Frequently Asked Questions

 

1. What is the fee and charge of starting a project?
   • It is FREE to start a project on Lift Women. Funding is all-or-nothing, if you do not achieve your funding goal, no fee will be charged, and there is no limit on the number of projects that you can create.
   • If your project successfully reaches or exceeds the funding goal, Lift Women will charge a 5% platform fee of the total fund that you raised when your project is completed. Please note that there will also be a 2.4% – 4.0% payment processing fee that is charged by payment gateways – Master/Visa debit or credit cards/ Stripe.

 

2. What is the eligibility of starting a project?

• I am at least 18 years old
• I can verify an address and bank account in Australia
• I can verify a government issued ID
• I have a debit/credit card
• My business is female-led or majority of founders are female

 

3. How do I start a project?
   • To start a project, click on the Start A Project button and follow the steps indicated.
   • You will be asked to create an account with Lift Women, then you will have your own designed dashboard.

 

4. Will I have my project URL?
   • Once a project is approved and published, project creator will be given a designed URL
   • To get it, simply copy & paste the URL link on the browser

 

5. What is Funding Goal? What is Stretch Goal?

• There are two goals that you can set on Lift Women platform – The funding goal, and the stretch goal.
• Funding is all-or-nothing, you can only receive funding if your funding goal is achieved, no fee will be charged if you cannot reach your funding goal. So, consider setting an achievable funding goal if it is your first-time trying crowdfunding.
• While Stretch Goal is the extra funding target that you can set on top of your funding goal. This gives you flexibility to achieve extra miles if your project momentum goes really well and you’ve achieved your funding goal before your project ends.

 

6. What should I consider before setting a funding goal?

• It is important to research all costs prior to starting a project, as once your campaign goes live, you will not be able to change your funding goal. Apart from costs like material, manufacturing, taxes, fees etc, keep in mind your variable costs which can change as your campaign advances, so your funding goal has compensated for all scenarios.

 

7. What will happen to my backers’ money if I don’t reach my goal?

• When a backer backs your project, their credit card will only be charged when your project is completed and successful. If creator does not reach their funding goal, no one will be charged.

 

8. When will I receive my funding? How long does it take to receive funding?

• You will receive money generated by your project when your funding period ends and your funding goal has been achieved.
• After your project period ends, backers’ pledges will be collected, and then transferred to your connected Stripe business account while registering your profile.
• In general, it takes 7-10 days to completed the whole process.
• Funding is all-or-nothing, if you do not achieve your funding goal by end of your project, you will not receive any money, and no cost will be charged.

 

9. How do I upload a video on my campaign?

• In order not to limit the length and resolution of your video, we allow you to upload a video link. To get a video link, the best way is to upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo, and copy & past the link onto the platform.

 

10. How do I connect with my backers?

• Every project will have a comment box where your backers and you can leave and reply comments/messages, and interact with each other. To leave or reply comments, simply click into the project and scroll down.
• You will need to log in before you can leave a comment

 

11. Where can I find information about my backers?
    • Due to privacy protection, you will not get to know backers’ details until your project is completed and successful.
    • If your project ends and reaches/exceed funding goal, you will be able to download a list of backers’ details from your dashboard.

 

12. What if my project fails? Can I still get the money that I raised?

• Funding method on Lift Women is all-or-nothing, which means if you do not achieve your funding goal before the end of your project, you will not get any funding, and no fee will be charged. There is no limit of the number of projects that you can create with Lift Women, so you can learn from this project experience, review the feedback you’ve gained, modify and improve your project and try again next time.

 

13. Can I raise more than my funding goal? What if I want to extend my funding?

• Yes, you can. The campaign only ends when the last date of the project is reached. Till then, even if your funding goal is reached, backers can continue funding your campaign over and above the goal.
• Once the project is launched, you cannot change your funding goal, so if you want to go extra mile, you can consider add a stretch goal for your project.

 

14. Are there any projects disallowed by LiftWomen? What are the legalities related to Lift Women projects? Can I raise money for a project in any type of industry?

• Lift Women supports all industries and business ideas that are within the legal limits of Australia and fulfil all the eligibilities. Please refer to our Terms and Conditions, and eligibility.

 

15. How do I enquire if I need more information?

• Book a 30-mins free consultation with us directly here or
• Reach out to us by filling in the reach out form here.

 

16. Website and system have bugs, what can I do?

• Try refresh the page, or clear history of the site on your browser, and try again.
• Chrome browser usually has better performance and stability
• If it still doesn’t work, please fill in the Reach Out Form here to inform us with details and cap screen if feasible, and we will investigate and fix it as soon as we can.

