If you want to understand how money is earned, received and refunded for the various activities on Updraft, this article is for you.
Most support for Ideas is refunded. Creators and supporters earn fees from later supporters.
99% of an Idea creator's deposit is refundable after the anti-spam fee (usually 1%). The size of the deposit determines the earning potential of the Idea creator from funder reward fees.
Most support for an Idea is refundable. Early supporters get 99% of their support back when they withdraw, while later supporters get 99% back minus the funder reward fee (default 10%). Like an Idea creator's deposit, the size of support determines the supporter's earning potential from funder reward fees.
Later supporters pay a funder reward fee to previous supporters; it's the way creators and supporters earn money from Ideas. The creator of an Idea or a supporter within the first cycle (12 hours) after its creation doesn't pay a funder reward fee.
The anti-spam fee for a new Idea is the greater of 1% or 1 UPD. This is non-refundable and goes to the Updraft faucet: a pool of funds that anyone can collect from every week. The goal of the faucet is to lower the barrier of entry to Updraft.
When you withdraw your support from an Idea--either as the creator or as a supporter--you receive your support back, minus any fees. You also collect any fees you earned from later supporters at this time.
Fees for Solutions are optional and set by the Solution drafter to encourage participation. Solution drafters pay a small anti-spam fee.
The solution drafter--or anyone else--can add a stake to make contributing more appealing. If the funding goal isn't reached by the deadline, funders split the stake proportionally. If someone contributed more, they receive more of the stake.
Solution drafters pay a small fixed fee (currently 1 UPD) to discourage spam.
Contributions are split between the Solution drafter and previous funders according to the funder reward fee set by the Solution drafter.
The funder reward fee determines what percentage of each contribution goes to previous funders. The remaining percentage goes to the Solution drafter.
Funder reward fees from previous funders can be collected at any time. This differs from Idea reward fees which are only collected when the support is withdrawn.
When a funding goal isn't reached by the deadline, all contributions are refunded and the stake is distributed to funders. A Solution can't receive more funding after a failed goal.
After a goal is reached, the Solution can receive more funding and funders can continue to earn fees.
Funders can overfund a goal. The extra funds are divided between the drafter and previous funders following the same rules as funding up to the goal.
After a goal is reached, Solution drafters can set a new goal amount, deadline and stake to encourage further funding. They can update the Solution description and news to describe how the new funding will be used.
Funders from previous goals continue to earn funder reward fees from new funders. Solution drafters can use this fact to reward early funders by continuing to set new goals.
A participant can fund the same Idea or Solution more than once. Each contribution creates a new position that is managed separately.
Calculating the optimal amount for funding a Solution is similar (since both earn funder reward fees), but must account for the fact that unlike supporting Ideas, contributions to Solutions are only refundable if the goal fails. The potential to earn part of the stake should also be taken into account.
We've covered all the ways money flows through Updraft. For a complete tour of the Updraft app, see the Updraft guide.