Hello fellow crowdfunders!

Now that the biggest and merriest holidays of the year are finally behind us, we are already well into 2016! Some have already delved into their new year’s list of resolutions about going to the fitness, being more charitable and reading more, others are still sobering up. And some are probably trying to multitask and both achieve their resolutions and sober up at the same time.

And those of us that are into or around crowdfunding – we’re slowly waking up from our slumber! Why is that so however, if the spring is not yet here? Or, to ask a question that actually makes sense:

Why does crowdfunding sleep during the holidays in the first place?

Sure, crowdfunding is cool and awesome like a teddy bear, but…

Well, while cool and awesome, crowdfunding just doesn’t work well during any holidays and in some other special periods. It’s just the nature of the beast, so to speak. And I’ve talked with people to whom this sounds even kind of nonsensical and strange:

“But Christmas is a time of giving! It’s a holiday when everyone is happy and charitable. Why are you telling me not to launch my campaign now?!”

Don’t get us wrong, we’re neither saying that we are all Scrooges here, nor that Christmas is not a time when people are open and giving – it is and we are!

However it is also a time for us to be with our families and loved ones. A time to be away from the internet, away from work and worries, and from other people’s affairs. It’s a time of rest and festivities.

And crowdfunding… well, crowdfunding is actually mostly done while we’re at work but we don’t want to be and so we browse around the internet instead.

That sounded a bit too plain, didn’t it? Yeah, well, sorry, but it is what it is. When people are home for the holidays they have lots of things on their mind, but crowdfunding – while it’s a form of giving help and joy to others – is just not a main priority.

Crowdfunding takes a step back even during weekends, let alone during major holidays.

And while weekends can’t be avoided however (that sounded wrong – who even tries to avoid a weekend? A crowdfunder, that’s who), holidays can and should be avoided when you’re planning your potentially life-saving or at least life-changing crowdfunding campaign. Even if it’s going to be on a platform with no time limit (such as CoverrMe.com), you still have to do your best to avoid both major and lesser holidays around it’s launch and the most active first days/weeks.

And if we want to delve a bit deeper, holidays should also be avoided during the period of the first decline of your campaign – when the initial interest of your funders starts to fade. That’s the period when your effort on promoting your project should double and triple. Instead, a holiday of some sort can effectively kill your campaign altogether.

Not to mention that around holidays people have usually already spend a large portion of their “budget for presents” already.

That sounds even plainer, doesn’t it? Well, both fortunately and unfortunately, there are lots of different causes and initiatives out there that aim to gather funds, and it’s not just that we can’t participate in all of them, but around holidays, even the best of those causes and initiatives step back and give way to our friends and family in terms of where do we want to give our money. Additionally, there are lots of more traditional fundraising projects and big, world-wide organisations that gather donations especially around Christmas and small, personal crowdfunding projects have an extra-hard time getting noticed around those.

In fact, “dancing around people’s budgets” is so important, that choosing to launch your campaign around the time people are receiving income-tax refunds promises to find a larger audience with disposable income with which to back a project. At the same time, launching during the time when tax payments are due can have the opposite effect. So don’t be surprised when we tell you to avoid the holidays. The period between Christmas and New Year’s Day is the slowest time of the year in terms of web traffic in general, let alone for crowdfunding.

Want to go even deeper? Hold on to your hats then:

Most experts say that the best time in the month to launch a crowdfunding campaign is in the middle. Why? Well, for starters, while most crowdfunding platforms bill the funders’ credit cards only once the project is completed, statistics show that people tend to feel better able to make purchases on or just after payday when their bank balances are in the black. So since most people are paid around the 1st and the 15th of each month, those can be good times to launch strong.

On a similar note, people often pay their mortgage or rent at the start or end of each month, so the middle of the month is often logically the better choice.

There are also better and worse times of the day that you can crowdfund (deeper and deeper we go!). And that shouldn’t be surprising since the starting hours and the last hours are the most important (and profitable) periods for any campaign. Add to that the fact that whatever time you launch your project — no matter how many days the campaign lasts — it will end at the same time of day. So make it count.

We already said – even if it was jokingly – that most funding is done during work hours, but that is pretty much true. Not only that, but the most active parts of the work hours are the ones before the lunch break and those before the longed end of the work day (surprise, surprise). So launching your campaign in the late morning or early afternoon on a Monday or Tuesday is usually the best choice you can make. And mind those pesky time zones if you wish your campaign to go global!

Sounds complicated doesn’t it? Don’t worry, it’s not that bad, you’ll get the hang of it!

Crowdfunding is an amazing way to fund your project or cause and the more important the project/cause is, the more you want your crowdfunding to be successful. That’s why every good guide and informed expert suggests a period of at least 4-6 months of preparations before you launch a campaign.

So do the smart thing and devote a part of that period in deciding on a good launch period and not during or around holidays.