Crowdfunding Step by Step Guide
Getting ready for crowdfunding
Hello project creator!
If you’re reading this, then you’re probably interested in creating your very own Crowdfunding Campaign – we’re so excited for you to start your journey with us!
The whole process of creating your own Campaign can be a little overwhelming, but don’t worry – this guide details all the steps that you need to take in your journey at The Spark Project.
Take your time in going through everything on this page and you’ll be ready to crowdfund in no time! If you have any questions, please feel free to email audrey@thesparkproject.com, and she’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
Keep in mind that planning a campaign can take around 1-2 months, depending on how ready your project is for launching. Make sure to set a realistic and doable timeline for you and your team!
Good luck!
Spark Team
How It Works
We are here to guide you at every step of your crowdfunding journey
Learn more by clicking any of the crowdfunding steps below.
Step 1: Prepare
Learn more about Crowdfunding
What is crowdfunding, anyway? It’s important for you to learn about crowdfunding before you go on your own crowdfunding journey. Aside from browsing through our site and other similar websites, we also have a crowdfunding masterclass of available on our learning platform, Sparkability.org.
Once you’re ready to start building your campaign, head on to The Spark Project and create your account!
Gather all of your Campaign Materials
Once you’ve created your account on our website, It’s time to start planning for your campaign.
To get you started in building your campaign, take a look at our Checklist & Overview
The Crowdfunding Checklist & Overview Form is a resource that will help you determine what information you need, and what resources you need to gather and prepare for your campaign. This will serve as a guide for you throughout your entire campaign.
Get a copy of the Crowdfunding Checklist & Overview Form here
Tips for filling out the Overview Form
To successfully fill out your form and make sure that you cover all of your bases, here are some questions that you can ask yourself:
1. Why do I want to crowdfund? What am I looking to gain from this whole experience aside from just raising funds? What angle am I approaching this from?
2. What story do I want to connect to my product or project? What message do I want people to resonate with when they look at my campaign?
3. What connections do I have in the media that I can use to promote my campaign?
4. Who of the people/How many people in my network will be willing to support my campaign? What’s a realistic financial goal for me to set?
5. How much will they be willing to give? What would they be willing to share on their social media pages?
6. How can I summarize my product, message, and purpose in my 1:30-3:00 minute video?
7. Do I have connections to people who can help me create/edit my video? If not, how do I start planning for this as early as now?
8. What rewards would my supporters want to receive in exchange for their contribution? What would be attractive to them?
9. How do I extend what I said in my video to my pitch? What didn’t I get to say in my video that I still want to say to my supporters?
10. What other visuals do I need in my pitch to make my campaign page more exciting and enticing for my supporters?
These questions address all the key elements that you need in order for your campaign to be a success.
Get a copy of the Crowdfunding Checklist & Overview Form here.
Create your Crowdfunding Page
Now that you’ve filled out the Overview Form and crafted and gathered all of your materials, it’s time for you to fill up your Crowdfunding Page on the site. You can fill this up in stages and even as you’re filling out the Overview Form. Just make sure to save your changes before exiting! Once you’ve filled in all of the sections, submit your project for review and wait for us to reach out to you!
Don’t forget to input the email templates that our system will be sending to your backers through your dashboard. This is to ensure that you will be able to collect their delivery and other information easily.
Step 2: Launch
Align with our Feedback and continue crafting your Marketing Plan
Let’s get on a call!
Once you submit your page for review, your project status moves from being a “Draft” to “Pending”. Our team will get back to you with our feedback and recommendations to help strengthen your campaign. We’ll schedule a call with you to go over everything, as well as the next steps you’ll need to go through to get your project published.
As you’re getting your campaign ready for publishing, make sure that you’re also working on your marketing plan as instructed in the Overview Form. This way, once you publish your campaign, you’ll have everything else ready to go too!
Get your project approved for publishing
What’s next?
As soon as you finish editing your campaign, let our team know by sending us an email! We’ll go through the changes you made, and if everything is good to go, we’ll approve your project and you can move on to the next step. Your project status will move from “Pending” to “Approved”.
