Frequently Asked Questions

Vox is the community element of Ulule. It's a place for discussion, exchanging tips, posting classifieds, asking practical, technical or legal questions, etc. For a complete overview of Ulule Vox, click here.
And while we're talking community, we highly recommend that you read our Community Guidelines.

You can post three types of messages on Vox: questions (how? why? where?), discussion topics, and announcements.
Depending on the type of message, Vox will prompt you for additional details (place, type, etc.) to refine your message.
Then you'll write your message, choose a category (there are about 15 right now, including Arts & Design, Humanitarian, and All Projects).
Click the big OK button. And you're done.

You can only edit messages you wrote.
When you're logged in, you'll see an "Edit" button above each of your messages, which will let you modify them.

Click the login bar in the upper right corner, and then click the "Forgot your password?" link.
Your password will be sent to the e-mail address in the system.

Look for the "Help" link on Ulule Vox: http://vox.ulule.com/sos-ulule and ask us!

If you organize a fundraising in Euros, we will need your bank account information (a form will appear on your project page as soon as you reach 100% of funding). Each project is assigned a specific e-wallet that will be credited with the sums collected when the fundraising is over (if the targetted goal is reached of course).

If you organize a fundraising in another currency than the Euro, you have to have a PayPal account. Project owners must have a Premier or Business account. It's easy, quick and free to open an account (or to upgrade your current account to Premier or Business), and you do it here: http://www.paypal.com.
When you're creating your project, Ulule will ask you to enter the PayPal account information that you want to use for your project.

Every project can have a different PayPal account (if the projects are for different nonprofits, or for accounting reasons, etc.).

No. The funds are transferred directly from the PayPal accounts of the donors to that of the project owner. All we do at Ulule is verify that the transactions match.

The money will be transferred to the PayPal account you linked to the project when you created it.

The money will be transferred to your PayPal account two business days after the fundraising deadline (if the target amount was reached, of course).

You will not receive any money. Neither will you have any fees to pay. It's a "blank operation".

Thank the people who have supported you anyway (by publishing in your news for example), in order to keep a positive contact with them incase you need to sollicit their support again (you may decide to launch a new project on the site!)

This depends on your status and the money raised. As a nonprofit or professional, you just need to declare the amount received the way you normally would in your accounting. If you are an individual, below an amount considered modest relative to your income, you are not required to make any specific declaration. If you have specific questions on the subject, we will advise you when you submit your project.

- You don't have to if you are operating under a "VAT not applicable" scheme (individuals, most nonprofits, and auto-entrepreneurs below a certain income level).
- You do have to if your rewards are considered purchases (see Are the donations considered to be gifts, purchases, or investments?) and if you are a business, or an organization with commercial activities. In this case, the rates applied depend on the sector of activity of your project. You can declare your VAT scheme on your project page.

There are many ways to promote your project.

1) First, there’s your Ulule project page: Do a good job of presenting your project and use interesting visuals to illustrate it (videos, images, portfolio...).
Then, update your project blog with news on your project’s progress and/or funding, or to let people know you’ve added new visuals or rewards.

2) Spread the word through your own network: Your first donors will often be people who are close to you, who know how committed you are to your project, and who interact with you personally. And don’t hesitate to talk about it with your acquaintances and colleagues. You’d be surprised at how much support you can get from people whom you hardly (or don’t) know when they are excited by your project.

3) A blog can be a superb promotional tool: If you have a blog or know some bloggers, don’t hesitate to tell them about your project: You could get some good feedback or insights from new sources.

4) Social networks: These provide opportunities to promote your project to your network of friends and to their friends too.
- With Facebook, you can post quick updates on your project, answer questions that come up, and promote it among your friends, or groups that focus on a related area of interest.
- With Twitter, you can make announcements about your blog posts, new rewards, or latest progress. A few well-placed retweets can spark interest among other Twitter users in your project. And, since Twitter is full of bloggers, influencers, and journalists, it can be a useful tool for strategic purposes.
- Don't forget specialized websites such as MySpace or Noomiz, two networks that are dedicated to music and where you can share your music easily and build groups of friends and their contacts around your project.

