We welcome and support projects from a variety of categories: Comics, Design, Film & Video, Games, Journalism, Photography, and Publishing. Here are five rules every Grassfunder project must follow.
- Projects must create something to share with others. Grassfunder can be used to create all sorts of things from Board Games to Comics. But every project needs a plan for creating something and sharing it with the world. At some point, the creator should be able to say: “It’s finished. Here’s what we created. Enjoy!”
- Projects must be honest and clearly presented. Our community is built on trust and communication. Projects can’t mislead people or misrepresent facts, and creators should be candid about what they plan to accomplish. When a project involves manufacturing and distributing something complex, like a board game, we require projects to show backers a prototype of what they’re making, and we prohibit the use of misleading imagery.
- Prototype demonstration should reflect a product’s current state and should not include any CGI or special effects to demonstrate functionality that does not yet exist. If a project requires multiple media sourcing, creators are required to show that functionality and any dependency clearly, or disclose that it has not yet been developed.
- Misleading imagery includes photorealistic renderings and heavily edited or manipulated images or videos that could give backers a false impression of a product’s current stage of development. Further guidance on crafting an honest and clearly presented project can be found in the About section.
- Projects can’t fundraise for charity. While nonprofits are welcome to launch projects on Grassfunder, projects can’t promise to raise funds to donate to a charity or cause. Funds raised on Grassfunder must go towards facilitating the project outlined by the creator on the project page.
- Projects can’t offer equity. Investment is not permitted on Grassfunder. Projects can’t offer incentives like equity, revenue sharing, or investment opportunities.
- Projects can’t involve prohibited items.
We prohibit projects that are illegal, heavily regulated, or potentially dangerous for backers, as well as rewards that the creator did not make.
- Any item claiming to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent an illness or condition (whether via a device, app, book, nutritional supplement, or other means).
- Contests, coupons, gambling, and raffles.
- Energy food and drinks.
- Offensive material (e.g., hate speech, encouraging violence against others, etc).
- Offering a genetically modified organism as a reward.
- Live animals. Projects cannot include live animals as a reward.
- Offering alcohol as a reward.
- Offering financial, money-processing, or credit services; financial intermediaries or cash-equivalent instruments; travel services (e.g., vacation packages); phone services (e.g., prepaid phone services, 900 numbers); and business marketing services.
- Political fundraising.
- Obscene material.
- Projects that promote discrimination, bigotry, or intolerance towards marginalized groups
- Projects that share things that already exist, or repackage a previously-created product, without adding anything new or aiming to iterate on the idea in any way.
- Resale. All rewards must have been produced or designed by the project or one of its creators — no reselling things from elsewhere.
- Drugs, nicotine, tobacco, vaporizers and related paraphernalia.
- Weapons, replicas of weapons, and weapon accessories.
If your project involves something illegal, heavily regulated, or potentially dangerous for backers and it is not on this list, please contact us before starting your project.
These rules don’t cover every possible use of Grassfunder, but they explain our purpose and perspective.