Kickstarter

In a sentence: Kickstarter has become synonymous for crowdfunding, as the most popular site to find funding for creative projects.Cost: 5% of funds raised, with an all-or-nothing model that builds urgency but leads to the loss of all funds if the goal isn’t met, plus 3-5% transaction feesPros: Name recognition, highest site traffic allows for greater project visibility Limitations: approval process, limited to creative projects, only allows projects based in the US and UK.

Sample Project: Tripsaver: The Ultimate Travel Budgeting Appkickstarter project 

Indiegogo

In a sentence: This flexible crowd-funding site serves as an open and accessible option for campaigns worldwide.

Pros: No application process, available in every country, diverse spread of projectsCost: On the all-or-nothing plan, 4% of the funds of successful projects go to Indiegogo. On the flexible funding plan, Indiegogo charges 4% if you reach your goal, 9% if you do not reach your goal. Transaction fees are an additional 3%.

Limitations: More expensive if you don’t reach your goal, but without the urgency of the all-or-nothing plan

Sample Project: Ovo: The First Autoplay Online Video Player and App indiegogo marketing

RocketHub

In a sentence: This crowdfunding website offers a unique type of visibility through a recent partnership with A&E Project Start Up.

Cost: 4% for completed campaign or 8% for partial campaign, with 4% transaction fees.

Pros: Easy to navigate interface, Success School offers tools for building better projects and businesses

Limitations: Step down in terms of traffic from Kickstarter and Indiegogo

Sample Project: Genome Librarykickstarter marketing

Cost: 5% for completed or incomplete campaign plus 2.2% +$.030 transaction feesIn a sentence: This website is dedicated to raising money for anything from personal causes to nonprofits to entrepreneurial projects.

Pros: Deep social network integration to connect to people in your network, cheap and convenient transaction fees with funds going directly to your PayPal, can be used to fund anything, anywhere

Limitations: More difficult to connect with other entrepreneurers and investors, with less than 5% of projects falling into the category of entrepreneur/creative

Sample Project: Caring for Chris 

GoGetFunding

In a sentence: This London based fund-raising site can be used to raise money for anything from paying for pet’s medical bills to creating a short film.

Cost: 3.5% with a keep-what-you-raised model, plus 2.9% transaction fee

Pros: Can be used for public or private projects, anyone can post a project, easy to use

Limitations: Fewer business/entrepreneurial projects

Sample Project: Lizzy’s ProjectWalk Fund 

In a sentence: This platform blends donation-based and investment crowdfunding models, as well as encouraging online and off-line crowdfunding and collaboration.Crowdfunder

Cost: 5%, with an all-or-nothing format, plus 1.9%-5% Amazon FPS Transaction fee

Pros: mixes online and offline crowdfunding, emphasis on businesses’ long-term growth

Limitations: for-profit companies only

Sample Project: Help iOpening Enterprises Grow and Reach More Teenscrowdfunding advertising

In a sentence: Crowdfunding for social entrepreneurs, as well as nonprofits and other individuals committed to making change.

Cost: 5% for completed campaign, with “tipping point” model, and 3% transaction fees.

Pros: Open globally, supports for-profits, nonprofits and individuals, attracts niche audience by highlighting projects centered on the social good

Limitations: Social good projects only, smaller reach than larger and more diverse websites

Sample Project: Help domestic violence survivors keep their pets crowdfunding marketing

 By David Khorram | www.CrowdFundingPlanning.com