CF FAQs

Giftbacks are items or services that are offered by Project Creators in return for monetary pledges from supporters. Project Giftbacks on standard projects will only be received if the project is successful in reaching its funding goal. Project Giftbacks on Non-Profit and Neighbor in Need projects will be received regardless of if the project is successful at receiving its funding goal.

You can find project specific giftbacks on all project pages. You can view a complete list of all giftbacks on the site by clicking the Marketplace link in the navigation menu at the top of every page.

A Neighbor in Need Project is different than a CF Project in two key ways. First, a Neighbor in Need Project must be charitable in purpose. Second, Neighbor in Need Projects do not have to reach a funding goal to receive their funds. All donations made to a Neighbor in Need Project will be received by the Project Creator within 2-3 business days of the time of your donation. You can find Neighbor in Need projects in the Explore Section by clicking the Neighbor in Need filter, and also identify them throughout Community Funded by the icon: 

The Project Creator is solely responsible for the fulfillment of all Project Giftbacks offered in association with their project.

First, to fund a Community Funded Project you must be 18-years of age and a U.S. resident. If you meet those requirements you can click on any project card to find out more details about the project, it’s funding goal, funding timeline, and the Giftbacks offered. Take your time to review the details of any project you are interested in funding, including contacting and talking with project creators about any questions and concerns you may have about funding the project. If you feel comfortable in working with a project creator, you can then fund a project by adding Giftbacks to your gift basket and clicking the “Support It” button. You may add multiple Giftbacks to your gift basket before checkout. At the time you pledge to a project your credit card is charged at that time for the amount of the pledge. Your funds are then held in a CF escrow account until a project either successfully reaches its funding goal or a project does not meet its funding goal by the funding timeline. If the project is successful funds are transferred to the project creator from the CF escrow account minus any fees the project creator owes. If the project is unsuccessful then the funds are returned to your My Wallet in your My CF account and you can either pledge those funds to another project or request a refund of your funds. Refunds of funds from your My Wallet will be charged a 5% Refund Service Fee.

In order to ensure that project creators get the full amount of pledged funds we charge your card at the beginning of the process. This means that project creators know that the amount of money pledged to them will be the amount they receive (minus any fees). If we waited to charge you until later there is the potential that a project creator would not receive your pledge because something went wrong with your credit card between the time you pledged and the actual charging of the card. This would leave the project creator with a potential hole in their funding need that could keep them from having a successful implementation of their project.

To fund a Community Funded project you must be 18-years of age and a U.S. resident. If you are funding on behalf of an organization you must be legally able to enter into a contract on behalf of the organization you are pledging for.

Yes, the minimum pledge to any CF project is $5.00. We are always looking to cut our fees and make it possible to lower the minimum pledge. Based on our current costs of doing business this is currently as low as we can go with a minimum pledge.

Not necessarily, just because you have pledged to a project does not mean you will receive a Giftback. In order to receive a Giftback the project must be successful and reaching its funding goal by its funding timeline. You must also have requested a Giftback from the project that is less than or equal to the level of funding you pledged.

No, you do not receive any ownership, equity share, or dividend from funding a Community Funded project. Project Creators maintain 100% ownership of their project and cannot offer any type of ownership in the project.

While all projects that appear on Community Funded (CF) have been through a review process before being allowed onto the site, Community Funded does not guarantee that any project on Community Funded is real. It is the responsibility of you, the funder, to do your due diligence on any project that you are deciding to fund. Community Funded encourages you to contact the project creator to ask them about any questions or concerns you have regarding their project. Ultimately, the final decision to pledge or not to pledge to a project is the sole responsibility of you, the funder. Again Community Funded makes no promises or guarantees about the projects that are allowed to post on CF.

Community Funded makes no guarantees about the delivery of your Giftback. The relationship is between you, the pledger, and the project creator. Community Funded does not control any Giftbacks at any time, and is not responsible for their fulfillment or delivery. Before pledging to a project you must make sure to do your due diligence on the the project and the project creator. Always ask project creators as many questions as you need, so that you feel comfortable that the project is legit and that the project creator will send the Giftbacks they promise.

Project creators are the ones who are responsible for fulfilling the giftbacks they have offered. If you have not received your giftback, then contact the project creator who promised the Giftback. You can send them an email, or post questions and comments on the project page.

