How To Create Crowdfunding Platforms Like GoFundMe?
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Crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe and Kickstarter are the world’s leading websites that help in finding funding for social and charitable projects. Namely: the cost of education, construction, emergency medical care or any other non-profit initiatives. Unlike other similar platforms, these use a very lenient approach to goals and deadlines. Scroll below and you will find out:
- why the business model of this particular platform is attractive;
- how to create your own successful crowdfunding site like GoFundMe;
- cloning its key features.
We provide a powerful instruction of simple steps!
Step-by-step: creating an GoFundMeWebsite Clone
In principle, the creation of any platform is a time-consuming part. Before the actual development process, answer the following questions:
- What is the purpose of creating this project?
- What is the niche?
- What is the target audience?
All these questions will influence the choice of your business model, the creation of the design and the introduction of features. The product niche itself will affect the marketing strategy, project budget calculation, development time and competitiveness.
Step 1: Main objective of the project
Important! Don’t clone the mission and goals of GoFundMe, which are mainly associated with traditional social and charitable projects.
Follow the trends in this area and invent something new to enter the market in a rather innovative way. Following the innovations, it would be very logical to add anti-corruption tools, diagnostic medical programs, anonymous psychological messengers, etc.
At this stage, it is worth analyzing:
- Who are we targeting the platform? GoFundMe is not tied to any sphere, but has fixed itself on charity and social projects, but this is not the only variation. By launching a similar crowdfunding platform, you can focus on a narrower group, such as helping cancer patients, people with other serious illnesses or animals. There are also similar platforms for other niches: kickstarter clone (projects in music, art and technology), patreon clone (creative sector), indiegogo clone (innovations in tech and design)…
- Choose the country or region in which you will work. It is important not to neglect this issue, because each country has its own specifics with its own problems. For example, in Africa it is appropriate to raise funds for the construction of wells, and in Ukraine to help victims of war.
- Choose a niche. A reasonable solution would be if the site at the start is aimed at one narrow niche and target audience.
Step 2: Сhoice of the right business model
Choosing and building a business model allows you to quickly and easily depict the main idea of the project, its mechanisms that will be used to generate profits. As an example, the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter – assistance in financing creative projects.. To get started, all you have to do is set up a goal and a time period. After it’s approved by Kickstarter, you can start promoting your campaign to friends, family members and donors. Best suited for: A wide variety of innovators.
A kickstarter clone nowadays is powered by donations.
Business model – What is Kickstarter based on?
- Their mission is to help bring creative projects to life.
- Simplicity and accessibility of crowdfunding (it takes a few minutes to launch a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, and even less to make a donation).
- Marketing tools (this platform provides crowdfunders with quite a sufficient set of opportunities for free promotion of crowdfunding campaigns on the Internet and social networks).
- Expression of emotions on the site (all posted ads on the platform automatically acquire emotions: sympathy, support, happiness and others).
When developing your own clone of a crowdfunding platform, you can use a similar business model, but it is not necessary if you do not want to focus on charity, but this model is a good option.
Step 3: Key platform features
This step requires determining which features to clone from GoFundMe to launch your crowdfunding platform. You should not make them identical to the original, because you still have to keep some originality for your product. Also, analyze other similar platforms for comparison.
These are the factors you need to focus on when choosing and implementing features:
| Recognizability and simplicity | The interface should be easy to use and pleasing to the eye because it creates a sense of reliability, kindness, and decency. Why “clone”, because if your interface is similar to popular (familiar) platforms: Kickstarter, Patreon, Indiegogo, GoFundMe, or Lending Club. |
| Memorable platform design | The color scheme can be any, the main thing is that the colors look good in the merger and are not aggressive to the eye. This applies to all details (drawings, photos, videos, typography, etc.). In general, the design should attract people and be warm. |
| Popular payment systems are available | The official payment systems that everyone knows so well are first, security. Secondly, reliability and trust of your target audience. For example, GoFundMe works with PayPal and WePay, which process all transactions on their platform. They make it fast and familiar, but unfortunately do not support all local payment systems. If your niche is beyond the reach of PayPal and WePay, then use LemonWay, Reyker, or GCEN – systems tailored for crowdfunding platforms. A payment via cryptocurrencies like Bitcion or Ethereum or even USDT option is also possible and popular among… |
| Mobility/adaptability | It is important to understand that there is simply nowhere in our world without mobile applications. A good customer-oriented business always has a quality application. Most of the time that users spend on the Internet is on mobile devices. Therefore, if you are creating a crowdfunding platform and want it to be successful, you need a responsive design and application. |
Step 4: Marketing strategy
Without the right marketing strategy, no business will get high development.
