Crowdfunding Statistics: Market Size and Growth

1. $17.2 billion is generated yearly through crowdfunding in North America.
2. Funds raised through crowdfunding grew 33.7% last year.
3. There were 6,455,080 worldwide crowdfunding campaigns last year.
4. Successful crowdfunding campaigns have raised $28,656 on average.
5. The average amount raised by all crowdfunding campaigns last year was $824.
6. 22.4% is the average success rate of crowdfunding campaigns.
7. Overall crowdfunding projects have an average of 47 backers.
8. Fully funded crowdfunding projects have an average of 300 backers.
9. The average pledge for fully funded projects is $96.
10. The average pledge for all crowdfunding projects is $88. 
11. The crowdfunding market is projected to grow to $300 billion by 2030.
12. And there are projected to be  12,063,870 campaigns by 2023.
13. Crowdfunding campaigns with videos earn 105% more than those without videos. 
14. Campaigns that updated followers regularly raised 126% more than those with no updates.
15. Crowdfunding campaigns that raise at least 30% of their goal within their first week are more likely to reach their goal. 
16. 53% of email shares of crowdfunding campaigns convert into donations.
17. 12% of Facebook shares convert to donations.
18. 3% of Twitter shares convert to donations.
19. All-or-nothing model campaigns funded fully at twice the rate of keep-it-all campaigns.
20. Adding personal information to your campaign could get you 79% more backers.
21. 42% of funds are raised in the first and last three days of an average crowdfunding campaign.
22. The average word count for successful crowdfunding campaigns is 300 to 500 words.
23. Team-driven crowdfunding campaigns raise 38% more than solo campaigns.
24. Those aged 24-35 are much more likely to participate in crowdfunding campaigns. 
25. Those over 45 are significantly less likely to back campaigns.
26. Successful crowdfunding campaigns take an average of 11 days to prepare.
27. An average crowdfunding campaign lasts 9 weeks.
28. A successful campaign admin posts an average of 4 times throughout their campaign.
29. Crowdfunding campaign admins that shared fewer than 2 times have a 97% chance of failure.
30. Kickstarter has had 319,051 completed projects—the most overall for any platform. 
31. Fundrazr projects have a 41.8% chance at success—the best chance of success of any platform.
32. Indiegogo projects have raised an average of $41,634 each—the highest average amount of any platform.

Crowdfunding statistics help illustrate the terrain that comes with what many refer to as the “democratization” of fundraising. Indeed, crowdfunding is one of the most accessible, successful ways of raising money for a project. Campaign owners don’t have to undergo a credit check or pitch to a panel of venture capitalists—and some can earn upwards or millions of debt-free funding.

Nonetheless, a successful crowdfunding campaign doesn’t just materialize out of thin air. Reaching a crowdfunding goal will require careful strategizing. And successful crowdfunding campaigns will often, ironically enough, require financial investment, as well. 

But, if you do it right, the efforts that a crowdfunding campaign requires will more than be worth it. Here are 32 crowdfundings statistics to help you plan the most successful crowdfunding campaign strategy possible.

Crowdfunding is a massive industry—and its scope is constantly expanding. As a result, there are lots of crowdfunding statistics to consider, each of which tell us a valuable story about running a successful campaign. Here are 32 crowdfunding statistics to consider while you decide how to run your crowdfunding campaign—or whether you even want to run one in the first place:

According to Statista, crowdfunding raises $17.2 billion on a yearly basis in North America alone. [11] And this number is growing steadily—projections for the crowdfunding market suggest that it will reach astronomical heights within the next few years. In fact, Statista projects a compound annual growth rate of 14.7% for the next four years. [2]

And crowdfunding has been growing at a steady pace. Statista found that the total amount of funds raised through crowdfunding campaigns grew by 33.7% last year. [2]

And as for the number of campaigns, crowdfunding is doing pretty well, also. Last year, there were a whopping 6,455,080 crowdfunding campaigns worldwide, according to Statista. [2]

Of the campaigns they analyzed, The Crowdfunding Center found that successful campaigns raised an average of $28,656. [1] This crowdfunding statistic paints an interesting picture for us—most successful crowdfunding campaigns find a balance between realistic goals and ambitious fundraising strategies, so this number might be smaller than some would expect.

On the other hand, all crowdfunding campaigns, rather than just successful crowdfunding campaigns that reached their goals, raised less on average—just $824. [2] This is to be expected—unsuccessful campaigns are by nature lower performing, and adding them into the mix is inevitably going to weigh the average down. However, the vast difference between these two averages shows just how many—and how many low-performing, specifically—crowdfunding campaigns there are.

In fact, not even a quarter of crowdfunding campaigns reach their goals. According to The Crowdfunding Center, the average success rate of crowdfunding campaigns is a scant 22.4%. [1] Keep this in mind while setting up a crowdfunding campaign—especially when you’re choosing whether or not you want to opt for an all-or-nothing campaign.