5) Content sharing sites: Youtube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, FlickR, Pinterest and Picasa are all sites you can use to promote your project, by easily exporting your media to them and tracking their popularity and reach.

6) Information sharing sites: These are sites like Digg, where you can post news in the form of a continuous information feed. Internet users click on links that interest them and, in turn, pass on those that are most interesting. Creating accounts on sites like Digg (see complete list here) and contributing material about your project can be effective for promotion, and using these sites tends not to be too time consuming.

Be creative. Make videos, computer wallpaper, photonovels... Think up new ways to promote your project. Make the most of what you have at your disposal.

Don’t forget, with everything you publish, to provide a link to your Ulule project page, so that Internet users whose interest has been piqued by your ideas can become donors.

With the “Facebook Page” widget, you can automatically create a page on the social network that includes your content (videos, text, music, etc.) as well as the list of your rewards.
To use this widget, you have to have signed in to Ulule using Facebook Connect, or to enter your Facebook login info through your Ulule account.
If you already have a Facebook Page, you can authorize Ulule to publish information to it regularly, in order to keep your “fans” up to speed.

We are gradually adding widgets. For the moment, you can use the clickable “Support my Project” widget, which includes an image and brief description of your project.

There are many other ways to promote your project, tried and true methods that predate the explosion of social networks in the virtual world. Good content is one of the most valued elements on the Web: a good article, an intelligent video, or a funny one, a snippet of music, a nice photo album, drawings, a flash animation, a cool app... Content like this can lead to exchange and create bonds among Internet users.
Once you’ve created the content, the important thing is to get it out there (see How do I promote my project?).

E-mail mailing lists can be useful in keeping your contacts up to date on what’s happening with your project. You can insert images, text and links that can help promote your project.
But use with care! An e-mail inbox is a personal space used for communicating with people you are close to. Your contacts will put up with some promotion, but don't overdo it.

First, define your status (individual, nonprofit, or business). Next, give the name of your project and the amount you’re seeking, including the desired currency, specify a time frame for your fundraising campaign (90 days max), and write a description of the project.
This is the bare minimum of information you can provide, but we recommend, of course, that you give as much info as possible, and that you include multimedia (photos or videos, where possible) and above all, a precise explanation of how you plan to use the funds raised (see Ulule Vox, Tips on writing the description of your project).
If applicable, also be as precise as possible when you describe the rewards offered to your supporters.
Once the project has been posted, you will be able to update the project page as often as you like.

When you write your project description, you have to present a list of rewards for different donation amounts.
It is a very effective way to show your gratitude to your donors, as well as a good way to get them interested and involved in your project.
The best rewards are those that are closely linked to your project: an invitation to screenings of your movie, a recording of the concert you are trying to finance, a postcard of the mountain you hope to be able to climb...
When they make their pledges, donors will be able to claim their rewards from your list, based on how much they pledged. A donor who pledges 50 Euros has the option to choose a reward offered for a smaller donation amount, but he or she can't choose a reward offered for a larger donation amount.
You also have the option to limit the number of certain rewards. For example, if one of your rewards is a numbered print, you can indicate how many times this reward can be selected before you run out, at which point it would no longer be available to new donors.

Click “Add a photo,” upload it from your hard drive, and choose the alignment (left, centre, right).
You can also add a caption.

Click “Add a video,” go to the site where it’s hosted (YouTube, DailyMotion, Vimeo, etc.), copy/paste the URL, and submit.

Note that you have to be the project owner to update a project.

Two options:
You want to change something in the project page itself. You just have to click "Main information" in your Toolbox and you’ll be redirected to the edition page of your project. You can make all the changes you want (add pictures, videos, sound files etc.) Then click "Publish" and the changes you made will appear on your project page.

You want to publish a News that will be sent to all your supporters and your followers. Click on the “News” tab on your project page. You’ll see a list of your latest updates, which are also visible to your donors. Click “Add a news,” and you’ll be redirected to the page where you compose your updates. You can create a news that includes text, photos, videos, or sound files of your choosing. Click “Publish” to publish your news. Your donors will all be notified by e-mail.

