Thanks for using our Crowd Funding plugin. I hope you’re able to use it to launch the project of your dreams.
This document will guide you through setting Crowd Funding and creating your first project.
Installing Crowd Funding
Crowd Funding is a standard WordPress plugin. You can download it from the WordPress plugin directory and install it just like any other plugin. The official WordPress documentation covers this in detail.
Entering Your API Credentials
You need to enter your PayPal credentials so that Crowd Funding can interact with PayPal on your behalf. Crowd Funding stores your credentials in your own database. It wont send them to anyone besides PayPal. Use a reliable web host to ensure your credentials stay secure.
Start by acquiring your PayPal credentials. Once you have them, go to Settings > Crowd Funding in your WordPress admin.
Enter all your details and change the mode from sandbox to production then click save.
Creating Your First Project
Crowd Funding uses standard custom post types, so its interface will feel familiar. Hover over projects (with the heart icon) in your WordPress admin, then click Create Project.
Project Settings
The project settings metabox lets you define some vital settings for your project.
- Currency: The currency in which you want to fund your project. You can choose from any of PayPal’s supported currencies.
- Amount: Your project’s target amount, in the currency you chose. Don’t include a currency sign.
- Date: Use the date picker to choose when your project expires.
Rewards
When someone funds your project, you’ll want to offer them a reward for their contribution. This might be a limited edition of your product, signed material or even an enhanced version of a digital download. It’s up to you to be creative.
Click Add Reward to add your first reward. You’ll be able to enter a title, description, minimum funding amount and availability.
The minimum amount is an amount the user must fund in order to choose this reward. Enter this as just the number, without the currency sign. Keep in mind that PayPal will charge you a fee for each funder. This fee includes a fixed component of $0.30 per transaction, which can quickly eat away at smaller contributions, if you choose to accept them.
[doctip title=”Give a no reward option”]Some users might want to fund your project just for the warm, fuzzy feeling of making something great happen. It’s good to add a no reward reward with a required contribution amount of a few dollars.[/doctip]
Click on a reward’s title to edit it. Delete it by clicking delete.
Funders
Your funders will show up in this metabox as you receive contributions. You can collect the funding at any time. You should stick to the spirit of crowd funding by only collecting after you’ve reached your target. Contact your funders if you plan to collect earlier.
Click the collect funding button to start the collection process. To export your funders as a CSV file (which you can use with services like MailChimp), click on download.