On several occasions different people has asked the following question: may I publish my crowdfunding project in different platforms at the same time? The purpose and intent behind this question is to try to ensure fundraising: “If I have posted my project on different platforms, I will get to more people, and therefore I will have more chances to get the necessary funding for my project”.
My answer is that is better to don’t do it for different reasons:
- First of all you have to look the terms of the platforms, as they may not allow simultaneous publication in different ones. Lánzanos, for example, permits the publication of the same project but with some conditions: it should be published on a foreign platform and it should not overlap in time with the campaign launched in Lánzanos.
- Even if two platforms allow the simultaneous publication of the same project, try to imagine finding the same campaign asking the same amount for the same project in two different places (think as a funder, not as someone looking for funds). This situation can cause mistrust among potential funders, which is the last thing you want to achieve (this happened to me with a project I found on two different platforms). This is bacause you are asking for twice as much money than you need your project.
- The amount of people who finance projects browsing in the crowdfunding platforms differs a lot between projects. Typically funders end up funding a project because they have known it through Facebook, Twitter, mailing, etc.. informed by yourself, by someone you know who is helping to promote your campaign, or by other funder who participated and supports your campaign. So, putting your project on two platforms doesn’t ensures a much larger crowd.
- In this sense, given that the promotion of the campaign is crucial and runs from your account (or from a community manager who works for you), it would be better to guide people to a single site than to several different sites. Less confusion.
A different situation takes place when a project is modular, and some of these modules fit better in other specialiced crowdfunding platforms.
In this case, we are talking about smaller crowdfunding campaigns belonging to a common project. For example, a music band could seek funding for recording a disc through Lánzanos (as Macao did it) while seeking funding for a music video for one of the songs on the platform Kifund (audiovisual specialized crowdfunding platform).
In this case, it would be appropriate (if its allowed by the platforms) to comment the existence of another related project/s on another platform/s, linking and explaining them briefly. Honesty and transparency overall.