When you're logged in, go to "My projects and presales" (in the sub-menu under your username).

The "Nestling" mode is a sort of "bis moderation", in which your community participates. Your project has been validated by Ulule, great! We will do our best to help you refine your project's presentation, but ultimately it's not us you need to convince...it's your supporters.

In order to "validate" your idea or concept, you will inevitably rely on your first circle of acquaintances (See our guide to The three crowdfunding circles). There is a simple reason for this: if you don't succeed in convincing 5 of your nearest and dearest, it will be nigh impossble to convince complete strangers.

To appear in Ulule's public pages, you need to have at least 5 supporters. You can publish your project when you think it's the right moment, so don't hesitate to contact your first supporters in order to receive funds right from the moment you project is launched. For these first supporters you will need to provide the project address. All the promotion and sharing options will already be active, as with all validated projects.

NB : it is POINTLESS to send your project address to people who don't know you if you don't have at least a few supporters. Sorry for going on, but the same mistake is made again and again...Would you support a complete stranger's project which is at 0% funding? Undoubtedly not. You risk de-credibalising your project. It's better to accept this simple rule which enables you to receive support from your close network and eventually reach out to a wider network of supporters.

Your project will be launched in "nestling" mode and will appear in the site's public pages as soon as the first 5 supporters have been collected.

This is because your project is still in the "Nestling" mode - it hasn't yet received its first 5 supporters. Your project is of course still accessible, but it doesn't appear in the Ulule public pages yet. For more information, please see below.

Start with a description of your project (see Ulule Vox Tips for writing your project description).
Then, define the target funding amount and set a deadline (see How does the ‘pledge’ concept work?).
Every member can choose how much he or she wants to pledge, and donors won’t be charged unless the entire amount is raised by the deadline. You can choose to offer a reward based on the amount donated. This is not required, but it’s an easy and effective way to get your donors interested and involved in your project.
If you choose this option, you will manage the list of rewards you’re offering, which are organized into different levels. To get an idea of how fundraising works, the easiest thing to do is to look at the list of existing projects.

It’s easier to think of it the other way around. All projects are eligible except:

- projects that do not have an outcome that is artistic, community-minded, or for the betterment of society
- incomplete projects: missing the presentation of the project owner, budget etc..
- funding of political parties, ideological movements, religions or sects
- projects whose intentions or outcomes are racist, violent, abusive, defamatory, revisionist, apologist for war crimes, or pedophilic, or which incite murder, suicide, discrimination, or hate.
- projects that could cause physical harm to the project owner or project donors
- projects whose content borrows copyrighted work without permission
- projects that appear on other fundraising sites

Note: You can finance all or part of your project. You are allowed to finance only a part of your project, or even an associated side-project, as long as you clearly explain what you’re doing to your donors.

Yes! The project owner owns all intellectual property related to his or her project and does not give “shares” or “rights” to anyone else. As we explain here, financial support received through Ulule is not considered an investment, but rather a donation, given with nothing expected in return. And of course, Ulule does not claim any ownership or rights of any kind with regard to your project. It’s your project.

Yes, all projects are moderated. This is done so that the Ulule team can ensure that they meet the eligibility requirements and to prevent spam. You will receive a confirmation e-mail within 48 hours max (usually less!).

When you create a new project, you’ll be directed to the project creation form. This page is not accessible to the public. Only you alone can consult it when connected to your Ulule account.
You can take as long as you like to write the description of your project, add images or videos, make changes, organise your rewards.
The moderation team will not review your project until you click "Submit my project."

Yes. Just be sure to be very honest with people about the part of your project that has been financed, as well as the additional funding you’re looking for. If you are expecting to cover 50% of your total budget with outside grants, organize your fundraising campaign based on the remaining 50%, and explain how you will use this additional amount.

Yes, but the Ulule team has to validate these donations. Did your aunt write you a check for 50 Euros that you would like to apply towards your funding goal? Send an e-mail to projects@ulule.com with a picture of your aunt holding the check in one hand and an owl (or something related to your project) in the other. Sounds crazy, right?
Why do we make you jump through these hoops? Quite simply to prevent the system from being abused, with checks or cash miraculously appearing right before the fundraising deadline. For more info, or if you have questions, don’t hesitate to contact us.
Important: Ulule will add these outside donations to your project: you won’t be subject to any fees.

