Introduction

Managing a crowd-funding campaign involves multifaceted tasks that range from project creation to donor engagement and fund management. Workflow automation tools help campaign managers to efficiently handle these tasks, ensuring they can devote their energy to engaging backers and driving contributions. These tools maximize campaign impact by streamlining communications, tracking funds, and analyzing donor data. Here are seven invaluable tools for crowd-funding campaign managers.

1. Bizway

• What is it? A streamlined business management solution integrating AI to deliver a full spectrum of workflow automation particularly useful for crowd-funding management.
• Key Features: AI Assistants, automated task execution, comprehensive project oversight, KPI dashboards, and analytical processing.
• Pros: AI-driven insights for data-based decision making, a wide range of operational tools, intuitive and simple to navigate.
• Cons: May have a learning curve for AI functionalities, could be best for small to medium-sized campaigns.
• Pricing: Starter plan at $49/mo, Scale at $99/mo, and Portfolio at $199/mo.
• Best For: Crowd-funding managers seeking advanced AI capabilities to automate and optimize campaign processes and backer analytics.

2. Kickstarter

• What is it? A crowdfunding platform specifically designed to help bring creative projects to life through financial backing from the crowd.
• Key Features: Campaign creation tools, backer management, funds tracking, communication channels, and reward tier management.
• Pros: Specialized for creative projects, robust community of backers, seamless integration for campaign management.
• Cons: All-or-nothing funding model, platform fees may impact the final amount received.
• Pricing: Kickstarter charges a 5% fee on the total amount of funds raised.
• Best For: Campaign managers working on artistic, creative, or innovation-led projects seeking community funding.

3. Indiegogo

• What is it? A crowdfunding and on-demand crowdfunding platform that enables campaign managers to raise funds and then continue sales post-campaign.
• Key Features: Flexible funding options, pre-campaign and in-campaign tools, marketplace for continued sales, analytics and insights.
• Pros: Flexible funding rules, support for a variety of project types, extended campaign functionality with InDemand.
• Cons: Fees may be higher compared to direct funding methods, presence of less serious backers.
• Pricing: Indiegogo charges a 5% fee on funds raised, plus payment processing fees.
• Best For: Campaign managers looking for flexibility in their funding goals and post-campaign sales potential.

4. Hootsuite

• What is it? A tool designed for social media management, allowing managers to schedule posts, engage with supporters, and analyze social media campaign results.
• Key Features: Social media posting and scheduling, analytics, monitoring, team collaboration, and content curation.
• Pros: Centralizes social media activities, schedule posts across multiple platforms, track campaign performance.
• Cons: The free plan has limitations, may require additional budget for ad spend on social channels.
• Pricing: Free plan available; professional plans start at $49/month.
• Best For: Campaign managers needing to automate and manage social media efforts to promote campaigns and engage backers.

5. Zapier

• What is it? An online automation tool that connects favorite apps to help automate repetitive tasks, useful for integrating various software used in crowd-funding campaigns.
• Key Features: Automated workflows, known as Zaps, that connect apps to automate tasks, access to thousands of app integration options.
• Pros: No coding required to set up, automates across many apps used in crowd-funding campaigns.
• Cons: May become costly with premium plans for more complex automations.
• Pricing: Free limited plan; paid plans start at $19.99/month.
• Best For: Crowd-funding campaign managers seeking to streamline communications, task management, and supporter engagement through varied apps.

6. Mailchimp

• What is it? An email marketing and marketing automation platform offering campaign managers tools to connect with potential backers and build email campaigns.
• Key Features: Email automation, audience segmentation, customizable email templates, performance analytics, and CRM.
• Pros: User-friendly tools for email marketing, effective for building campaigns and updating backers, rich integration options.
• Cons: Costs can scale rapidly with the addition of new contacts and advanced features.
• Pricing: Free plan available for basic features; more advanced plans start at $9.99/month.
• Best For: Campaign managers aiming to automate email marketing, nurture backer relationships, and analyze engagement.

7. Monday.com

• What is it? A project management tool offering flexibility to track fundraising progress, manage tasks, and organize backer information all in one place.
• Key Features: Project tracking boards, automation rules, task assignment, integration with CRM systems, and reporting tools.
• Pros: Helps in visualizing the campaign process, collaborative tool, supports a large ecosystem of integrations.
• Cons: Basic functionalities under the free plan, premium plans required for expanded features.
• Pricing: Free version available; paid packages start at $8 per user/month.
• Best For: Crowd-funding campaign managers who need a unified platform to orchestrate campaign tasks and collaborate with team members.