Indiegogo

Indiegogo runs reward-based crowdfunding schemes mostly, however it also supports social and personal causes, as well as other services described below. Indiegogo is interested in moving towards an equity-based system. Through ‘Enterprise Crowdfunding’, Indiegogo provides programmes for enterprises to help them to accelerate their innovation. ‘InDemand’ is a service of Indiegogo which enables creators to proceed into the next stage of operations (this includes accepting product pre-orders, customer acquisitions as well as earnings growth). In brief, this option allows campaigns to keep raising funds even after its end. This service is available to any project that meets its initial funding goal.

Basic definitions and principles of Indiegogo are as follows:

• Campaign Owners – those who raise funds
• Campaigns – fundraising campaigns
• Contributors – those who contribute funds
• Contributions – contributed funds
• Users – Campaign Owners, Contributors and any other visitors of the platform
• Perks – gifts or rewards offered by Campaign Owners to Contributors, perks have a form of tangible items or intangible services
• there is a given opportunity to choose between two different funding models – “all or nothing” or “take it all”
• reward levels – there is a limit of maximum 20 levels
• instant charge of backers
• backers’ contact information is provided as soon as they push the “pay” button

Indiegogo is officially available in 223 countries at the moment so really anybody all over the world can start a campaign. Currently projects are accepted in 24 categories: Animals, Art, Comic, Community, Dance, Design, Education, Environment, Fashion, Film, Food, Gaming, Health, Music, Photography, Politics, Religion, Small Business, Sports, Technology, Theatre, Transmedia, Video/Web and Writing.

In terms of rules and principles, the Indiegogo is considered to be a less strict crowdfunding platform with more flexibility. However, several rules must be respected and followed.

To use Indiegogo services the user must be 18 years old or older (or has the approval of adult parents or legal guardian) and be a ‘responsible’ person.

Campaigns that intend to raise funds for illegal activities or to cause harm to people or properties are strictly prohibited.

Indiegogo also defines a comprehensive list of prohibited perks. e.g. alcoholic products, substance or drug paraphernalia, weapons, ammunition or related accessories, gambling or lottery, air transportation, promotion of hate, discrimination, personal injury etc.

Signing up and creating the campaign is free of charge. Fees are deducted from the total funds collected. Indiegogo applies a fee of 5% from funds totally raised. An additional processing fee (approximately 3.5%) is charged per contribution by PayPal and Stripe (credit card processor). Both, PayPal and credit card fees are charged per contribution. (Fees and pricing on Indiegogo depend on several aspects: the funding type and currency chosen, country where the campaign owner’s bank is located).