Two of the most important decisions you'll make when you create your campaign are your goal and deadline. After your campaign has launched, you cannot go back and change these. Here are some tips to help you set your goal and deadline.

How to Choose Your Goal

1. Identify a discrete funding need. 

You don't always need to raise your entire project budget with one campaign. For larger projects, we recommend that you run a different campaign for each unique stage. For example, as a filmmaker, you might run separate campaigns for development, production, post-production and distribution. The award-winning films, "Sound It Out" and "You've Been Trumped", both went down this route: Sound It Out, You've Been Trumped.

2. Check your goal with a simple calculation.

Divide your goal amount by 100. This is an estimate of how many people need to donate to your campaign in order to meet your goal. Do you have that many friends? Is this an attainable number of contributors? If the number seems too high or too low, adjust your goal to fit.  

Remember, this is just an estimate. Every campaign is different and you may have a wider network or more generous contributors than most.  If you don't meet your goal, you can choose a funding type that allows you to keep what you raise. You always get to keep any funds you raise above your goal.

3. Be aware of goal psychology.

Your goal is a reflection of your project. Too high and your project may seem unattainable, too low and it may seem unrealistic (Indiegogo Insight). Be sure to choose a goal that demonstrates that you understand exactly what you need. We recommend including a detailed budget in your pitch description to show contributors how you will use the money. 

We find that most campaigns that reach their goal actually exceed it. You can pass your goal and still attract new contributors. We recommend that you post an update to your Pitch to tell people the full budget of your project and ask them to help you meet that higher number. Or, tell them what you will do with the extra funds and encourage people to keep contributing until the end of your campaign. Exceeding your goal is never a bad thing!

How to Set Your Deadline

1. More time doesn't equal more money.

Campaigns on Indiegogo can run for a maximum of 60 days, regardless of which funding structure you choose. More time does not always mean a higher chance of reaching your goal. You should steadily raise funds through the duration of your campaign, so it's important to consider how long you can actively manage it. Successful campaigns on Indiegogo have an average deadline of 47 days (Indiegogo Insights: 1, 2).

2. When do you need the money?

After your campaign has ended, it can take up to two weeks for the funds to arrive in your account. Give yourself enough time between the end of your campaign and when you need to start paying bills to account for this delay. The time it takes for your funds to arrive depends on your bank's ability to process the disbursement, so we can't speed this up. Do not set your deadline for the day before you need the money.

3. When will you be ready to start raising funds?

Your deadline will begin to count down immediately once your campaign has been created. If you need two weeks to set up your campaign, we recommend adding an extra two weeks to your deadline. 85% of campaigns that reach their goal start raising funds on the first day of their campaign, so it's important to launch only when you're ready.