In the previous post “Crowdfunding: what it is and how it works” I explained the aim of crowdfunding. Today I explain how most popular platforms work.
In each Kickstarter, Indiegogo, RocketHub, and Rock The Post FAQ/About pages, there are clear explanations about the main concepts and methods of working.
They have in common the following main general concepts:
- Everyone can start a new crowdfunding campaign with a project.
- The applicants have to register, login and define duration, amount of funding and rewards for backers;
- The applicants have to upload a project summary, with a strong communicative media campaign (videos, images etc ..)
- Applicants need to continuously update the project “state of art” for more credibility;
- Backers support projects with a credit card donation and are able to change, in any moment, the amount of donation until the platform policies allow this action.
- Backers are able to contact the project owners for suggestions or information;
- For some of these platforms only if the project achieves the goal, backers’ credit cards are charged when duration expires and the owners have a crowdfund! Instead, for other platforms there are several policies about the fund achievement (see their FAQ sections).