
// Development
Gofundme Website Clone - How to Create a Crowdfunding Platform Like Gofundme
// Development
GoFundMe is the world's largest free online crowdfunding platform that helps you find funding for social and charitable projects, whether it is raising money to treat a family member with a cancer patient or building a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
From our article you will learn: why this platform has become so successful and how to create your own crowdfunding platform like GoFundMe by cloning its business model and key functions. The instruction consists of simple steps.
But here it is important to understand that you are not required to clone the mission and goals of GoFundMe, which are mainly associated with traditional social and charitable projects. You can keep up with the times and come up with something new. For example, you can use the crowdfunding trend for the development of technology and launch a site that will help with the development of programs important for society (anonymous messengers, anti-corruption tools, AI-based diagnostic medical programs, etc.).
Moreover, you can create a platform for raising funds for educational projects on the Internet, for example, videos on global warming that are understandable to ordinary people, online social campaigns on the dangers of smoking and alcohol, web books on the latest achievements in the economy and other sciences (Nobel Economy Prize in 2019 awarded for proven poverty reduction methods, and few people know about it).
Here are the questions you should answer at this point:
Now GoFundMe survives through donations (like Wikipedia), which, according to GoFundMe CEO Rob Solomon, is enough for the platform to work properly.
As for the value proposition, GoFundMe relies on:
That’s what you need to focus on, when selecting and implementing functions:
The easiest is personal contacts. If you know people who need help, contact them first. It can be payment for treatment, fundraising for the construction of an animal shelter, an eco-initiative or any other project that will cause interest from sponsors. And the “tearier” and more relevant the project, the better for site promotion.
The next way to find crowdfunders is through online communities. These are specialized forums and groups in social networks where people who need help communicate, as well as platforms focused directly on crowdfunding. Among the latter, the most popular such communities:
Attracting Sponsors. You can use standard marketing channels for this, but you must always remember who you are looking for. If you are focused on charity and social projects, then these should be compassionate people who are willing to spend at least a little money on your projects. If you create a crowdfunding platform in a different niche, then you need to attract people with a different motivation.
Here is the cost of the main promotion channels:
Attracting Sponsors. You can use standard marketing channels for this, but you must always remember who you are looking for. If you are focused on charity and social projects, then these should be compassionate people who are willing to spend at least a little money on your projects. If you create a crowdfunding platform in a different niche, then you need to attract people with a different motivation.
There are at least four ways to create a clone of the GoFundMe crowdfunding platform: development from scratch, SaaS and white label, WordPress themes and clone scripts. The best option is to develop from scratch, since this way you can create a product with the desired set of features and a unique design. In this case, you will have no difficulties with copyright in the software. The disadvantages of this approach are the cost (5-50 thousand dollars) and development time (6-24 months).
Those who do not want to engage in any development and technical support should think about SaaS. These are ready-to-launch cloud solutions that you just need to configure for yourself and run, while the software provider will do everything, not you. You will have marketing and user contacts. Cons - payment in the form of a subscription (20-1000 dollars per month), template and features that are provided by the package. In addition, you can’t do anything if the software needs an urgent bugfix or functional update.
In addition to the methods described, you can also use:
In this case, permissions and licenses must be obtained before the service works. Otherwise, you will be closed and forced to pay a fine (sometimes there may be criminal liability), and after that you will be obliged to obtain the necessary permissions.