Indiegogo was created by three individuals familiar with the hard work and frustrations that go along with raising money. Danae Ringlemann was an MBA student struggling to open an Off-Broadway play. Eric Schell tried to raise funds for a Chicago theatre company. Slava Rubin created a charity event for myeloma cancer research in honour of his late father.
Indiegogo was founded with the intention of transforming the funding process and make it easier to raise money for ideas that matter. The company has grown since its inception and now has campaigns being created in over 224 countries and territories.
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Indiegogo Model
Indiegogo is a rewards-based crowdfunding model. This means donators contribute to a campaign and are offered rewards for their contributions.
One feature is that users can disconnect their Facebook profile form from their Indiegogo account if they so want. However, Indiegogo urges users to keep their Facebook and Indiegogo accounts connected so a user’s identity is seen as being legitimate in the eyes of potential funders. There are also have user-friendly apps available for download for both iOS and Android operating systems.
Indiegogo has added a new website for those wanting to raise funds for charity purposes called “Generosity by Indiegogo”. Non-profits can run ‘free’ and so keep everything they raise.
Indiegogo Fees
There are no fees required initially during the set-up process. Some other crowdfunding platforms, charge fees during the set-up process. The fact that they do not charge any of these fees, along with their effective online campaign editor tools, make the overall set-up process a quick and stress-free.
While other crowdfunding platforms have elaborate fee structures, they take a simple and easy-to-understand route. Whether you choose either a Flexible or Fixed Funding type, a 5% fee will be charged once you have reached your goal. There are also transaction fees of 3% plus 30 cents for a credit card transaction, 3-5% for Paypal, or a $25 charge for wire fees.
If you don’t reach your goal, only flexible funding types will be charged the 5%. Fixed funding refunds all money donated and there is no fee.
Funding
Indiegogo offers what they call Flexible funding, meaning you can choose either ‘Keep what you Raised’ or ‘All or Nothing’ funding types. Flexible Funding means you keep all the money you raise, regardless of your goal; Fixed Funding means you have a specific funding goal that must be met, which can be a good choice for technology and products that require set funding to enter production.