What Is Crowdfunding?

        Crowdfunding is a way to raise money, awareness, and support for a project. It allows individuals to make their ideas a reality with the power of the crowd.

        The project creator picks a crowdfunding platform, such as Kickstarter, and creates a project page. The project page will only go live for the duration of the crowdfunding campaign, which is often around 30 days. 

        Once the campaign begins, you can support the project by making a pledge. You become a “backer” of the project. There are different pledge levels associated with different rewards, which will be explained on the project’s crowdfunding page. The most common reward is the product. (Example: You pledge $39, you will receive the game as a reward once it is manufactured.)

        Each campaign has a funding goal. This is the amount of money it will need to create, manufacture, and ship the product. 

        If the funding goal is met during the duration of the campaign, then the project is successful. The backers’ credit cards will be charged for the amount pledged at this time. The project will be created and the rewards will be shipped to the backers in about 6 months.

        If the funding goal is not met during the duration of the campaign, then the backers’ credit cards are not charged and the project typically does not get created.