Introducing MakerWorld Crowdfunding Feature

MakerWorld
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Hello everyone!

Today, we’re launching MakerWorld Crowdfunding. A new way for our community to support the most ambitious and complex 3D printing projects.

Why We Built This

We’ve seen so many incredible ideas that never get built because they’re too big, too complex, or require resources that individual creators just don’t have. The crowdfunding feature is our answer to that problem. We started asking ourselves: what if the community could directly support these projects? When you back a project, you’re telling that creator “your idea matters, and we want to help make it real.”

The advantage on MakerWorld is that our community understands 3D printing and actively seeks out the kind of projects you want to create; making it the perfect testing ground for your wildest ideas.

After all, the 3D printing community has always been about sharing knowledge and pushing each other to try new things. Crowdfunding feels like a natural next step. A way to pool resources behind the projects that excite us most.

How It Works

The process is straightforward. Creators can launch crowdfunding campaigns for their upcoming projects, setting a funding goal and timeline. Community members browse these campaigns and pledge support for projects they want to see completed. What makes this work is that it connects creators directly with the people who value their work most. No guessing about what the community wants – they’re showing you by backing your project.

For Creators:

  • Pitch Your Project: Submit a detailed proposal outlining your idea. What’s the model? What makes it unique? How will you use the funds? Keep in mind that high quality visuals will go a long way in promoting your project and attracting more support.
  • Set Your Goals: Define a funding target that covers your actual costs – software licenses, materials, or the time needed to get the details right. Pick a timeline that works for you: 30, 45, or 60 days. Be specific; backers love clarity!
  • Create Rewards: Offer tiered perks to thank supporters. Think beyond generic model offerings; consider exclusive digital files, behind-the-scenes tutorials, custom 3D prints of your design, DIY kits, or even customized 3D printed items. The more personal, the better.
  • Launch and Connect: Once approved, your project goes live! Be open and transparent about how funds are used and any challenges. Consistent updates and active responses to comments build trust and manage expectations. We’ll amplify standout projects across and beyond our platform to help you reach your goal.

For Backers:

  • Browse active campaigns and discover projects that get you excited.
  • Pledge support and get exclusive perks like early downloads or special variants.
  • Follow along as creators bring their ideas to life!
  • Connect with other supporters who believe in the same vision.

The Impact We Hope to Make

We’re hoping to see crowdfunding campaigns for projects that require real thought, design, and engineering. These are often the projects that don’t get made because they’re just too much work for one person without knowing if anyone will appreciate the effort. Crowdfunding changes that.

Honestly, we’re excited to see what happens. We don’t know what kind of projects creators will come up with, or what the community will support most. Will this lead to more collaboration between creators? We sure hope so! The future will tell us, and that’s part of what makes this exciting.

Getting Started

Right now, we’re launching by invitation only to ensure a smooth rollout of this new feature. If you have a project you believe deserves support, we’d love to hear from you. Just email us at models@makerworld.com with “[Crowdfunding project application]” in the subject line, along with a brief introduction to your project and any visuals or renders you have.

For everyone else, keep an eye out for the first campaigns launching soon. We think you’re going to see some pretty amazing stuff.

That’s it for now.

Thanks for being part of this amazing journey!

The MakerWorld Team

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This is going to be such an amazing feature on the site! Browsing through the projects so far, they are all so next level and well thought out!

I’m excited for Relic Rush and The Crazy Factory, but they all look like a ton of fun!

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And yet, pretty much all the models you have listed right now, are finished and ready to go, that kind of defeats the purpose of crowd funding, because even as per your own description its for projects that don’t get made because of the scope, but these nearly all appear to be finished models that are already ready to go

This doesn’t seem like the intended use of the program

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Makerworld invited these designers to produce polished “kickstarter” like pages. The fact that they are 90% done is understandable too. Consider these first projects a ‘best case scenario’ for the Crowdfunding feature.

What I’m watching:

  • How well funded do these projects become? Fortune or flop?
  • What are the fees?
  • Moderation? I don’t want to see another ‘Community’ section of the site, as I think that area of the site is spammy and useless.
  • Minimum requirements? For future projects that might be nothing more than an idea on the back of a napkin, it would be good for Makerworld to clearly define what is required to create a crowdfunding project.

I am rooting for these designer’s projects and Makerworld’s success in this new feature.

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I think it could depend on the project. I can only speak to my own experience but I wanted to be able to demonstrate what the final project would look like so that potential backers could make a confident, informed decision whether or not they wanted to back it.

From the outside, my project may look fairly complete but I still have weeks (months maybe?) of work to do before it is released and that remaining work is outlined in the description.