The distinction depends on the value of the donations relative to the value of the rewards. In short, there are two possibilities.

1) If there are no rewards, or if the rewards are “symbolic” and their value has no correlation to the value of the amount donated:
The donation is a gift.
PayPal automatically sends receipts so you can keep a record of each of these transactions.
Note: For the moment, Ulule is not providing receipts for tax purposes for donations to nonprofits. We are putting together specific services to help nonprofits organize their fundraising. We will let you know the details when this new service is available.

2) If the value of the reward corresponds directly to the amount of the donation:
The donation is a purchase (for accounting purposes).
PayPal automatically sends receipts and allows you to create invoices displaying the amount received for your accounting purposes if necessary.

Under no circumstances are the donations investments.
The amounts donated cannot be given in exchange for shares or stocks, nor do donors have any intellectual property rights (see Who owns the intellectual property of projects?).
Note: It is possible that allowing donations to be considered investments may be appropriate for some projects, and we are looking into the feasibility of offering this option. However, this is not the primary role of Ulule. Above all, we want to facilitate fundraising for project owners without taking an investment approach.

You, and nobody else but you.
And your partners in the project if you’re not working on it alone.

No.
Nevertheless, it’s important to be realistic when evaluating your budget needs. Asking for 200,000 Euros to finance a three-minute film on your city (no matter how pretty it is) is a sure way to get no funding at all.

Yes: 5 Euro.

Yes: 90 days.

No.

Yes.
However, to ensure that projects get enough attention from their owners, Ulule will only accept two fundraisers at a time per project owner.

The people who pledged donations to your project are not charged. You don’t receive any money. You are not obligated to pay any fees. It’s “a draw.”
Ulule will provide you with the contact information of the people who made pledges so that you can thank them and contact them at a later time about supporting future projects on the site.

Technically, yes. However, you can’t automatically start a new fundraiser as soon as the deadline of the first has passed. If you want to run another fundraising campaign for the same project, you'll have to "Create a new project" and rework your funding request. This gives you a chance to revisit the approach or description of certain elements, which could improve your chances of success.

All you have to do is send a request to support@ulule.com.
We highly recommend that you explain why you’re deleting your project, so that the information can be forwarded to those who have made pledges (see What happens when a project is removed?).

All the people who pledged donations to the project receive an e-mail notifying them that the project has been removed and providing the reasons. Of course, these people will not be charged, and you will not receive any payment.

Nothing. It’s considered a “draw,” and you don’t pay anything.

Ulule only takes a commission on the collected amount of successful projects.
If the project fails, no commission will be taken.

There is an all included 8% commission on the sums collected through credit card payment (powered by our partner Leetchi).

There is a 5% commission on the sums collected through PayPal. Keep in mind that PayPal also takes a 3.4% commission, plus 0.25 cents per transaction.
For details on PayPal fees, go to: details on PayPal fees

It's very simple. Use the "Support this project for...€" form you can find on each page project.
You will be invited to create an Ulule account and enter your payment informations on a secure page.

There are different payment methods you can choose from to donate to a project.

Credit card payment (NB : only for the projects with a fundraising goal set in Euros):
This is the simplest solution, you are charged immediately but you will be fully refunded (without any fees), if the project misses its target. The amount will then be credited on your wallet so that you can donate to another project on Ulule or just get your money back.

Paypal payment : (NB : Paypal payment is unavailable for the fundraising goal set in Euros)
You will be charged only if the seller meets his goals.

Check payment :
Just send a message to the project owner and decide with him if you want to contribute with a check, a direct deposit, a swap, etc. And we'll do the rest!

(For more information see What happens if a project I support doesn't reach its minimum goal?).

Important: When you support a project (and the project reaches its requested amount), you will only pay the amount you pledged (no additional fees or commissions).

If you participate in a project in Euro, we will ask you to fill in a secured form with your Credit Card information (card number, expiration date and CVV, as in any other online payment).