The Crowdfunding Center also found that successful, fully-funded crowdfunding campaigns have an average of 300 backers. [1] That’s a solid amount of individual donations—successful campaigns, on the whole, don’t seem to rely on a small amount of huge donations, but rather a moderate amount of mid-sized donations.

We see a similar pattern with the average number of backers as we did with the average amount raised through crowdfunding campaigns. The overall average number of backers for all crowdfunding campaigns is much lower than the average number of backers for just the fully-funded campaigns. Overall, crowdfunding projects have an average of 47 backers, which is less than a sixth of the average number of backers for successful campaigns. [1]

The average pledge size for successful crowdfunding campaigns might surprise you—it’s just $96. [1] This crowdfunding statistic helps support the hypothesis that most successful campaigns are made successful by many, small-ticket pledges rather than a small number of huge donations.

Indeed, the average pledge size for crowdfunding projects overall is $88. [3] Here, we see the pattern falter. Unlike average funds raised and average number of backers, average pledge size for successful campaigns versus all campaigns overall doesn’t differ drastically. This comparison is just more proof that the backers you reach—rather than the backers’ pledges—tend to make the campaign.

Remember that crowdfunding growth we mentioned? Well, it’s no joke. In fact, the total revenues acquired through the crowdfunding process is projected to reach $300 billion by 2030. [5] And according to Business Wire, this growth is supposed to bring in an incremental $89.72 billion by 2022. [4]

Even more, Statista projects that the number of crowdfunding campaigns will reach 12,063,870 by 2023. [2] That’s almost double the number of crowdfunding campaigns that ran last year.

Fundly shared that crowdfunding campaigns with videos earn more than double—105%—more than crowdfunding campaigns that don’t include videos. [6] Attaching a personal video to your crowdfunding campaign could mean double the capital for your project. And you’ll see even bigger returns if you look directly into the camera. Results from multiple studies have shown that looking potential donors in the eye will mean receiving more pledges. [9]

You’ll also need to make sure you’re sending out regular updates for your campaign. Crowd 101 reports that crowdfunding campaigns that update followers on a regular basis earn a staggering 126% more than campaigns that posted no updates at al. [8]

Plus, results from a study showed that, of a sample of 8,529 Kickstarter campaigns, the chance for success for a campaign dropped to 32.6% if the posted no updates, but rose to 58.7% when a campaign posted updates. [7]

Not only do updates allow you to earn more, they will also likely determine whether or not your crowdfunding campaign reaches its goal in the first place.

How your crowdfunding campaign starts out of the gate will likely provide a preview to—if not actually determine—how the remainder of your campaign goes. One of the most cited crowdfunding statistics shows this all too well—campaigns that raise at least 30% of their goal within their first week are more likely to reach their goal. [6] Initial momentum will not only allow you to set up a solid financial foundation for your campaign but also access a wider audience through updates and referrals.

But how do you go about creating this momentum from the get-go? One of the most effective ways of getting people to pledge to your campaign is emailing it directly to them. In fact, over half—53%—of email shares of crowdfunding campaigns actually convert into donations. [7]

Compare that to the scant 12% of Facebook shares that convert to pledges, and you’ll understand the effectiveness of direct outreach. [9] While Facebook is a great way to spread the word to your entire community, it won’t necessarily get people to click the donate button.

Even less effective at getting people to click that button? Twitter share. In fact, only 3% of Twitter shares convert viewers into backers. [9] Clearly, Twitter communication isn’t direct enough to make your community feel moved to support your crowdfunding campaign. Though, again, a Twitter share can’t hurt for spreading awareness of your campaign, be sure you’ve supplemented it with a healthy dose of direct outreach.

A study compared the success of all-or-nothing versus keep-it-all campaigns. Because of the lessened perceived risk of all-or-nothing campaigns, 34% of them fully funded successfully, whereas only 17% of keep-it-all campaigns reached their goal. [9] Knowing that they might not be charged for their donation if a campaign doesn’t reach its goal seems to make potential donors more willing to back a campaign.

A psychological study looked into the instance of donations based on how much personal information potential donors received about the recipient of the campaign funds. The campaign that offered a recipient’s name, age, and picture received 79% more backers than the campaign that left the recipient unidentified. [9] So, not only are personal videos and photos a must, your own background information to back them up is also crucial.

As we already know, the first days of a crowdfunding campaign will set the stage for the rest of the campaign’s performance. More concretely, though, Startups.com shares that 42% of funds are raised in the first and last three days of an average crowdfunding campaign. [10] So, not only will those first three days set the stage, the last three-day push will also round in your campaign. Together, these six days along will account for almost half of your campaign funds.

