Online Donation Sites

RogueEagle91RogueEagle91 Regular
edited January 2012 in Spurious Generalities
I've had a bit of experience with such sites, and I haven't seen a thread on here. Figure everyone else might benefit from them for assistance curing their financial woes. I'll list the 3 I've dealt with and each one's advantages/disadvantages.

1. KickStarter
This one is all based around projects that have definitive end points. Some of the more successful ones include an ipod nano watch, various cd releases, and a few independent film releases.

Additionally, you are required to have "rewards" for different donation levels. This serves as incentive for people to shoot money your way. Depending on what your project industry is, this can be easy, or it can be a royal pain in the ass.

All money is handled through Amazon, and is done on an "all or nothing" basis. People will only get charged if you reach your intended goal by your deadline (usually 30 days). Kickstarter takes a small percentage of your total at the end, otherwise the service is free.

The biggest advantage this has is its user base and web visibility. However, with required "rewards" and all or nothing funding, the people able to use the service are somewhat limited.

User interface is very straightforward. You're walked through the proposal process and can edit everything before final submission.

One final note. All projects must be approved by their relatively small staff. If you ever have to communicate with them, expect it to take a few days for a response.

2. Indie GoGo
Much like KickStarter, IGG is a rewards based donation program. However, there is no approval process, transactions are done through PayPal, and all donations are final. The trade off is a higher percentage the site takes off of your overall income.

IGG has a relatively small user base and is not one of the more prevalent donation services on the net. Accordingly, I would suggest using this only if you are well connected online, and can get your link spread quickly.

As stated, there is no approval process. This means you can "launch" your project at any time, and you set your end date. This is great if you think you can get a small trickle of cash flow initially, with more the longer you're live.

The user interface is very similar to KickStarter. Very easy to use.

All in all, not the best option out there.

3. Go Fund Me
In my opinion, this is the best option.

User interface is very well done. Dashboard is laid out with the usual info regarding page activity, and also gives you a score based on how well you're updating/driving people to the site. It gives tips on how to increase your "score"

Again, funding is handled through PayPal. GFM takes one of the smallest percentages, and does so on a transaction by transaction basis, rather than a lump sum at the end.

Projects are not subject to approval, and rewards are not required.

The user base is on the small side, and the site isn't well known. Again, you'll have to work to drive people to the site.


So far, I've only seen money come through on GoFundMe. If anyone feels like helping a brother out, my link is listed below. If you can't drop some money, pass the link.
My Go Fund Me Page

If anyone else has experience they'd like to share, I'd be more than happy to edit it into this post.

Comments

  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited February 2011
    Thanks for sharing this info. Now if I can just come up with the right sca..err idea.
  • RogueEagle91RogueEagle91 Regular
    edited February 2011
    Thanks for sharing this info. Now if I can just come up with the right sca..err idea.

    With the last one posted, you can have an "idea" work fairly well. Make up some sob story about how your house got burned down or some shit like that. People will pour money onto you.
  • Darth BeaverDarth Beaver Meine Ehre heißt Treue
    edited February 2011
  • GoingNowhereGoingNowhere Global Moderator
    edited January 2012
    Moved from Money Money Money as a guide :)
  • SlartibartfastSlartibartfast Global Moderator -__-
    edited January 2012
    I've only ever heard of kick-starter and I have my doubts about it.

    The success rate (completion) of funded projects is about 44% and I think most of those projects are the easy "money for studio recording time". There is also no way of auditing how the money is spent.
  • RogueEagle91RogueEagle91 Regular
    edited January 2012
    As I said, for the fund starter, Kick-Starter is a major pain in the ass because of the all or nothing funding.
    At least with the others you do end up with some money, even if you don't hit your goal.
    As far as auditing how the money is spent, it's an issue with ever one of them.
    I'm sure there has been more than one fund setup using stock photos of some tragedy.
    As such, to some extent, you don't know if you're donating for something legit or someone's weed supply.
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