Creative Fundraisers

What people raise for in Creative

Creative fundraisers are for the work that has no budget behind it yet, whether that's an album that needs studio time, a documentary that needs one more shoot, a first novel, a stage run, or a podcast that has outgrown a laptop microphone. The people who give are usually the ones already waiting for it: the mailing list, the room at the last show, the friends who have heard the rough mixes. You aren't starting cold, and that changes what your page has to do. It only has to give the people who already believe in the work one place to put money and one place to watch it get made.

Say plainly what the money covers, because a short breakdown does more work than a long pitch: studio days, mixing, mastering, artwork, festival fees, the printing bill. When givers can see where the money goes, they give more readily. Then write the reason behind the work in your own words. You're not filling in a grant application, so don't wait for perfect language.

How to start an online fundraiser for a creative project

Setup runs about ten minutes, and there's nothing to apply for. Create an account, open My Fundraisers, and click Start a GiveSendGo. From there you'll pick the recipient's country, set a goal, choose a category, write your title and story, and add a photo or a short video before you publish. Your title can run up to 50 characters and your story anywhere from 200 to 10,000, so there's room to write properly. If a blank page is what's stopping you, MICA, GiveSendGo's AI writing assistant, will draft a story from a short description and you can edit it from there.

What tends to separate a fundraiser that moves from one that stalls:

• A goal that matches the real budget rather than a round number.
• A breakdown of what the money covers, item by item.
• Photos that look like the work, or a short video where you speak straight to the camera.
• A direct ask, written in your own words.
• Updates as things happen, and sharing that keeps going after the first post.

Start a GiveSendGo

What it costs to run one

GiveSendGo doesn't take a cut. There's no platform fee. What's deducted is the payment processor's fee: 2.7% + 30¢ per gift for US fundraisers, 3.5% + 30¢ outside the US. On a $100 gift to a US fundraiser, $97 reaches you.

On the gifts you're most likely to see, that works out like this:

Non-USD fundraisers may also see currency exchange fees set by the payment processor.

One more setting to know about before you publish. When you create a fundraiser you can pledge a percentage of what you raise to GiveSendGo, and if you set it, that amount is added on top of each gift and shown to your givers at checkout, so some read it as a platform fee. It's editable any time in your fundraiser Settings, and it only applies to gifts that come in after you change it.

When the money reaches you

Your first gift becomes available 5 days after it's received. Every gift after that becomes available on a rolling 3-day basis. Once you request a transfer, it typically lands in your bank within 2 to 3 business days. Non-USD transfers can take longer.

Request a transfer from your fundraiser's Transfers tab whenever funds are available, or switch to scheduled transfers that go out weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. A manual transfer sends your whole available balance, and once one is approved you wait 24 hours before requesting another. There's no extra fee for taking several smaller transfers instead of one large one. If you're in the US, connect a checking account rather than a savings account, because US transfers go out as checking transactions and a savings account can be rejected by the bank.

Who receives the money

The recipient must be 18 or older, live in the fundraiser's country, and have a bank account there. That can be you. Every recipient completes identity verification before any transfer, which begins once the ID is uploaded and the first gift has come in, and typically finishes 1 to 2 business days after that.

Four things to settle before you publish:

• You don't need a nonprofit or an EIN. Anyone can start a fundraiser.
• Choose the country carefully, because the recipient's country can't be changed after the fundraiser is created.
• Pick the Business bank account type if the money should land in a band's or a production company's account rather than a personal one.
• Upload the ID early, since verification has to clear first.

Start a GiveSendGo

After the first gifts come in

Post updates as the work moves, whether that's the studio booked, the edit locked, or the proof copy finally in your hands. Thank the people who gave, in a comment reply or in an update, and set a custom thank-you message so everyone hears something back. Share the fundraiser more than once, and ask the friends closest to the work first, because early support is what tells everyone else this is real.

If you came here to support somebody else's work instead, the projects listed above are open now.

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