How Funding Works & Risks

When you support a crowdfunding project you are backing an attempt. Founders describe what they hope to make; plans change, things take longer than expected, and some projects fail entirely. Reaching a funding goal is not a guarantee of delivery, and the platform does not vet or guarantee any project. Only ever commit what you can afford to lose.

Projects can offer several different ways to support them. These are not equivalent — what you get (if anything), and what can go wrong, is different for each:

• Donations. You give to help. You are not owed anything in return.
• Rewards. You back at a tier and the founder promises a reward (a thank-you, a product, an experience). Rewards depend entirely on the founder delivering; estimated fulfilment dates are estimates, not commitments.
• Products and preorders. You order something the founder intends to make. Unlike a shop purchase, the item may not exist yet — delays and non-delivery are real risks.
• Memberships. Ongoing support, free or paid, for ongoing benefits the founder defines. Paid membership joining is currently disabled — it requires a subscription-capable payment provider that does not exist yet.
• Equity (simulated, currently unavailable). New equity offers are switched off on the platform for now. An offer of part-ownership in the founder’s venture. On this platform equity offers are simulations for development and demonstration only: no real shares exist or are transferred. Real equity crowdfunding is heavily regulated in Australia (ASIC licensing and the crowd-sourced funding regime, among others) and will not be offered without legal authorisation. Real equity risks include: you can lose the entire amount; shares in early ventures are illiquid (you may be unable to sell them for years, or ever); your ownership can be diluted by later investors; and most startups fail.
• Revenue and profit sharing (simulated, currently unavailable). New revenue- and profit-sharing offers are switched off on the platform for now. An offer to share a percentage of the project’s revenue with supporters, under published terms (basis, rate, caps, duration). On this platform these are simulations: founders self-report revenue figures, the platform cannot verify them, and the calculated “distributions” are records, not payments. Real revenue-share risks include: revenue may never materialise; reported figures depend on the founder’s honesty and bookkeeping; and you may receive far less than you contributed, or nothing.

Illustrative calculators, projected revenue, projected returns, and estimated delivery dates shown anywhere on the platform are examples, not promises.

• An application or expression of interest (used by investment-style offers) asks the founder to accept you; it binds no one.
• A commitment records your acceptance of an offer’s published terms at a specific version. The terms you accepted can never be changed under you — founders can only change terms for future supporters by publishing a new version.
• A payment would be the actual movement of money. This step does not currently exist: every commitment is simulated, nothing is owed, and nothing is collected.
• Receiving a reward, product, or benefit — or actually acquiring ownership or a revenue entitlement — are further steps that depend on the founder and, for investments, on legal arrangements outside this platform.

Every live campaign has a published deadline. When it passes, the campaign stops accepting support — enforced by our servers and database, not just by the page — and the final eligible support total is recorded and compared with the goal. Cancelled commitments don’t count toward the total. The result (goal reached or not) is then shown on the campaign page and supporters and the founder are notified.

Reaching the goal does not close a campaign: it keeps accepting eligible support until its deadline, the goal stays the same, and the total can go above 100% (a $10,000 goal that raises $12,500 shows $12,500 raised and 125% funded). Followers and supporters are told once when a goal is reached, once when a campaign is within a week of ending, and once when it ends.

A campaign keeps whatever support it received by the deadline, whether or not it reached its goal. Falling short of the goal is recorded and shown on the campaign page, but it does not undo recorded support — and it does not release founders from their published promises: reward and product commitments still carry the founder’s obligations.

A campaign ending with its goal met does not mean the founder has received money, and it does not guarantee delivery of anything.

What you can change depends on the arrangement, and the rules are enforced by our database, not just the page. From Backed projects you can withdraw an application or expression of interest at any time; cancel an accepted donation, reward or product commitment while the campaign is still open (not after it closes); and leave a free membership whenever you like. An accepted investment-style arrangement cannot be cancelled by you alone — you can request withdrawal and the founder decides. Because no real payments exist, there are no refunds — nothing has been paid. When real payments launch, the refund and cancellation policy will be published before any real money is accepted.

Every offer shows the exact published terms (and version) you are accepting — read them before committing. If a project looks misleading or fraudulent, use the Report button on the project page; reports go to the moderation team, and the platform records moderation decisions in an audit trail. You can also raise concerns directly with the founder in the project’s discussion.