—by Lishan Tan

How to find alternative funding for your creative projects and career

For real-life stories about successful crowdfunding campaigns, check out our article extra Setting Yourself Apart From the Crowd.

If there were no limits, what would be your next project? It’s a fun question to consider and dream about the next concert, workshop, or recording. Unfortunately, the reality of life is that everyone is limited by time, money, and other commitments. But what if I told you that we can resolve the money constraint through something called “crowdfunding” that can make out-of-reach projects financially feasible? 

Crowdfunding has been on the rise in recent years as an accessible alternative to traditional funding sources. If you can’t bankroll your project yourself, your options would typically be to present your project to a potential investor or apply for scholarships and grants. However, not everyone has the opportunity to pitch to an investor and finding the right grant, much less getting it, can be tricky. Crowdfunding, on the other hand, is available to everyone. It gives you the freedom to raise as much money as you need while also providing you a platform to allow your audience to support your creative endeavors.

So what is crowdfunding exactly? It is essentially gathering a small amount of money  from a large number of individuals to finance your next business venture via online platforms such as Kickstarter or Patreon. Crowdfunding relies on strength in numbers where individuals can choose to give you as little as $1. The sheer number of investors, each providing a small amount of money, can result in a huge pile of funds. The “crowd” of individuals who fund your project typically come from the audience you have garnered on social media, but you could also snap supporters who are simply browsing the crowdfunding platform. Distance and accessibility are not limiting factors in who can invest in you. Your funding could be coming from as far as the beach houses of Miami to a neighborhood in Singapore.

There are plenty of online platforms catering to the various needs of creators and businesses to monetize their audience. These sites fall into three general categories: traditional crowdfunding, where you offer rewards in exchange for fundings for your project; membership crowdfunding, where your audience buys a subscription to access your creative output or exclusive content; and tip jar crowdfunding, where visitors can give you financial tips of any amount at any time. With so many options available, how do you know which platform to choose? It all depends on you, your project, and your goals.

Traditional crowdfunding

The traditional crowdfunding model used by platforms like Kickstarter and Indiegogo has proven to be successful time and again. Maybe you’ve seen the millions of dollars raised for the newest anti-theft handbag, a revolutionary cooler box, or simply a cool new board game. Many musicians, harpists included, have successfully funded their recording ventures, cross-country tours, and even new instrument purchases through Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Traditional crowdfunding is often used to raise money for larger scale, one-time projects such as a series of educational harp videos or a new book or a big concert. Kickstarter and Indiegogo have become so well-established that these websites have users who regularly invest in projects. Combining these platform users with your own social media audience can create an opportunity for a wide range of people across the globe to invest in your project. Those individuals who choose to support you are typically called “backers.” 

Backers may simply want to support you and your project, but your crowdfunding campaign and rewards can also incentivize backers. The campaign consists of promotional videos, detailed descriptions of your project, and sometimes a personal explanation of your passion for the project. If your idea is to record a new album, an effective campaign would tell potential backers why this album is important or unique. You could create videos of yourself performing or talking about the steps you would take to bring the project to life. Campaigns are essentially the place to sell your idea. It’s your product pitch. Backers want to understand the project’s potential and how they can benefit from supporting you. They need to believe that your campaign is authentic, feasible and most of all, worthy of their money.

The second reason backers would choose to invest in your campaign is the rewards you offer in return for their investment. Rewards can include a special discounted price for your album, a signed copy of your new CD, or even a private live performance. There are no limits to how creative you can be in your rewards, as long as you can fulfill them. I’ve seen campaigns offering backers 250 words in the liner notes for an album, their own customized songs, and even a simple email containing a viola joke. You just have to show the backers how they will benefit from investing in you. This is the whole premise of traditional crowdfunding where both you and your backers mutually benefit as a result of the project. 

In addition to rewards, you have to determine a funding goal for your campaign. You get to decide how much money you wish to raise in a set amount of time. Campaigns can run between one to 60 days on both Kickstarter and Indiegogo, and there is no cap to the amount of money you can raise. In 2015, a simple card game with a funding goal of $10,000 exploded and raised over $8 million. 

