Frequently Asked Questions

...from other related fundraising Web sites.

The top three differentiators are:

1. Contributors have influence on how their money will be spent.
2. Goals are open ended. Therefore, you will be more likely to find diverse and innovative solutions.
3. Projects are verified before the solution provider is paid.

If you find that these are good things, then you should give CommunityGoals a try!

Each goal in CommunityGoals moves through a process, one step at a time. There are 8 basic steps:

1. Create a goal — Anyone can describe a goal or problem — even without knowing the solution! Use the settings wizard to configure the goal’s timeline and other options.
2. Accept comments — After a goal is created, anyone can comment on it. At the end of this phase, the goal creator reads the feedback and adjusts the goal to best match up with the target audience.
3. Accept contributions — Now the goal description is set, you are ready for contributions. Anyone can contribute money to your goal. Reach out to people and ask for their support.
4. Accept proposals — You have contributions; now you need options on how to spend the money. The money you have raised will attract proposals. Anyone can offer a proposal to solve your goal.
5. Choose the winning proposal — Which proposal is the group’s favorite? A vote will decide. Each contributor casts a ballot, ranking his or her favorite proposals. One proposal wins. The solution provider that offered the winning proposal is notified to begin work.
6. Work completed — The solution provider does the work.
7. Verification — A verifier confirms or denies that the work was done properly. (The verifier is selected by the contributors.)
8. Payment — After verification, the solution provider is paid. As a result, the group’s goal is realized.

If you would like a visual depiction of the process, please see the Process page:

Anyone who contributes money to a goal gets to vote on how that money will be spent. Since the goal is not under exclusive control of one person, the community can have a significant impact on the process.

People who contribute to your goal become the decision makers. The winning proposal is selected by a vote of the contributors.

After a goal is created, it enters an “accepting comments” phase. Anyone may comment on the goal. When the comments period is over, the goal creator reads the feedback and adjusts the goal to best match up with the target audience.

CommunityGoals handles comments a little differently than what you may have seen on other Web sites:

• Users may make a monetary pledge in addition to writing a comment.
• Comments are only sent to the goal creator; they will not be displayed to other users.
  • This encourages each user to independently give feedback instead of first reading what others have already written.
  • This helps make the goal (not a long train of comments) be the focus of attention.

These differences are important; they create a commenting process that helps goal creators craft more effective goals.

Here are the guides (i.e. walk-throughs) arranged for each of the 8 steps:

1. Create a goal
   • How to Create a Goal from Tours for Goal Creators
2. Accept comments
   • How to Accept Comments from Tours for Goal Creators
3. Accept contributions
   • How to Contribute to a Goal from Tours for Contributors
   • How to Accept Contributions from Tours for Goal Creators
4. Accept proposals
   • How to Propose a Solution from Tours for Solution Providers
   • How to Accept Proposals from Tours for Goal Creators
5. Choose the winning proposal
   • How to Vote on Proposals from Tours for Contributors
6. Work completed
   • How to Report Completion from Tours for Solution Providers
7. Verification
8. Payment

Keep in mind that the amount of money raised by goals may vary.

The group of contributors decides how to spend the money that is raised.

If the group does not find any of the proposals adequate, it can vote “none of the above” and the money will be returned.

The money is returned to the contributors.

Here are the details. Each contributor gets their contribution credited to their CommunityGoals fund. Now the contributor has two choices:

1. Spend the credit within CommunityGoals.
2. Request the credit be transferred back to their credit card or bank account.

Just think of it this way:

1. State your business problem as a goal.
2. Declare the value of this problem by contributing to the goal.
3. Choose the best proposal and get the work done.

Click here to see some real business examples.

Want to setup an internal CommunityGoals for your organization? Have another idea? Contact us and we’ll see what we can do.

Something else to think about: the currency of exchange does not have to be the dollar. Some organizations may prefer to use alternate currencies. For example, your business may want to allocate “play money” to employees and ask them to spend it on the best internal projects.

Sometimes the contribution pool is larger than the amount needed to pay the winning proposal.

Consider, for example, if $1000 is contributed, and only $800 is needed (for the winning proposal, verifier, and fees), then $200 is left over. That $200 difference will be returned to the contributors, in proportion to how much each contributed.

We can’t speak for other RFP processes; maybe they are frightening! However, CommunityGoals is designed to be both easy and useful. We will guide you as the process moves along one step at a time.

Here’s a quick tip: when viewing a goal, look at the quick overvie near the top left. It will tell you what step you are on. (See example image).

...to the same goal?

Yes, a person who has given money to a goal can also suggest a proposal for the same goal. That said, the process is adjusted slightly. The person’s primary role is to act as a solution proposer. This means:

• The person still gets to contribute money to the goal
• To prevent conflicts of interest, the person does not get to vote on the proposals
• The person only gets to read and discuss proposals that he (or she) created

We are very interested in helping our customers use CommunityGoals effectively. We offer expertise in all parts of the process. Here are some ways we can help:

• We can help craft effective goals
• We can help craft effective proposals
• We can help evaluate proposals