Crowdfunding pioneer Kickstarter is bringing in new pledge management and pay-in-installments options this year amid increasing competition from rival platforms such as Backerkit and GameFound. Kickstarter has been the main giant among an increasing number of startups, who have started to take advantage of Kickstarters lack of options, and well publicized problems they have encountered. Such as several massive campaigns who have funded well into five and six figures and not delivering. Some that have come to mind are ones such as.

• Yogventures Online RPG - Raised $567,665.00 - Status = Failed
• Ken Whitman Various - Raised $280,000.00 Plus dollars - Status = Never Delivered (Accusations of fraud)
• Chronicles of Elyria - Raised $8,368,023 - Status = Lawsuit filed then dismissed - Failed (Accusations of fraud)
• Dungeons and Dragons: A Documentary - Raised $195,000.00 - Status = Failed / Lawsuit

Kickstarter has seen what can only be called an unimpressive growrth in the past several years, feeling the pinch and pressure of other sites who are newer and seemingly look for into how to make their sites contain features that users want, while also improving the security for those who support a campaign. One og the biggest competetors for Kickstarter is Gamefound. In fact it has mimicked some of the tools Gamefound created for it's users, and it has also just unveiled Pledge Over Time, its own version of Gamefound’s Stretch Pay, which has allowed backers on that platform to pay their commitments in installments since it was launched at the end of 2022.

Kickstater said that they are introducing new features and updates which it hopes will give backers more clarity and confidence when supporting projects on it's site. Some of these updates and new features are things like.

• Noting projects who's owners have had significant issues with fullfillment and or had significant fulfillment failures.
• Or the crator has not follows certain rules, such as sending out backer notifications.
• They will add more details to a creators account for public display such as their track records.
• List collaborators also, so backers will be better informed as to who is involved in a specific campaign.
• They plan to vett and monitor better accunts.
• Adding enhanced backer surveys.

Kickstarter even said, and we quote...

A native, built-in pledge manager has been one of our most-requested features. We’re excited to start rolling it out to help simplify post-campaign logistics and fulfillment, and make it easier than ever for creators to deliver on their promises to backers. Creators in our beta program are already seeing the impact of these tools: One participant received responses from 98% of their backers in just three weeks, quickly collecting crucial post-campaign details like shipping information and add-on selections. We’re thrilled to bring this level of support and success to all creators later this year.

So will these tools help limit failed campaigns, we are not so sure. One thing that I note has not been talked about or addressed is how they plan to handle those campaigns that fail. Many states require a thing called Escrow and a possible solution would be Kickstarter and other places create an Escrow system for possible the first two or three campaigns. Whereas the creator is more closelt monitored etc. However, this also would be detrimental to any site who tried to implement such a system

At the endof the day things can be done to protect those who support campaign, and probably the most effective is community feedback, were each company is rated in a way that is fair and robust by those who not only hve supported the campaign. But also have the site itself place for all to see a report card so to speak for the creator. Where it lists each campaign, dates it was started, ended, money raised, number of complaints and when it fulfilled.