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Kickstarter Revises Rules to Make It Easier to Start a Campaign

By James DeRuvo (doddleNEWS)

Since it began back in 2009, Kickstarter has helped people with a dream raise of $1 billion in seed money for everything from design and manufacturing, to books and film production, to almost anything else. And five years in, they’re still growing with over 150,000 campaigns and a 43% success rate. That means even more are rejected or failed, and Kickstarter wants to make it easier for campaigners to hit the ground running with their campaign by enacting a “launch now” initiative that not only clarifies rules on what is allowed for a crowdfunding portal, but can offer nearly instant launch capability.

 

If the project qualifies for Launch Now, the creator can go live whenever they're ready. If the creator wants to connect with someone at Kickstarter, we'll review the project and offer our feedback and advice. If a project doesn't qualify for Launch Now, the creator will need to share the project with us for a review before it can launch. – Kickstarter

The new “Launch Now” instantly evaluates a submitted campaign via a complex algorithm that will compare it to thousands of data points like project description, rewards offered, whether the funding goal is realistic, and a creator’s crowd-funding history. If it meets a set list of standards, the campaign will receive approval almost instantly and the launch can happen any time the creator is ready. If, however, the campaign doesn’t get approval by the algorithm, users can choose to get feedback and approval from Kickstarter to better their chances of moving forward.

Kickstarter has also simplified its submission rules so that creators can understand the metrics for getting campaign approval. The 3 clarified rules include:

1. Projects must create something to share with others.
   Kickstarter can be used to create all sorts of things: art and gadgets, events and spaces, ideas and experiences. But every project needs a plan for creating something and sharing it with the world. At some point, the creator should be able to say: "It's finished. Here's what we created. Enjoy!"
2. Projects must be honest and clearly presented.
   Our community is built on trust and communication. Projects can't mislead people or misrepresent facts, and creators should be candid about what they plan to accomplish. When a project involves manufacturing and distributing something complex, like a gadget, we require projects to?show a prototype?of what they're making, and we prohibit photorealistic renderings.
3. Projects can't fundraise for charity, offer financial incentives, or involve prohibited items.
   We're all in favor of charity and investment, but they're not permitted on Kickstarter. Projects can't promise to donate funds raised to a charity or cause, and they can't offer financial incentives like equity or repayment. We also can't allow any of these prohibited things.

Prohibited items include:

1. Any item claiming to cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition (whether via a device, app, book, nutritional supplement, or other means).
2. Contests, coupons, gambling, raffles, and lifetime memberships.
3. Energy food and drinks.
4. Offensive material (e.g., hate speech, encouraging violence against others, etc).
5. Offering a genetically modified organism as a reward.
6. Offering alcohol as a reward.
7. Offering financial, money-processing, or credit services; financial intermediaries or cash-equivalent instruments; travel services (e.g., vacation packages); phone services (e.g., prepaid phone services, 900 numbers); and business marketing services.
8. Political fundraising.
9. Pornographic material.
10. Resale. All rewards must have been produced or designed by the project or one of its creators no reselling things from elsewhere.
11. Tobacco, drugs, and drug paraphernalia.
12. Weapons, replicas of weapons, and weapon accessories.

What does this mean for raising funds for film and video projects? Not much, actually, except that it makes it easier for film projects to get up and running without having to wait for approval. But for those who are working to create a new item for filmmaking (or any other industry), the rules will make it easier for them to position their campaign and move forward.

Hat Tip – NFS

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