Settle the Fees needed for you to publish your campaign
After your campaign has been approved by our team, you’ll receive an email regarding the payment of your fees. Once your proof of payment has been verified, you’ll receive an email saying that your campaign is ready to be published. At this stage, your project would have moved from “Approved” to “For Verification” to “Ready”
Now it’s time to hit the publish button and launch your camaign!
Step 3: Campaign
What to do once your campaign has been published
Now that you’ve finally published, it’s time to start campaigning. It’s time to execute all of those marketing plans that you worked so hard on.
It would be ideal if you already received pledges even before your campaign gets published. In the time that you’re planning your campaign, reach out to your closest network and let them know that you’ll be needing their help – that way, you’ll be creating movement in your progress bar right away. We have a tracker that can help you take note of the funds that will be coming in before your campaign is published. Fill it up and we’ll have it reflected on your page ASAP.
Continue to explore opportunities and connections. This is the perfect time for you to put yourself out there. Talk about your campaign with everyone that you can, ask people to share your page on their profiles, go all out in spreading the word about your project! The more you talk about your campaign, the more others will too.
We’ll be here every step of the way – don’t hesitate to reach out!
Step 4: Implement
Post-campaign activities
Once your campaign has finished, the real work begins! Before fully focusing on your project, here are some activities that you need to do once your campaign ends:
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- Settle your fees – We will be providing you with a payout report at the end of your campaign that details all the fees and other important details that you’ll need to move forward.
- Organize your list of backers – One of the first things you need to do is make sure all of your backers are accounted for. Get in touch with them through your channel of choice (we recommend creating either a Mailing List or a Facebook Group) and update them on the status of your project.
Implementing your Project
A very important activity is to start implementing your project if you haven’t already.
Your campaign pitch will detail your proposed timeline, and you should do your very best to deliver what you promised to your backers – they’re counting on you and they’re most likely to be eagerly waiting for updates and messages from you, especially if they chose to receive any rewards.
Communicating with your backers
Do not forget to stay in contact with your backers during this time. Keep them updated. Let them know what’s up, what you’re working on, and if you’re staying on track with your project.
Remember that once someone is an official backer of your project, the communication is transferred from The Spark Project to the Project Creator. You are in charge of providing updates, capturing delivery details, and answering questions that your backers may have about your campaign.
Step 5: Deliver
Reaching the finish line
You’re so close to the finish line! After you’ve ended your campaign, worked on your project, and updated your backers, what’s left is to complete your project and deliver your rewards, if any.
At this point, you should already have all the delivery details that you need to get the rewards to your backers.
Be sure to coordinate with them and your courier of choice to ensure a smooth delivery process. Let them know if there will be any delays, thank them for their support, and complete your project!
Building your community
After your project has been completed, don’t stop engaging with your backers. At this point in time, you will already have created an amazing community who supports what you do, don’t forget that!
Crowdfunding not only helps you raise funds, but it also guarantees an opportunity to foster growth in your community for you and your organization.
Crowdfunding Rules and Guidelines
Take a moment to review our rules.
Before you start your crowdfunding campaign, be sure that your project fits into these guidelines.
- Projects must either be rewards-based or donations-based
- Projects cannot be used to raise funds for personal causes
- Projects should not contain offensive and dishonest material
- Projects must have a clear start and end date, and well-defined goals
- Projects should not have simultaneous campaigns on another crowdfunding site
- Projects should already have a concrete prototype or a “proof-of-concept”
- Projects must have at least one Filipino member in the group
- Projects should adhere to the Philippine Law
All set to spark?
Be a step closer to kicking off your entrepreneurial adventure on The Spark Project.
Start a campaign
Create your campaign page. You can always save it as a draft and go back to it later.
Crowdfunding Fees
How much does it cost to crowdfund? Check our friendly rates and get started right away.
FAQs
Do crowdfunding the right way. Learn how The Spark Project can help you fund your project.