How do you fund a YouTube channel with crowdfunding?

Should you fund gear, a series or a season?

Fund something viewers will see the result of. A series or a season gives them episodes to wait for; gear works when you show what it changes.

A new camera by itself is hard to get excited about. A camera for a travel series, with the date of the first episode, is a project. A campaign is one project with a finish line, not a monthly subscription to the channel.

What goes in the budget?

More than the gear. List every line, so backers see where their money goes.

• Gear: a camera body, a lens, a microphone, lights, memory cards.
• Editing: your hours, or an editor paid per episode.
• Locations: travel, filming permits, entry fees, a room rented for a day.
• People: a camera operator, a guest's travel, a translator for subtitles.
• Music and graphics: licences, a thumbnail designer, an intro.
• Rewards: printing and postage for anything physical.

How big should the goal be?

As big as the project, and no bigger than your regular commenters can fill. Views include strangers passing by; commenters are the people who return.

For example, a series of 4 episodes: travel $300, an editor at $100 per episode ($400), a microphone and lights ($300), music licences ($100). That's $1,100, and about $1,300 once the rewards and fees are in.

Check it from the other side: 500 people who comment regularly, 1 in 10 backing at an average of $25, makes about $1,250. Close enough to try, or cut one episode. The goal planner does both sums.

What rewards work for viewers?

Rewards that show up in the videos, or bring viewers closer to how they're made.

• Their name in the end credits of the series.
• Each episode a few days early, on an unlisted link.
• A behind the scenes video only backers get.
• A vote on where the series goes next.
• A thank you on screen, for the higher tiers.
• Merch with the series' look: stickers, a print, a shirt.
• A cameo in an episode, or a call with you, for the top tier.

Keep it to 3 or 4 tiers, with the credits as the cheapest: they cost nothing to deliver.

How do you ask viewers to back it?

Make a short video about the project and put the campaign link in it. Viewers trust a face more than a text post.

Say what you'll make, show what the money buys, and give the date the first episode comes out. The pitch outline builder puts the pitch in order, and How to write a crowdfunding pitch helps with the words.

Then put the link everywhere your viewers already read: the pinned comment, the top of every description, the end screen and your community posts. Mention it in every upload until the deadline, not only the launch video; a deadline of about a month gives you several uploads to ask in. You can also set a share reward, from nothing up to 18.5% of each pledge, paid by the program to whoever shared the link, so viewers with a following of their own have a reason to post it.

What does it cost?

Writing and previewing a campaign costs nothing. Opening it costs $5 on the free plan.

Each pledge then pays 1.5% plus a flat $0.99, and the share reward you set comes out of the pledge too. The minimum pledge is $10.

The percentage fee on a pledge follows the plan of the account making it. It's taken when the pledge is made, so it isn't returned if the campaign misses its goal. Paid plans aren't on sale today, so the published fee is the free plan's fee.

Every plan is on the pricing page.

What if the goal is missed?

If the goal isn't met by the deadline, you take your pledge back from escrow with one tap, and nobody has to approve it. What comes back is the amount held for you: your pledge minus the fees taken when you backed (the platform fee, the flat fee, any tip and any share reward the campaign pays).

Your channel and your videos stay as they are. Cut the series down to what backers covered, and launch again with the footage you already shot as proof.

How do you start?

1. Sign up in the app with email or Google.
2. Write the project, the budget lines, the goal and the deadline.
3. Add your reward tiers and set the share reward.
4. Publish, then upload the pitch video with the link.
5. Pin the link and mention it in every upload until the deadline.

Everything you can fund has a guide for each kind of project, and every other question is in the answers.