It’s new territory but I’m really excited to see how it goes!

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I think the question on everyone’s mind is can we make an achievement for backing a project? Some of us (me) are looking a little lean in the achievement column. Something like this:

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This is an ambitious program. It’s a Kickstarter with a 3D printing focus. While it’s hard to predict how it will go, but I love that MW is continuously trying to expand the horizon for 3D printing creators. Many times the only way to know if an idea, including the idea of this crowdfunding program, works is to put it out there. Like the Kickstarter, it can’t be all successes, some failures are expected.

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PrinterMcgee de’ Medici out there funding the arts (via ChatGPT)

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@MaKim Launch that Relic Rush and I’ll back it right now! I’ll never be anyone’s muse but I can definitely be a patron :grin:

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This is pretty cool! I wish there was a way we could redeem our Bambu gift cards to contribute to the projects though!

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This feels an awful lot like a step towards becoming a paid model site to me. That would be a shame.

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I have the answer to some of these:

Moderation:

  • It’s currently invite only to create campaigns
  • Even after invite, your project needs to be submitted for approval by MW
    • There are some guidelines on what projects should/shouldn’t have, but I think MW hasn’t released this fully yet, but I’m sure they will as the platform opens up
  • Creators can only have one project up at a time
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The biggest benefit that I feel crowdfunding platforms have is the ability to have stretch goals. I back a lot of projects on Kickstarter and love all the stretch goals as I get more stuff without having to pledge more money. It’s a win-win for the creators and backers.

Also, I didn’t think of this myself but I read others giving a good point that 3D models are often bought by a person or group and then illegally shared and pirated. This ‘group buy’ model creates a minimum of what the creator can earn at the least.

Outside of this though, I do get how it feels counter intuitive to crowdfunding. For my next campaign, I plan on pitching a set of 5 models with an example one made and will have backers vote on concepts for the other 4 models. I think this will fill into the purpose of crowdfunding much more.

I chose to do 90% of the model of my current campaign because I felt with this new platform it would raise more confidence that I’d be able to deliver the final proejct.

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This is exciting stuff, I’m really looking forward to what big projects people can conjure up.

I myself have fallen into the trap of a project with massive scope and little reward to keep it going.

  • I lay out the initial version
  • People say they are excited and give it a bunch of likes
  • I now have weeks or months of unpaid work to get it finished,
  • MakerWorld points buy filament but they can’t buy my time

So I inevitably gave up on larger projects and focused on decorative art and trends as they are less effort and high reward.

Kickstarter has been around for a while, but it’s plagued with bad actors and failed projects.

If this attempts to reinvigorate the space, I’m all for trying

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I mean sure, i am aware of these things, but that won’t really stop them and good creators with models that are sellable will be able to make money on commercial licenses to offset that

https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Cinderwing3D?show=tribe

Just look at any of the major tribes on MMF and you’ll see how much they can make a month with a little simple math, if people are willing to drop money on a crowdfunding for the model they are willing to buy it if the STL was just sold and most people aren’t sitting in telegram rooms waiting for models to appear

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point is that the creator can be guaranteed X sales to cover their time, if they want to make more then they can continue selling them afterwards if that is the plan.

it also taps into the psychology behind all of these crowdfunding sites that you are contributing to the process, not just buying an end product.

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@MakerWorld can we use the funds for non-3d printed items?

Could I design a board game and use the funds to source the board?

Edit: I think to rephrase it better, can we promise backers non-3d printed items as part of their pledge (and shipping etc), I’m aware we can use the money for anything we want once we get it

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Assuming people fund it, the MW community doesn’t strike me as the place where people come to pay for things :wink:

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Yeah you’re right, bad actors will still act badly, but it’s still something at the least.

And you can definitely earn money with commercial licenses, I currently do, but it’s not very comparable to what this crowdfunding is trying to accomplish. I think this is just a different avenue than Patreon or direct selling that has the possibility of more community involvment. For example, I plan to have polls for backers to vote on aspects of the designs as well as for what the stretch goals will be.

This is doable with Patreon or Tribes, but it’s just a different approach that’s more project based instead of creator based.

I will agree that the current set of projects all look pretty complete for crowdfunded projects but as one of the designers that did this, I just really wanted to build confidence that I would be able to deliver.

That said, I’m sure it’s not for everyone and if you don’t like it that’s fine too

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The rewards are digital, either models or documents, and will be delivered through MakerWorld.

I do see one of the projects is promising physical rewards too, but I think that is done separately and I know for sure it is not tracked or managed on the MakerWorld platform.

1 Like