If you participate in a project in an other currency, we require you to have a PayPal account.

Ulule uses PayPal to manage transactions and ensure they’re secure. It’s a simple, safe and international service.
Funds are transferred directly from the supporter's PayPal account to the project owner's. All we do at Ulule is verify that the transactions match.
If you don’t have a PayPal account, it’s free to create one, and you can do that here: http://www.paypal.com.
You can also follow our Paypal registration guide here: Guide for project owners

Share the project, follow it, spread the word around you!
Over a cup of tea, on your blog, your website or your social networks (Facebook, Twitter etc), any occasion you get!
Project owners look for more than just financial support. We provide promotion tools for every project, which you can display on your blog, website, or social networks.

No. Unlike many online funding platforms that have cropped up in recent years, Ulule’s approach is not an investment approach (in which donors get shares in a company or a project). Ulule is more about providing support (financial or otherwise) to specific projects. The owner of the project you're supporting may, in some cases, offer donors specific rewards for their donations, but your donation does not give you any ownership or authority with regard to the project. The project owner is the only one in charge. You are just helping him or her bring a project to fruition.

To ensure that the amounts requested by project owners are realistic and consistent with their needs, a limited time frame and specific minimum amount are defined for the fundraising campaign.

For example, let’s say Jules, an individual, wants to publish a collection of short stories. Jules does his math and realizes he needs 1,500 Euros to cover the costs of publishing the book. For Jules and other people who want to finance projects, it is more clear, effective and transparent to be completely up front about funding needs.

This way, there is less chance that donors will be disappointed or that project owners will find themselves falling short. In other words, if Jules "only" raised 1,200 Euros, he might not have enough money to completely finance his project. So fundraising with a "target amount" is a way to ensure that the project owner takes responsibility for the project and is transparent in explaining to donors exactly how their money will be used.

You can, but we recommend against it, because the project owners are counting on your help! If you want to cancel a support, you must do so within the time period specified by the project owner.

If you supported a project using a Credit Card:
Log in Ulule and go to the "My transactions" tab of your profile > There you will find a recap of all your contributions. Find the support you'd like to cancel and click on "Cancel the support". The amount you pledged will then be refunded on your Ulule e-wallet and you can choose to allocate it in another fundraising or to get it back.

If you supported a project using PayPal:
Log in Paypal.fr and go to the "My preferences" tab of your profile > Then access "My Preapproved Payments" (don't forget to update the list) > Select the plan you wish to cancel and change its status to cancelled.

Yes, within the time period specified by the project owner.
You will have to cancel the first support (cf. Can I cancel a support?) and make a new one.

You are not charged and your pledge is cancelled. The project owner does not receive any money. It’s “a draw.” The project owner can always decide to rework the approach or description of his or her funding request and try again. In this case, you would have to make a new pledge to the revised fundraising campaign.

Yes, by checking the “Make this pledge secret” box when you are making your pledge. You will not show up as a donor on the project page, and the project will not show up on your profile page.

They are displayed as a patchwork.

No. VAT may or may not be included in the amounts that you donate, but you aren't required to make any particular declaration.
Note: For the moment, Ulule is not providing receipts for tax purposes for donations to nonprofits. We are putting together specific services to help nonprofits organize their fundraising campaigns. We will let you know the details when this new service is available.

Ulule performs an initial validation when a project is proposed to filter out questionable projects.
Afterwards, the project owner is solely responsible for the project and the only person who can answer questions about it (Ulule's role is to facilitate funding and promotion of projects).
However, it is important that you be aware from the start that there is “risk” involved with any project, from the idea stage through to pre-production: some projects have to be postponed, while others simply (and unfortunately) have to be abandoned.
You can always contact project owners by e-mail or directly through their profile pages to request an explanation if none has been provided.

Only the project owner can answer that. Ulule helps connect people and provides promotion tools to project owners, but is not involved in the projects themselves. If there's a problem receiving your reward, you can contact the project owner directly by e-mail, or through his or her profile page, to find out what happened.

Ulule only takes a commission on the collected amount of successful projects.
If the project fails, no commission will be taken.

There is an all included 8% commission on the sums collected through credit card payment (powered by our partner Leetchi).

