Your crowdfunding campaign budget needs to be as detailed as possible in order to set realistic crowdfunding goals, not only to know how much you need but to show supporters that you’ve put some time thinking about all the costs.

Include both campaign and project marketing expenses – Are you going to need to advertise your product or service after the campaign? While you can crowdfund without spending anything on advertising, it helps to have a budget for campaign outreach.

Administrative expenses – Crowdfunding can be a ton of work and it may be cost effective to hire someone to do routine jobs. Don’t forget to include a budget for any supplies, rent and utilities for your campaign.

Budgeting for rewards fulfillment means not just packaging and shipping expenses but budgeting for your time as well. Platform fees are the most common expenses that get overlooked by crowdfunding campaigns. These can approach nearly 10% of the money you raise so pay attention to the fine print on the crowdfunding platform. Check out my post on the Top Crowdfunding and Fundraising Websites for detail on the different sites and fees.