IgnitionDeck is a popular plugin for WordPress that turns WordPress installs into fully-functioning crowdfunding platforms. It is a solution that has been used in part by Star Citizen to raise a staggering $27 million and counting.
The team behind the plugin recently published an article entitled IgnitionDeck vs Crowdfunding Platforms: A Cost-Benefit Analysis. It is a great breakdown of why some crowdfunders should consider using IgnitionDeck and solutions like it when planning a crowdfunding campaign.
From the article…
Currently, it costs just $79 to get started with IgnitionDeck and one extension — even if you’re only raising $5,000, you’ll be paying $200-250 to get up and running on any of the major crowdfunding sites. A failed $5k project on Indiegogo can set you back as much as $450. If you’re looking to raise anything above this, the savings grow exponentially.
To clarify a couple of points, the $200-250 refers to the success fee for a successfully-funded project in the $4000-5000 range. On the subject of a “failed project,” what they’re referring to is a flexibly funded project on Indiegogo that fails to meet its goal. In that event, the project creator is docked with a 9% success fee – 4% over the typical 5% fee for a successful project.
IgnitionDeck’s team is making the point that a one-time fee of $79 is significantly less than the fees incurred for even a small raise on traditional rewards-based crowdfunding platforms.
In addition, IgnitionDeck allows you to get up and running faster, tweaking your project and the way it’s advertised as you go. Unlike traditional platforms, we don’t charge a percentage to slice off the top, and you can keep all of the money you raise. Better yet, the only transaction fees you have to pay are at the discretion of your chosen payment platform (e.g. PayPal). Paying up-front for your IgnitionDeck installation means you don’t have ongoing costs to worry about and can concentrate on raising as much capital as possible.
One of the biggest benefits to large crowdfunding platforms is “foot traffic,” or those unrelated potential backers that tend to stumble upon your campaign. That phenomenon gets even more profound if you end up curated to the top of a list or shared in an update email.
Having said that, some crowdfunders already have the network to raise money regardless of the platform. For those lucky few, low-cost solutions like IgnitionDeck may make a lot of sense.