 

17. My project is fully funded, now what do I need to do? What are my obligations?

• Once your project is completed and successful, you should download your backer list from your dashboard, and start reaching out to your backers to thank them for their support and arrange rewards delivery.
• If there is information that you need from the backers to fulfil your reward delivery, such as shipping address, you should reach out to them to collect the information.
• We do encourage creator to fulfil their promise and engage with their backers to the best of their abilities. Their fundamental obligation to backers is to finish all the work that was promised, honestly address backers’ concerns, and deliver rewards.
• One of our biggest expectations for creators is that they regularly update backers on their project’s progress and notify them of any delays or roadblocks that may impact their estimated delivery time. We expect creators to be open and honest with their backers during all stages of their project’s life cycle.
• At the same time, backers must understand that Lift Women is not a store, when you back a project, you’re helping create something new — not always pre-ordering something that already exists. As Lift Women does not offer refunds, we encourage backers to investigate the project idea first, to vet the creator thoroughly, and to assess the inherent risk of the project for themselves before making a pledge.
• There’s always a chance something could happen that prevents the creator from being able to finish the project as promised. When it comes to shipping in particular, we find most rewards are delivered as promised. However, it’s important to realize that some projects might hit some speed bumps, including customs for international shipping or postal mishaps for domestic shipping. In these cases, we recommend continuing to reach out to the creator regarding the shipping issue, in the hopes that it is resolved as soon as possible.
• Creator must make every reasonable effort to find another way of bringing the project to a satisfying conclusion for their backers.
• If backers have specific questions about the status of a project, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the project creator directly.

 

18. How do I back a project?
    • Go to the Explore Project page. You will have campaigns from various industries to choose from and you can contribute any amount to a campaign of your choice by pledging one of their rewards.

 

19. When do I get my reward?
    • Once a project is completed and successful, project creator will get the details of backers, and they will reach out to backers to collect information to facilitate rewards delivery.
    • The project creator is responsible to provide an estimate of delivery time of rewards you are eligible for. Sometimes, the creator may get challenged with unexpected bumps in the road and there could be a slight delay. We encourage backers to get in touch with creators through the contact details that they provide on their project page. We also encourage project creator to engage backers and provide regular updates about rewards delivery.

 

20. What should I do if my reward is late?
    • Sometimes, the project creator may get challenged with unexpected bumps in the road and there could be a slight delay. However, it is their responsibility to you that they provide delivery of rewards on time, or as soon as possible. We encourage backers to get in touch with creators through the contact details that they provide on their project page. We also encourage project creator to engage backers and provide regular updates about rewards delivery.

 

21. How do I contact the project creator?

• You can search up their project on the platform and click into their project to find the creator’s contact, or leave them a message via the comment box or their social media accounts.

 

22. What happens to my money if the project that I backed failed to achieve its funding goal?

• Funding on Lift Women is all-or-nothing, which means that only if the funding goal is achieved, will your pledged money be deducted from your account after the last day of the project. If the project does not reach the funding goal by the deadline, no money will be withdrawn or deducted from your account.

 

23. How do I request a refund? Will I get refund after I pledge?

• Lift Women does not offer refunds, so we encourage backers to investigate the project idea first, to vet the creator thoroughly, and to assess the inherent risk of the project for themselves before making a pledge.

 

24. Which payment methods are acceptable?

• Currently, we support payment methods of Credit/Debit cards only.
• And Lift Women’s payment gateway is powered by Stripe.

 

25. How do backers know if a project will follow through? What if the project that backers or I pledge fail to deliver?

• Launching a crowdfunding project is a very public act, and creators put their reputations at risk when they do. Creators are encouraged to share links and as much background information as possible so backers can make informed decisions about the projects they support.
• If a creator has no demonstrable experience in doing something like their project or doesn’t share key information, backers should take that into consideration. Does the creator include links to any websites that show work related to the project, or past projects? Does the creator appear in the video?
• Don’t hesitate to request information from a creator. You can always reach outto the creator before pledging.

 

26. How can I apply for the Inaugural Female Founder Grant Challenge 2021?

• Application for Lift Women’s Inaugural Female Founder Grant Challenge 2021 is now closed.
• You can sign up to our platform or follow our social medial to be the first to know when we launch our next funding program.
• You can learn more about our Inaugural Female Founder Grant program here.

 

27. Where does the 50% profit go to?

• Lift Women exist to empower as many women as we can, we aim at creating a female entrepreneur ecosystem that will thrive and last, our profit will give right back to women-led businesses in need and causes that support gender equality.