Champion This Project! provides crowdfunding for creative projects — particularly graphic novels, comic books, and related merchandise. When a Project Creator posts a campaign on Champion This Project!, he invites other people to form a contract with him. Anyone who backs a project (the Patron) is accepting the Project Creator’s offer, and forming that contract.
When a Patron chooses to donate to a project, he forms a contract with the Project Creator. Champion This Project! is not a part of this contract — the contract is a direct legal agreement between Project Creators and their Patrons. Here are the terms that govern that contract:
If a project fails its funding goal, the Project Creator must issue refunds.
However, if a project is successfully funded, the Project Creator must complete the project and fulfill each reward. Once a Project Creator has done so, he has satisfied his contract with his backers.
Both Patrons & Project Creators
Champion This Project! is a new website, and inevitably, things will go wrong. If there are problems, we shall endeavor to fix them as soon as humanly possible.
Having said that, this site is presented as-is, without warranties.
You use our Services solely at your own risk. They are provided to you “as is” and “as available” and without warranty of any kind, express or implied.
You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold us harmless from all liabilities, claims, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys’ fees and other legal costs) that arise from or relate to your use or misuse of Champion This Project!
Creators
Stripe Account
Project Creators using this site will need a Stripe account. This can be set up during the Champion This Project! account registration process.
Fees
Our platform fee is currently 0%, and it is our intention to keep the fee at this level until $100,000 has been crowdfunded on the Site. (Note though, that this is our intention, not our promise. There is at least one circumstance which may necessitate raising this fee. If this happens, we will pause your campaign until we obtain your consent for the fee rate change.)
Note also that while we will not initially charge any fees, our payment processor will certainly do so.
Project Approval
Champion This Project! reserves the right of approval for all new projects. Creator projects must not be pornographic or illegal.
In order to approve a project, Champion This Project! will also need to verify the Project Creator’s identity. For now, it will be sufficient for a Project Creator to simply make a simple announcement of his project on his verified social media account.
Shipping Fees For Rewards
The Site does not currently have any software to calculate shipping. Therefore, Project Creators are urged to consider adding expected shipping costs for their most-likely customers to the value of the Rewards being offered. (“Free” shipping for most-likely Patrons.) If this is done, Patrons outside the shipping zone of your most-likely Patrons should be informed that they will need to pay off-platform for any additional shipping fees required.
(For example, if a Project Creator is American and expects most of his Patrons live in America, it might be a good idea to build in the cost of shipping for Americans into the Reward price. However, Canadians and International customers should be informed that they will be charged additional shipping fees offsite.)
Estimated Project Fulfillment Date(s)
Our software allows Project Creators to set the start & end dates of their crowdfunding campaigns, but has no setting for estimated fulfillment dates.
For the sake of consistency and clarity, Project Creators should list an estimated fulfillment date at the bottom of each reward being offered.
Changes To Project Descriptions
Once a project has been submitted, Project Creators should not make material changes to the description of the project or the rewards descriptions.
Minor rewording and/or corrections of incorrect spelling or grammar are fine.
Project Updates
Project Creators should post updates on their project page at least once a month after their crowdfunding campaigns have completed in order to inform their Patrons of their Project’s progress.
Campaign Duration
Currently, Champion This Project! limits project campaigns to a maximum 2 month duration. (However, Project Creators should be aware that most successful crowdfunding campaigns for graphic novels or comic books are typically only 1 month in length.)
Project Curation
Champion This Project! does not “curate” projects into favored positions on our site according to our social or political whims. We do not place our finger on the scale to help projects or project creators that we personally like, or harm those we don’t.
Instead, we strive to treat all project creators equally. To this end, we employ very simple algorithms that display projects according to date, amounts raised, days remaining, or goal amount.
Shadowbanning
No projects on Champion This Project will ever be search-restricted or noindexed to prevent their display on search engines.
Arbitrary Cancellations
Once a project is accepted, it will not be suspended or cancelled unless the project or the Project Creator is found to be in violation of the Terms of Use.
Miscellaneous
During beta testing, we ask that Project Creators limit the size of their crowdfunding campaigns from $1 to $500.
Project Creators should be aware that Champion This Project! currently has zero subscribers. Therefore, in order for you to receive Patrons and take advantage of our introductory fee offer, you must direct prospective Patrons to the site via your own website or social media.
Patrons
Risks
Patrons are not buying rewards or ordering something that already exists when they help fund a project. Instead, they’re donating to help create something new. Keep in mind that Project Creators are frequently artists who aren’t fully familiar with the publishing aspect of their business, and they may underestimate completion times or experience unanticipated delays.
In fact, sometimes project creators cannot complete their projects at all due to unforeseen events.
These are the risks patrons must be willing to accept when backing a creator’s project.
Donation Payment Options
Our payment processor accepts Mastercard, Visa, American Express, Discover and Diners Club.
Refunds
Prospective Patrons for a project should review the Project Creator’s refund policy on the FAQ tab of their project page.
Once a Patron donates to a project, his donation is instantly sent to the Project Creator (less payment processor fees). It is literally impossible for us to refund your money since we don’t have it. Your donation has already been sent to the Project Creator.
Patrons must always remember that their contracts are with the Project Creator, not with Champion This Project LLC.
Therefore, all refund requests must be directed towards Project Creators.
These Terms of Use use the terms “should” and “must” interchangeably. In addition, these Terms use the generic “he” to refer to all biological human beings belonging to the species homo sapiens sapiens above the age of 18.