If a project is not funded, then your funds are returned to your CF Wallet, you will not receive the Giftback you pledged for, and you can pledge those dollars to other CF Projects.

If a standard project is successful in meeting its funding goal, then funds are transferred to the project creator. Project creators are then responsible for fulfilling Giftbacks to their project funders in the time they estimated to have the Giftbacks delivered.

Please see the Non-Profit project information below if you have started or are thinking about starting a project for a non-profit.

Currently Community Funded only allows you to fund a project using a credit card. The only credit cards that we accept are Visa and Master Card.

Yes, but all refunds are charged a 5% refund service fee.

Matching is the ability to create a challenge pledge, of not less than $1000, to a project. Each time another user pledges to the same project, then funds are removed from your matching amount and added to the project’s funding goal in the amount equal to the user’s pledge. Matching a project is a great way to empower smaller donors to feel that they are having a greater impact on the projects success. Matching pledges and donations are subject to the same terms of service as a normal pledge. This means that a pledge to a standard project will only go towards the project if the project is successful in reaching its funding goal, and on non-profit and neighbor in need projects the funds go to the project regardless of if they meet their funding goal. To offer a match click this link here to be directed to the Make a Matching Donation form.

To offer a matching pledge or donation to a project you can click the Offer Matching Funds button on any project page, or click this link here to be directed to the Making a Matching Donation Form. Once you have reached the form select the project you would like to offer matching towards, fill out how much you would like to pledge, and your billing information. After that click Pledge Securely. At this point your credit card will be charged and the match will be added to the project you selected.

Community Funded charges a 10% fee on the total of funds raised by successful projects. If funding is not successful then no fees are charged.

Community Funded charges a one dollar convenience fee whenever a Community Member pledges to a project.

The convenience fee is a charge in addition to the original transaction amount for the convenience of being able to use an alternate payment method. Basically it is the fee we have to charge in order to allow pledgers to not to have to leave the site to pledge to projects, and also allow pledgers the ability to pledge to multiple projects in a single transaction.

We at Community Funded want to make sure that as many projects as possible are successful in reaching their funding goal. So, we help bridge the gap on projects to ensure they are successful. We use 50% of the proceeds from pledges to items from our project, The Community Funded Project. So, know that every time you get something from us, you are also helping out projects of the future.

The organization or individual who offers an In-Kind giftback to a project is responsible for fulfilling the giftback. These giftbacks are not controlled by the project creator, and the project creator is not responsible for their delivery. If you have questions regarding an In-Kind giftback first contact the organization that offered the giftback, and then contact the project creator.

A “Non-Profit Project” is a project created by a certified 501-c-3. All projects that are listed as “Non-Profit Projects” have had the project creating organization verified for its good standing with the Secretary of State where the organization is located and with Internal Revenue Service. It is not enough to be in the process of obtaining your 501-c-3 status, you must have your 501-c-3 status to qualify. You can filter projects of this type in the Explore Section by clicking on the Non-Profit. You can identify these projects by the tag:        

Non-profit projects receive all donations to the project regardless of if they reach their funding goal or not. They also receive these funds within 2-3 business days of the donation.

In-Kind giftbacks are giftbacks that were offered to a project by an individual or organization. These giftbacks were approved by the project creator before being added to a project. These giftbacks will be received regardless of if a project reaches its funding goal, and all donations for these giftbacks (minus fees) go directly to the project and not the giftback creator. You can view these giftbacks on project pages by clicking the In-Kind tab, in the Community Offering section of the homepage, and in the Marketplace under the In-Kind filter. You can identify these giftbacks by looking for the Mega Community Collaboration tag on the giftbacks. 

Project Heroes are individuals and organizations who have gone above and beyond in their support of a project. Project Heroes are automatically added to the Project Hero section on a project page whenever a CF Member pledges or donates $500 or more, offers a matching pledge or donation of $500 or more, or offers giftbacks to a project. Project creators can also request to add Project Heroes to highlight those who have greatly benefitted their project in other ways. Project Heroes have their CF Member avatar displayed on the project for the life of the project.

A Community Funded donation occurs when you fund a Non-Profit or Neighbor in Need project. These projects do no need to reach their funding goal in order to receive their funds, and will receive your donation within 2-3 business days of the transaction occurring. You are charged immediately for your donation to these projects. A donation occurs to a standard project only if the project successfully reaches its funding goal, and happens after the project has ended even though you are charged at the time of your pledge.