Kickstarter and its Alternatives

Elena Mikhaylovawww.CrowdfundProductions.com

August, 2013

Current Success Rate on Kickstarter is below 44%. For other platforms it is

even lower.

One of the reasons for that is misunderstanding of the platforms’ role in crowdfunding campaign.

Neither Kickstarter nor anybody else WILL DO YOUR JOB!

In most cases the majority of backers will come from your own network.

DOES IT MATTER WHICH PLATFORM TO

CHOOSE?

YES, It Does.

It depends on

Your project niche, Your fundraising goal, Your current level of community support ,Your expertise in business development and fundraising.

The first question you have to answer is:

Are you going to post your project on a

crowdfunding platform

or to raise money on your own?

If you have an experience and large network of supporters, these websites provide free or inexpensive solutions for independent fundraisers:

SelfStarter – free open source software to build your own crowdfunding website. The latest famous project, Tile, raised $2.6M in July from almost 50,000 backers,CrowdHoster – an application hosted by CrowdTilt; currently free but by invitation only. The latest success story – Soylent.me campaign which has raised over $1M,CrowdfundingSite.net – license plans start from $129 or $328 per year,IgnitionDeck – WordPress framework, starting from $79 for unlimited websites,Mimoona – Plug&Fund app, three monthly payment plans,ITPrism.com – crowdfunding open source software for Joomla; free and PRO versionsAstoundify – a funding platform for WordPress; free and premium versions; more than 10,000 downloads on www.Wordpress.org,Celery – platform to accept and manage pre-orders on Wordpress, Tumbrl, Shopify and other websites; 2% per transaction plus PayPal fees.

If you want to use the resources of a crowdfunding platform, you can choose

among more than 600 websites. These directories would help you surf in the crowdfunding ocean:

Crowdsourcing.org/directory/

CrowdsUnite.com

CrowdfundInsider.com/companies/

Crowdsurfer.co/

KickstarterCoaching.com/

Top_Websites.html

Here are some of the platforms which you should consider, depending on your project goals:

General PlatformsKickstarter – has raised $635M for 46,700 projects

Indiegogo

FundRazr (Canada)- has raised over $28M for more than 40,000

projects

RocketHub (Reality TV)

FundAnything (Donald Trump)

Crowdtilt (causes, personal, purchases, group experiences)

CrowdIt

FundAnything and CrowdIt were born in spring of 2013.Except for Kickstarter, most platforms also can be used for the niches mentioned below.

Non-ProfitsFirstGiving - has raised over $1 Billion

Fundly – has raised over $305M for 42,000 projects

GoFundMe – has raised $94M for more than

350,000 projects

GiveZooks – has raised almost $89M

Causes – petitions, pledges and fundraisers, more

than 0.5 Million campaigns

Crowdrise - make your campaign fun

Razoo – has raised over $1.3M

Rally.org

Fundraise

Personal NeedsFundly – has raised over $305M for 42,000 projects

GoFundMe – has raised $94M for more than 350,000

projects

YouCaring – has raised $31.5M for 39,000 projects

CaringBridge

Rally.org

Fundraise

DepositaGift

TechnologyAppbackr

FundaGeek

AppsFunder

BountySource (for open source software development)

DragonInnovation (for hardware, provides business development support)

Product Development MarketplaceCrowdSupply (offer additional business support including fulfillment

services)

Ideacious (Canada)

Creative ProjectsPledgeMusic

ArtistShare

Pubslush (for writers)

Authr (for writers, provides additional paid promotional services)

Unglue.it (for writers)

Mobcaster (for moviemakers)

Seed and Spark (for moviemakers)

Emphas.is (for photo journalism)

Higher EducationUSEED

AlumniFunder

AngelEd

SuperiorIdeas

Other niche platformsDonorsChoose.org – has raised $186M for schools, has 73% success rate

FaithLauncher (for Christian inspired projects)

CommunityFunded (for community projects)

PiggyBackr (for projects benefiting children and youth)

So what should you take into consideration before you choose a platform?

Website traffic information from Alexa.com: number of people visiting, geography, demographics. Is it similar to your target group?

The category of your project: how high is the competition, what is the success rate in your category, what are the most funded projects and what is an average raise?

Are you comfortable with “All-or-Nothing” rule or would prefer “Take Whatever You Raise”?

The platform’s customer service and transparency: what kind of information would the platform’s rep. be willing to share with you? How much help do you expect from the platform, what are the analytical and community engagement tools?

General platform’s publicity and name recognition among your target groups.

Example: Comparison of Kickstarter and Indiegogo for a photography project

Kickstarter AdvantagesThe largest platform with the most active

backersThe largest amounts of money have risen

for creative projectsTransparency – publishes statistical data

on daily basisCreates the most buzz in mediaApproval process – adds credibility to a

projectPhotography category – 36.7% success

ratePhotography category – has raised $8.5

mil. for 1,172 projects since 2009Photography category – 777 projects

raised between $1,000 and $10,000

Kickstarter Drawbacks Large competition – currently 114

photography projects live on the website

Backers more product and pre-sale oriented

Platform plus Amazon fees 9-10% Currently active in US, UK and Canada,

so it is more difficult for people from other countries to donate

Very difficult to get featured (promoted by the platform) or to get help from their customer department

“All-or-Nothing” fundraising Project must be approved by

Kickstarter

Example: Comparison of Kickstarter and Indiegogo for a photography project

Indiegogo Advantages Largest international platform with many

backers from different countries Significant number of “community

oriented” projects Pledges for non-profit organizations are

tax deductible Creators do not need to be approved by

the platform Fixed or flexible fundraising For successful projects transactional fees

approx. 7% (for unsuccessful flexible campaigns – 12%). 25% discount on IGG fees for non-profits (but higher fees through FirstGiving -4.25%)

Rewards are not required. 33% of the money raised last year were given altruistically

Indiegogo Drawbacks Website traffic is more than three

times smaller than for Kickstarter Significantly smaller serial backers

base Smaller avg. amount of money raised

per project Only 124 projects in photography

category have been successful over almost five years in raising 102%+.

Success rate for photography projects is below 28%

Recent scandal: last year’s project - a calendar to support cancer survivors – raised $2,600 and disappeared with the money

When it makes sense to go with a smaller/niche platform

There is a common misconception about the website traffic in

regards of general platforms like Kickstarter. Look for the target

group for YOUR project instead.

First timer – you can receive a better customer support.

Funding goal – if you are looking to raise smaller amount of money

Non product project

Less competition, more chances to get featured and promoted by

the platform

For niche platforms – highly targeted traffic, industry expertise,

additional services

Conclusion

Crowdfunding Platform will not do your job.But by choosing a wrong platform you can make

your campaign more stressful and less efficient.

So do yourself a favor: do your homework, look around, study similar projects, ask

questions, talk to the platform representatives and those who posted their projects on this

platform.Take Your Time

to Make an Educated DecisionAnd Good Luck!