If the campaign’s goal is reached, you must fulfill the rewards promised to your backers. Although you could easily set a conservative amount with hopes to raise more capital, it should be noted that backers may not want to support a project that has already reached its targets. Additionally, if the goal is set way below what you actually need, it will likely create problems in fulfilling the rewards. This is why Kickstarter takes an all-or-nothing approach to funding. If a campaign does not reach its funding goal, the creators do not receive any money and backers do not pay out their pledged money. This minimizes the risk for everyone involved.

Indiegogo also offers an all-or-nothing model, which they call Fixed Funding. However, Indiegogo is the only platform that currently offers Flexible Funding. Choosing this option means that you can still receive the funds raised even if your funding goal is not met. It is very appealing, but it should be noted that creators are still expected to fulfill all rewards despite not raising all the requested funds. If you actually need $10,000 for your new harp to record music but you only raise $8,000, Flexible Funding might require you to supplement the remaining funds just so that you can deliver the rewards promised. Additionally, Indiegogo offers successfully funded campaigns an In-Demand option where your campaign can remain on the platform. Having your campaign be In-Demand means new backers can continue giving funds to your already fully funded project. New backers will be able to access the same tiers of rewards you offered in your campaign. The perks of this option are that it allows for new potential backers to continue finding and funding your project and helps you raise way past your goal. 

Both of these platforms have been around for years and hosted thousands of campaigns. One of these successful campaigns was run by the Chicago Harp Quartet, who used Kickstarter to not only fund a debut album but also commission a new harp quartet work by Bernard Andrès. (You can read more about their successful Kickstarter in the sidebar on pg 31) As long as you can create a clear, strong campaign with enticing rewards for your backers, the ideas and opportunities are limitless. 

Traditional crowdfunding works very well for one-time projects, but what if you want to supplement your income and carry out longer term projects like building a YouTube channel? Creators saw this gap in the traditional crowdfunding models of Kickstarter and Indiegogo, and came up with the membership and tip jar crowdfunding models.

Membership crowdfunding

To understand how membership crowdfunding sites like Patreon work, think about Netflix or Disney+ where you pay a monthly membership fee to view all of that platform’s content. On Patreon, audiences can subscribe to your page in exchange for exclusive content and rewards. Investors, called patrons, support creators on a regular, ongoing basis as compared to the one-time funding on Kickstarter. This regularity is most suitable for those who wish to supplement their income, support their careers, or fund longer term projects. Instead of funding the recording of one album, it could be monthly music cover videos, arrangements, or an educational series on how to play the harp.

Like Kickstarter and Indiegogo, rewards are offered to patrons in exchange for funds. Rewards could be as simple as earlybird access to your YouTube videos or as exclusive as a virtual meetup session. Unlike Kickstarter and Indiegogo, however, these are recurring rewards in exchange for your patron’s regular funding. You can choose to receive funding per month or per creation and your rewards are likewise to be delivered with the same regularity. 

The amount you receive each time depends on your patrons, your rewards and your different levels of funds. For example, if you create cover videos on YouTube, you could offer patrons early access to videos for $1 per month. For $5, they could give suggestions on the music they would like you to play in your next video. Offering various tiers allows your patrons to support at a level that they are comfortable with. Unique rewards at higher tiers could be enticing for some patrons. Others can choose to support you for as little as $1 a month, at a lower and less intimidating commitment level. Unfortunately, they can also choose to change their reward levels or stop subscribing whenever they want, resulting in irregular funding for you. What might help in maintaining that consistent support from them would be ensuring that your patrons are constantly enticed by your reward and engaged with you as a creator.

Patreon is great in terms of building a community with your audience. With any online audience, it is difficult to engage with all of them and especially on a regular basis. A Patreon page not only allows you a way to get ongoing support from your current audience, but also engage with this exclusive community regularly and receive feedback on your content. What would they like to see next? What did they think of your previous transcription? It allows you and your patrons to connect in a more personal way should you choose to do so, and these interactions will allow your community to feel more engaged with you and with each other. 

