter are generally subject to taxes. How much you owe can vary based on a number of factors, including the deduction of project-related expenses. We highly recommend talking to an accountant or tax advisor.

Yes, you may be able to sue the creator of a Kickstarter product. If you are a backer of a project who doesn't get their reward, you may be able to sue for breach of contract, fraud, or for violation of a state consumer protection statute.

How much easier does it get? The flip side is that for every successful Kickstarter campaign, two fail and in the case of Indiegogo it gets worse: About 9 out of 10 Indiegogo campaigns fail to reach their goal.

How many borrowers has Indiegogo lent to? ›

Today, our group of backers is more than 9 million strong, representing 235 countries and territories.

Please note that the minimum goal amount for a campaign, regardless of whether you choose fixed or flexible funding, is 500 (USD/CAD/GBR/EUR/AUD). It's also important to keep in mind Indiegogo's fees, as well as our Reserved Funds feature when deciding on your goal.

Indiegogo is a platform to enable fraud, one of the greatest consumer threats in our modern world. Their corporate policy on fraud is improving but is still highly irresponsible.

To safeguard investors, crowdfunding platforms usually hold onto the money (in a separate dedicated bank account) until the funding target is reached. This means that investors should get their money back if the venture has to be called off due to insufficient funds.

We find that successful campaigns launch on a Monday or Tuesday as backers are more engaged with their email early in the week. Launching at the start of the week helps campaigns gain momentum in the following days. To increase your odds of success, consider a soft launch.

Indiegogo charges a five percent (5%) platform fee on all funds raised for your campaign. Fees are calculated and deducted from the funds you actually raise (not the goal you set). Our payment processor also charges a processing fee that varies according to your location and currency.

Projects on Kickstarter can last anywhere from 1 day, to a maximum of 60 days. We've done some research, and found that projects lasting any longer than 60 days are rarely successful. When planning your project, we recommend setting it to run for 30 days or less.

Kickstarter campaigns have a success rate of around 36%, so not reaching your funding goal is a realistic outcome.

Why would a project be suspended? A project may be suspended if our Trust & Safety team uncovers evidence that it is in violation of Kickstarter's rules, including but not limited to: Misrepresentation of support, through self-pledging or artificial inflation of the number of backers or amounts pledged.

Flexible funding means if you do not hit your campaign goal within the campaign duration, you do keep the money and the backers are charged. The platform also takes its fee. Kickstarter only offers the Fixed Funding model which is why it's known as the “all-or-nothing platform.”

Do backers pay sales tax on Kickstarter? ›

Sales tax may also be applicable in certain cases depending on the local rules. A creator may have an obligation to register, collect, and remit sales taxes in the states in which the backers are located, depending on the dollar amount received and the number of transactions entered into with backers in each state.

These gatekeepers could be record labels, publishers, studios, investors, and others. Now, you can decide to pick yourself. Kickstarter won't make you rich, but it gives you the an affordable ticket to the creative world, where artists, designers, and entrepreneurs are able to make a living off their creations.

If you can't deliver your Kickstarter project, do you have to pay the money back? You need to know the legal contract you agree to when you start a Kickstarter campaign. If you are unable to complete your project, then yes: you will need to refund your backers if you can't deliver your Kickstarter project.

US-based projects: $1.

After the 14 days have passed, a payout will be initiated. Please note, the payout will begin initiating at the time your campaign ended 14 days prior. For example, if your campaign ended at 6:00 PM EST on January 1, the payout will initiate at 6:00 PM EST on January 15.

Kickstarter is an all or nothing platform, which means a project must end at or above its funding goal in order to be successful. If a project does not successfully reach its goal, the creator will not receive any funds, and no backers will be charged for their pledges.

Another benefit of Indiegogo is that it allows for flexible funding, as opposed to the all-or-nothing funding model used by platforms like Kickstarter. If you opt into flexible funding, you can still keep the funds you've raised even if you fall short of your goal.

With a fixed funding campaign, you only keep the funds you raise if you meet your funding goal. If your campaign does not meet its goal by its deadline, all your backers will be refunded by Indiegogo within 5-7 business days.

The Pebble Time is the most funded Kickstarter ever, even though the campaign was launched in 2015. At the time, there seemed to be a massive demand for smartwatches. However, a couple of years later, they struggled with a diminishing demand and poor sales.

Entrepreneur-friendly pricing

Affordable, easy, and secure. **If you are in our InDemand program and ran your campaign on Indiegogo, your platform fee remains 5%. If you ran your first campaign on another platform before joining our InDemand program, your platform fee is 8%.

What percentage does Indiegogo take? ›

Platform fees in InDemand are 5% if you ran your funding campaign on Indiegogo. The InDemand fee for campaigns that did not originally run on Indiegogo is an 8% platform fee, with a 15% (total) fee on any funds driven by Indiegogo's platform channels. Third party payment processing fees also apply.

Loan-based crowdfunding

To safeguard investors, crowdfunding platforms usually hold onto the money (in a separate dedicated bank account) until the funding target is reached. This means that investors should get their money back if the venture has to be called off due to insufficient funds.

The lawsuit claims that the creator, Doug Monahan, didn't use his raised Indiegogo or Kickstarter funds to develop or deliver the backpack, but instead, he put the cash toward “various personal expenses,” including the purchase of bitcoin, ATM withdrawals, and to pay off credit cards.

1) Pebble Time – $20,338,986

According to Business Insider, this updated version of Pebble's smartwatch launched in 2015 and still holds the record for most funded Kickstarter campaign of all time.

Kickstarter Success Rates Based Upon Month Launched

Success rates (on average) are significantly lower if you launch your campaign during the months of July or August and significantly higher if you launch your project during the months of January, February or April.