A recent official announcement stated that Kickstarter will be open to raising funds indefinitely, and creators who fund projects on Kickstarter will be able to raise funds quickly even after the event ends. In the past, Kickstarter projects could last from one to 60 days, and creators who wanted to continue fundraising after reaching their goal had to leave the platform to continue raising funds. The new feature will allow crowdfunding campaigns to raise funds indefinitely.
Late pledges may also be helpful for fans who learn about the project after the fundraising window closes but want to support the creators. Creators who offer something in exchange for a certain level of monetary support (such as a digital download of an album or physical item) will be required to terminate that level of post-commitment when fulfillment begins. Kickstarter says that if the campaign does not receive new pledges within 30 days, it recommends terminating overdue pledges.
Other crowdfunding platforms have tried similar financing models. Indiegogo launched its “perpetual funding” model about a decade ago, allowing creators to continue raising funds after a campaign’s end date. Now, Indiegogo campaigns automatically continue to raise funds after the campaign ends, and creators receive payments each month as funds continue to flow in. Given this, some creators who start on Kickstarter end up moving to Indiegogo so that they can continue to raise funds to sustain their work.
Kickstarter says it is testing late-stage pledges with a small number of users and will roll them out more broadly to all creators in the coming months. Once a creator closes a delayed commit, they cannot resume it.