Essentially, a Patreon page is the continuous crowdfunding of your audience. Since patrons typically come from your social media following, growing your audience on social media will likewise grow your Patreon page. While Kickstarter has that chance of going viral, Patreon takes a consistent approach of building an audience and producing content to reap the long-term benefits. Having been on Patreon for several years, YouTube musicians like the Swedish group Wintergatan and American duo Pomplamoose have been extremely successful with the slow and steady approach. With over 3000 patrons, Pomplamoose receives over $17,000 per month for their patrons’ support. In return, they have been producing weekly music videos for their YouTube channel and patrons can access an exclusive community chatroom. Harpists such as Christy-Lyn and Amy Turk have also been very successful on YouTube and Patreon with their community constantly growing. (They share firsthand experiences on running a Patreon page in the sidebar on pg. 29.) Although the idea of providing rewards each month for patrons might be intimidating for some, fulfilling these recurring reward deadlines set by your community helps you to constantly create content. This will in turn grow your own brand, community, and career.

Tip jar crowdfunding 

Tip jar model crowdfunding sites like Ko-Fi and Buy Me a Coffee work best with content you produce on social media platforms where viewers can leave you a monetary tip for your content. Whether you’re posting practice videos on Instagram or harp care tips on your blog, having a Ko-Fi or Buy Me a Coffee page allows anyone who happens upon your content to donate to you. The great thing about the tip jar model is that it allows for one-time donations to your page without the need for you to offer any rewards. The viewer donates to you simply because they wish to give you a tip. As a result, the commitment level is much lower for both you and your audience. 

In addition to this tip jar model, Ko-Fi and Buy Me a Coffee also offer the subscription and rewards system like Patreon. Currently, Ko-Fi allows for several tiers of subscriptions while Buy Me a Coffee offers one standard tier of a monthly subscription and reward. You can choose to stick solely to the tip jar model so that you do not need to deliver regular rewards, or have both available to allow your audience flexibility and various options from which to choose. Additional perks to these two platforms are its e-shop and commission features. The e-shop allows you to sell anything digital from audio downloads to PDFs. Commissions allow visitors to purchase any service you offer such as a personalized harp recording or a one-on-one virtual lesson. Visitors can buy any of these extra services you offer for the price you set. The great thing is that you can limit the number of commissions you receive each month so that you won’t get overwhelmed by a sudden influx of commissions. The commitment level on tip jar sites for both you and your audience is significantly lower than Patreon and Kickstarter, and you can offer as much or as little content as you want due to the flexibility. The biggest drawback of Ko-Fi and Buy Me a Coffee is that the organic traffic is much lower than Kickstarter and Patreon. Although not ideal, this simply means that you would have to rely heavily on driving your own traffic to your funding page.

All five platforms offer a huge number of possibilities for crowdfunding and monetizing your audience. Kickstarter and Indiegogo are great for one-time, large-scale projects, while Patreon is especially useful for those seeking longer term funding. Patreon offers the reliability and a high commitment level that some patrons want their creators to have, while Ko-Fi and Buy Me a Coffee offer flexibility for both the creator and supporter. Understanding what your needs and goals are as a creator will help you choose the right platform for your business or project and bring you one step closer to those projects you’ve always dreamed of.  


Funding fatigue

Receiving money and donations sounds like a dream, but it’s not without its pitfalls.

As crowdfunding has grown in popularity over the last decade, a phenomenon dubbed “funding fatigue” has also been on the rise. Backers and funders can grow weary of constant funding requests and wary of creators that fail to make good on their promised rewards. 

As a creator, it’s important to prove that your project or business is worth the backer’s money and trust. 

  • present a worthy project
  • run a transparent campaign 
  • understand what your audience wants
  • set up a manageable rewards system 
  • incentivize your audience with rewards and a connection to your community

Remember that crowdfunding isn’t easy money. Successful campaigns require lots of hard work over a long period of time. But with the right project, platform, and audience, crowdfunding can help provide the financial backing needed to bring your next idea to life.

Li Shan Tan is a Singaporean harpist who enjoys exploring the limits of the instrument through her arrangements and collaborations with composers. She also loves traveling, writing, and drinking lots of coffee.