FundRazr Review

Pros

• Excellent public reputation
• No platform fees (if you choose the free package)
• Nonprofit fundraising supported
• Can keep whatever you raise

Cons

• Some support materials are dated
• The platform is less trafficked than major competitors

FundRazr Overview

Born in the late 2000s (as crowdfunding began its meteoric rise to fit our capital-starved post-Great Recession era), FundRazr was designed from the start to help people take their crowdfunding campaigns viral.

Led by founder/CEO Daryl Hatton and based in Vancouver, BC, FundRazr initially launched as an app through which users could conduct crowdfunding campaigns on their Facebook pages. FundRazr had their sights set on bigger things, however, and in 2010 they relaunched as a full-fledged crowdfunding platform.

Unlike such competitors as Kickstarter (see our review) and Patreon (see our review), Fundrazr charges no platform fees for its standard crowdfunding campaigns. Fundrazr also offers a Pro subscription package which, in exchange for a 5% fee on what you raise, offers a number of advanced fundraising features.

While FundRazr hosts plenty of charitable and personal crowdfunding campaigns, it also hosts business-related crowdfunding campaigns. Furthermore, in addition to the standard crowdfunding campaigns, the company offers something unique to business/corporate clients in the crowdfunding field: Crowdfunding as a Service. This feature allows companies to host fundraising campaigns on their own websites, under their brands (rather than FundRazr’s). It’s essentially a white-label crowdfunder package. This way, you can host campaigns by your employees (and others of your choosing) and showcase your company’s charitable projects, all the while associating your brand with positivity and social responsibility.

It’s 2019 — gotta curate that brand image if you don’t want to be the next Comcast.

FundRazr may be Canada’s leading crowdfunding platform, but this designation places them well behind the industry’s leaders. While FundRazr boasts that their platform has helped raise over $140 million for their campaigners, this pales in comparison to the $4+ billion raised through Kickstarter and the $5+ billion raised through GoFundMe over a similar time period. Does this speak to their capabilities as a platform, or is it just a function of their lower profile?

Let’s delve into FundRazr to find our answer.

Services Offered

With a name that evokes funding and razors, FundRazr hosts crowdfunding campaigns based on a rewards model, similar to Kickstarter (there are some key differences, however — I’ll explain later). FundRazr refers to rewards as “Incentives” and lets you offer four different types of Incentives:

• Perks: These could be a t-shirt, a mention on social media, a button — basically anything of value.
• Products: Anything you’ve created/manufactured for sale.
• Tickets: A ticket to attend any type of event.
• Wishes: A request for funding for a specific item. The only “reward” here for donors is self-satisfaction, but it is classified as an Incentive nonetheless.

You can offer up to 50 Incentives per campaign.

FundRazr also offers the “Crowdfunding as a Service” feature that I described in the previous section. Additionally, FundRazr offers crowdfunding for non-profit agencies with 501(c)3 status (or the equivalent if outside the US). You must be an Authorized Officer of a registered non-profit to raise money for a non-profit organization.

FundRazr categorizes the fundraising campaigns on their site as follows:

• Accidents & Disasters
• Alumni & Clubs
• Animals & Humane
• Arts & Creative
• Business & Entrepreneurial
• Celebrations & Weddings
• Community & Volunteer
• Education & Schools
• Faith & Missions
• Family & Kids
• Health & Illness
• Legal
• Memorials & Funerals
• Non-Profits
• Politics
• Sports & Competitions
• Travel
• Veterans & Heroes

Users can launch FundRazr campaigns from any country that can send and receive payments via the available payment processors. You can accept payment in 25 different currencies.

Project Qualifications

Unlike Kickstarter, FundRazr does not pre-screen campaigns before allowing them on their platform. FundRazr’s rules as to who can launch a campaign and for what purpose are similar to those of most of the major crowdfunding platforms out there. You must be at least 18 years old or be between 13-17 years old and have the permission of your guardian to start a campaign. In addition, you can’t do anything fraudulent, harmful, or illegal.

Terms & Fees

These are the terms and fees for FundRazr’s crowdfunding campaigns:

FundRazr is much more flexible in terms of how you can structure your crowdfunding campaign than Kickstarter is. FundRazr sets no limits as to how long your funding period will be, and when you’re setting up your campaign, you’re given the choice of whether you want to keep whatever you raise or launch an all-or-nothing campaign in which you only collect funds if you meet your funding goal.