Attracting crowdfunders is the main marketing task of any such platform. You need to start looking for an audience exactly a couple of months before the launch of the service itself in order to have several projects at the start. There are many ways to attract people, but we have selected the two most relevant ones…
The first way: if you have contact with people who need help, contact them (word of mouth). And the more relevant the project is, the better it is for promoting the site.
The second way: is through online communities. There are even specialized forums and groups in social networks where people are looking for help. As well as platforms focused directly on crowdfunding.
How to promote a crowdfunding platform?
- Attracting sponsors – you can use standard marketing channels, but you always need to highlight who you are looking for. These should be people who care about your niche and are willing to spend at least some money on your projects. Who is motivated to invest?
- Search engine optimization (SEO) – you need to analyze search queries and create an SEO core, based on which you can optimize content and create links.
- Content marketing (texts, images, videos) – Most crowdfunding sites have a blog where they talk about interesting initiatives and innovations. You can connect a mailing list.
- Social media marketing (SMM) – focusing on business and large investors, it is Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. If it is ordinary people – Instagram and Facebook.
- Pay-per-click advertising (PPC) – from 1 to 50 thousand dollars per month. This is the easiest and fastest way to attract both sponsors and crowd funders. But it works as long as you pay.
Step 5: Effective approaches to development
Of course, we left the most important point for dessert. There are at least four ways to create a GoFundMe clone – crowdfunding platform: development from scratch, SaaS and white label, WordPress themes and clone scripts.
- The most successful option is to develop from scratch, as this way you can create a product with the desired set of functions and a unique design. Important! There will be no problems with copyright.
- If you don’t have the time and desire to develop from scratch, you should think about SaaS, because these are ready-to-launch solutions that you just need to customize and start, and everything will be done by the software provider, not you.
- Alternatively, WordPress Themes. There are a lot of GoFundMe clone templates, and some of them are quite good. But always remember that WordPress is not the most reliable CMS and for the correct operation of the site you need to install some plugins that also cost money.
- Cloning site scripts – Using a clone script, you pay only once and very little. This approach is similar to SaaS, but you will not have technical support and a back office.
- Free and open source software. The given product has no restrictions on changes, updates, and uses in any commercial projects. It could be said that this is the best option, but, security and quality are lame.
Cost of development
What is the price of developing a crowdfunding platform such as GoFundMe or Kickstarter? As always, the pricing policy of any platform development will depend on the country of the developer’s location, and most importantly, the configuration, functions, and complexity of the product design. However, we can give the following approximate calculation:
| App type | Time | Cost |
| MVP of the crowdfunding platform | 1-3 months | $20,000 to $60,000 |
| Crowdfunding platform with standard functionality | 3-6 months | $60,000 to $150,000 |
| Advanced crowdfunding platform with lots of features | 6+ months | From $150,000 |
To learn about advanced calculations and the development of platforms click on name and read our article – How much does it cost to make an app?
Important! You can always contact our professional team of developers who will advise you on your project and give more accurate calculations for it.
Blockchain integration
Blockchain development makes any platform “more transparent” and brings clarity to where the money is going. Ensuring that donations reach their intended destination and do not disappear. And we often see exactly this criticism of donations to large organizations.
The use of transparent crypto wallets, specific address data, and other blockchain data can help determine whether funds have reached the wallet associated with the target organization or beneficiary.
Many organizations are developing blockchain technology to help donors transparently track funds throughout the donation process, making it easier for donors to hold the fundraiser accountable. The blockchain motivates and incentivizes organizations to do what they promise with the funding they receive, rather than to squander it.
As an example of the integration of blockchain and crowdfunding, two popular names of companies can be cited: Duck DAO and TECRA space. Duckdao is a community-supported incubator powered by the world’s largest network of engaged investors in the digital asset ecosystem. Tecra Space created a crowdfunding platform based on its own blockchain solutions for raising capital.
The bottom line
Crowdfunding is a great idea for a business, and at the same time for good causes! To successfully create such a platform, you need to take as a basis the right ready-made business model and calculate how much money you need to have for its development and further support. Want professional evaluation and technical assistance for your idea? Request development from dedicated team OmiSoft! Write to us and our developers will be glad to help!
We look forward to hearing from you!
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