Startups.com also shared that the average word count for the description of successful crowdfunding campaigns is 300 to 500 words. [10] So, avoid droning on in your crowdfunding campaign description—get to the point quickly, and make sure your pitch is in your first paragraph. That said, be sure you get all of the pertinent details in there, like the necessary context and logistics for your project. A description ranging from 300 to 500 words can typically cover all of this.

Potential donors are often wary of solo crowdfunding campaigns. This instinct makes sense—teams mean accountability, checks, and balances. So, donating to a project run by a team will mean your pledge is more likely to be put directly towards exactly what its supposed to be put towards. Likely for this reason, team-run crowdfunding campaigns raise 38% more than solo crowdfunding campaigns. [10]

The demographics of your personal and professional community will have a huge impact on your crowdfunding campaign’s success. For instance, people who are 24 to 35 years old are much more likely to participate in crowdfunding campaigns. [10] So, if you’re able to reach potential backers within this age range, you’ll likely have a higher conversion rate than campaign admins who aren’t in touch with people of this age range.

On the other hand, the demographics of your personal and professional community could also negatively impact your crowdfunding campaign results. For instance, people over 45 years old are much less likely to back crowdfunding campaigns. [10] If your communities consist mostly of those older than 45 years, then start thinking about ways you can reach ages that are more likely to back your campaign.

Remember—crowdfunding, though it is much more accessible than other financing options, will take more time, effort, and strategizing to do well. In fact, successful crowdfunding campaigns typically take an average of 11 days to prepare. [3] Be sure to know that this fundraising strategy is by no means a piece of cake. Creative planning, educated strategy, and a solid amount of desk time will probably be necessary.

Plus, you’ll probably need to do some waiting. An average crowdfunding campaign lasts 9 weeks long, and many will stretch longer than that. [3] For all its merits, crowdfunding is far from instantaneous, so be sure to keep that in mind before your opt to fund your project with it.

Throughout the duration of your crowdfunding campaign, you’ll need to continue to send updates and to promote your campaign. A crowdfunding statistic shows that an admin for an average successful crowdfunding campaign will post four times throughout the campaign. [3]

As we’ve already seen, update posts are non-negotiable for successful crowdfunding campaigns. And one crowdfunding statistic puts this into even starker terms—crowdfunding campaigns that shared fewer than two updates have a 97% chance of failure. [3] Sharing infrequent updates for your crowdfunding campaign is essentially signing it up to not meet its goal.

The platform you launch your crowdfunding campaign through matters, too. Statista shares that, of all of the crowdfunding platforms, Kickstarter has had the most total completely funded projects at 319,051 successful projects. [1] Kickstarter is such a solid option for crowdfunding because they’ve seen more successful campaigns through than any other Kickstarter alternatives.

That said, when you look at the success rates of crowdfunding platforms, Fundrazr wins out. Statista shares that Fundrazr projects have reached their goal 41.8% of the time. Though Fundrazr, a smaller platform, has had fewer total crowdfunding campaigns meet their goals than Kickstarter, they’ve had a higher proportion of campaigns on their platform meet goal. [1]

Finally, if you’re looking to raise the most capital possible with your crowdfunding campaign, then crowdfunding statistics point you towards Indiegogo. Campaigns posted on Indiegogo have earned an average of $41,634, which is the highest average amount of any crowdfunding platform. [1]

There you have it—a landscape of the crowdfunding market, painted bit-by-bit through crowdfunding statistics. What are the takeaways for these numbers? To be sure, crowdfunding goals are met through large amounts of smaller pledges. As you can see through the average backers, funds raised, and pledge amounts for successful campaigns, small pledges are the backbone of crowdfunding. Embrace the nature of crowdfunding, and promote your campaign widely and directly so that you can reach as many backers as possible—no matter how small their contributions might be.

References:

1. https://www.thecrowdfundingcenter.com/data/projects
2. https://www.statista.com/outlook/335/100/crowdfunding/worldwide#market-revenue
3. https://blog.fundly.com/crowdfunding-statistics/
4. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20190719005135/en/
5. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/318765https://blog.fundly.com/crowdfunding-statistics/
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20151014150102/
7. http://archive.4plebs.org/boards/tg/image/1398/91/1398911369817.pdf
8. https://www.crowd101.com/crowdfunding-success-statistics-raise-money-online/
9. https://conversionxl.com/blog/crowdfunding-campaigns/
10. https://www.startups.com/library/expert-advice/key-crowdfunding-statistics
11. https://www.statista.com/statistics/946659/global-crowdfunding-volume-worldwide-by-region/

Read more helpful business-related statistics:

• Startup Funding Statistics
• Average Small Business Loan Amounts
• Business Owner Earnings Statistics
• Startup Costs Statistics
• Small Business Lending Statistics