There is a 5% commission on the sums collected through PayPal. Keep in mind that PayPal also takes a 3.4% commission, plus 0.25 cents per transaction.
For details on PayPal fees, go to: details on PayPal fees

Nothing.
Nada.
Zip.
It's completely free to register, use the site and create projects.

Anybody, of any age or nationality, living anywhere in the world can join and participate at Ulule.
However, to post a project and run a fundraising campaign, you have to be 18.

Our registration form has a section where you can specify your type of organization (nonprofit or business). You can display the name of your organization in your public profile by entering it in the “Full Name” field. You can also use it as your username on the site by entering it in the “Username” field.

Once you are registered, you can:
- support projects and leave comments for project owners
- post your own projects and fundraising campaigns for free
- organise a subscription (cf. Launch a Presale).
- participate in Ulule Vox
- contact members of the community
- view a history of your Ulule activities
- access news "reserved to supporters" on projects that you have supported
- receive the Ulule newsletter and its selections of exclusive projects

A solo rower crossing the Atlantic, shorts, ecological odyssies, recording albums, video games, humanitarian missions, high-tech or lo-fi products...All sorts of projects can be found on Ulule (cf. Which projects are eligible?), and it's this diversity which appeals to us! To get a better idea of our wide range of projects, take a look at the page listing all the projects funded. Projects funded with success

It’s easy. On the registration form, enter the info you use to sign in to Facebook. Your account will be automatically authenticated by Ulule. You can then change your Ulule information (including password, if you want), or continue to sign in through Facebook Connect whenever you use the site.
Note that Ulule does not store any personal data that you don’t want to give to us. We are very attentive to the confidentiality of your information.

We make every effort to prevent things like this from happening, specifically through a double moderation process before and after fundraising. If, despite these efforts, your identity has been hijacked, please report it to us at support@ulule.com. We will get back to you as quickly as possible.

If you want to disable your account, go to the "My settings" tab of your profile. Then click on the "Disable my account on Ulule" button and follow the instructions.

Before deleting your account, please note that it will be a definitive measure and that you won't be able to access specific functionalities of the website anymore.

NB:

If you are indexed on Google under your real name and that you don't want your Ulule's account to show up on search engines we advice you to replace your real name by a nickname. You will be able to access all the functionalities of the website. Your name will disappear from the search engines in a couple of days.
If you do not want to receive emails from Ulule you can unsubscribe from undesirable notifications.
If you would like to contact our support service, do not hesitate to send an email to support@ulule.com.

We are very concerned about the confidentiality of the information submitted by our users. You can read our complete privacy policy on this page.
In a nutshell, we do not give out any user information and we do not, under any circumstances, give personal data to third parties or partners. If you would like more information, don’t hesitate to contact us at privacy@ulule.com.

The evolution of the number of members on the site is exponential, so Ulule integrates a concept of Verified Accounts in order to easily identify project owners or well-known members who have supported a project on Ulule. It is rarer for other members and is decided on an individual case basis, notably for famous people, in order to avoid identity fraud.

It's a special status reserved for official organisations (media, foundations or companies). Individuals cannot become an official user.
The official Users pages use a distinctive logo and are displayed on the Ulule V2 homepage. They enable users to look at the “followed” projects or ones funded by the Official User. Each Official User will be able to easily select, add or remove projects that they wish to highlight on their dedicated page.

Take part in the development of new projects and concepts, meet upcoming artists and freely communicate around the projects, share links with project owners and come together in a simple and flexible structure: that is the philosophy of the Official User programme.

To become an Official User, all you need to do is create a Ulule account and contact the team.

Ulule is run by a small team that works together on rue de l'Est in Paris and gets help from plenty of graphic artists, developers, legal experts, and so on. We're not the first crowdfunding service – far from it! (Read our blog post A Brief History of Crowdfunding.) Hats off to John Pratt's Fundable (r.i.p.) for example, and Kickstarter in the USA, and IndieGogo, and the many others that are exploring this approach to financing in their own way. They're complementary services, with different positioning, features and/or fees, but they offer project creators many options. Let's hear it for options!