Kickstarter, by contrast, limits your funding period to 60 days or less and requires that you meet your goal before collecting any funds.

While there is a belief, not entirely unsupported, that crowdfunding campaigns with longer funding periods and more relaxed terms have a lower success rate than campaigns with shorter funding periods and tighter terms, it’s nice that FundRazr leaves these decisions up to you (though all-or-nothing campaigns can only be launched in the US and Canada).

As I said in the intro, FundRazr has eliminated its 5% platform fee (though payment processing fees still apply) for standard crowdfunding campaigns. FundRazr also offers a Pro subscription package, which, in exchange for a 5% platform fee, offers the following perks:

• Sophisticated peer-to-peer, events, multi-tier
• Repeatable micro-projects
• Subscription micro-projects
• Recurring donations
• Third-party projects
• Sponsored campaigns
• Charity ecommerce (storefronts)
• Advanced analytics
• Embedded donation forms
• Campaign approval workflows
• Delegated campaign management

FundRazr recommends their free plan to “personal campaigns, nonprofits and charities, schools and sports teams” and their Pro plan to “mid-size, large scale nonprofits, charities and organizations of any profile.”

FundRazr has three payment processors available for your choosing: PayPal, WePay, and Stripe. Regardless of which one you choose, the payment processing fee will be the same: 2.9% + $0.30 per payment. If you’re on Fundrazr’s standard plan, these are the only fees that will be taken out of what you raise. Only a few crowdfunding platforms (GoFundMe and Mightycause come to mind) let you keep as much of what you raise as does FundRazr.

One thing to keep in mind when conducting a crowdfunding campaign — and this isn’t specific to FundRazr — is that you may end up having to pay taxes on the funds you collect. Consult a tax professional in your area to be sure.

Application Process

As I said, FundRazr doesn’t pre-screen campaigns before allowing them on their site, so there really isn’t any application process. You can sign up with FundRazr using your Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google accounts, or just with an email address. Afterward, you just fill in the basic details of your campaign, and poof, you’re on FundRazr.

Sales & Advertising Transparency

FundRazr lists all the relevant information relating to their policies on their website.

Customer Service & Technical Support

Customer support comes in the form of an FAQ, email support, live chat, and a help center set up to help guide you through the crowdfunding process. Unfortunately, FundRazr doesn’t provide a phone number for support. Also, there’s a link to a community forum in the help center, but the link just redirects you back to the help center.

User Reviews

Negative Reviews & Complaints

FundRazr is a rarity among crowdfunders in that hardly anybody has an ill word to say about them! FundRazr’s user rating on Trustpilot is 8.4 out of 10, which is quite good considering the negativity bias inherent in online user reviews of these sorts of platforms. A few people have complained of fraudulent campaigns on the site, while others bemoaned their inability to raise any money, but that’s the nature of the crowdfunding beast.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

FundRazr gets strong marks from reviewers for their social media integration tools, the wide variety of campaigns hosted, and the personal coaching you can get once you’ve kicked off your campaign. Users, on the whole, are far more complimentary of FundRazr than of any other crowdfunder out there. I found lots of FundRazr users gushing about the level of support and coaching given to them by the company. People also report being able to withdraw their funds immediately upon completing their campaigns, which, when you consider the urgency of many campaigners’ funding needs, is a very big deal indeed.

By contrast, I read numerous reports of GoFundMe campaigners encountering roadblocks when trying to withdraw their funds.

Another thing that made me respect FundRazr as a company is the fact that they respond thoughtfully to people’s issues and complaints posted online. It’s clear that they go the extra mile to demonstrate that they care about the people using the platform, which is no small factor considering the stressful life situations in which many of those raising funds find themselves.

Final Verdict

FundRazr certainly hasn’t shown the same ability to get their name in the news as the leading crowdfunders of our era. I wonder where they’d be today if they did. They truly stand out in terms of the positive experiences users report. People simply like dealing with FundRazr and find the company to be an ally in their funding missions.

Maybe being a smaller company means they have a greater ability to show a personal touch with those who rely on them. Perhaps it’s something they just devote a greater portion of their resources towards. Either way, there’s no industry where humanity and compassion take on greater importance than crowdfunding, and FundRazr has it in spades.

Did I mention FundRazr’s lack of platform fees for standard crowdfunding campaigns?

Four and a half stars.

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