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Publishing projects in Oigo makes it possible to access a new model of collective financing and collaborations distributed through the network. We invite you to make your project public and share it with a community of people who, like you, are interested in innovative projects, which offer new opportunities, and which generate positive change in society and the common welfare.
Additionally, through Oigo you can:
- Give visibility to your projects , involving their potential community from the beginning, supporting you on their knowledge and recommendations to contrast and test them.
- Receive advice to improve public communication of the projects to propose adequate collective returns.
- Access specific tools of "social media" and publish content to spread your work on the Internet.
- Be part of a specialized social network , with local impact and international diffusion, in which numerous synergies and complementarities can arise.
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Oigo can be used by any person or organization that seeks funding and collaboration for a project thought, produced and / or distributed based on quality parameters and responsible accountability.
There is only one essential requirement: be over 18 years old (if not, the project can be presented by your guardian or legal representative).
It is essential to have a bank account in Ecuador in the name of the promoter or owner of the project, you must take into account the variations in the collection due to the currency exchange rate -if it is the case-, and the increase in commissions for international transactions that must be covered.
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The process consists of four different phases that each project must go through:
1. Upload your project with a detailed description.
2. Selection and, in case of acceptance, revision.
3. Publication and two rounds of co-financing (40+40 days or 40+20 days, optional) for open campaigns and at least one round of co-financing (40 days) for closed campaigns (matchfunding).
4. Dissemination of results and returns.
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The first thing you have to do is upload your project, completing the form that you will access from the section "
Create project ". It is about making a description as detailed as possible of it and its purposes, of yourself or your team as promoters and of the minimum and optimal financing, as well as the necessary collaborations. Also of the work phases, tasks and execution period, taking into account the tasks related to the management and specific production of the collective returns and the individual incentives that you propose.
To help you in this phase, OIGO has an assistant that guides the entire process of uploading projects, explaining the importance of the decisions you must make at each step and the type of information to provide.
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You should make a budget as detailed as possible. The more transparency, the more confidence you will convey to your potential co-financers.
When making the budget, we recommend:
- Break-down diligently the fees (yours and those of other people who collaborate), material expenses, subcontracting, etc. Be careful in budget planning, as the amount of money you request cannot be changed once the co-financing campaign has started.
- Take into account the costs derived from the management and production of social impacts or collective returns and individual incentives (many crowdfunding and matchfunding projects are complicated by not having considered this issue well).
- Do not forget to consider the existing commissions: 4% for the provision of services by OIGO and an average of 5% for economic transactions, whether through payment by credit or debit card and local banking costs.
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OIGO segments the open co-financing campaign of a project into two rounds of 40 days each (or 20 the second), and the closed co-financing campaign into at least one round of 40 days or as agreed with the matcher that does not exceed the time maximum of one crowdfunding campaign. Therefore, when setting the budget, it must be divided by specifying a minimum and an optimum:
- The minimum budget has to do with the capital necessary to develop the initial, critical and essential tasks to start the project.
- The optimal budget has to do with additional tasks for the production of the project, of sophistication or improvement (increase production, translate into other languages, offer it in other media, etc).
That is another of the differences with many of the crowdfunding platforms and dynamics that we have studied to design OIGO. We believe that the relationship between micro-sponsors and project promoters can and should go further, and that a system based on trust and transparent results can allow subsequent rounds of financing, once significant progress has been made in the creations.
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These limits are tentative and there may be exceptions, since they will be fixed with the accumulated experience:
- The minimum amount of a project to be published in OIGO is around US$2,500 for open campaigns. For smaller projects, we understand as a general rule that an effort such as the one involved in maintaining a fundraising campaign of up to 80 days may not be profitable, or not enough resources be allocated to sustainably generate collective returns of value for the community. However, each project is a world and must be analyzed in detail regarding the possibility of covering its minimum costs. For closed campaigns it could be lower, depending on the conditions established in the call bases.
- The maximum collection amount for projects published on collaborative fund platforms is one thousand (1,000) unified basic salaries; that is, the amount of US$ 400,000.00, as established by the Organic Law of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, but the person or persons who promote the project must measure their management and response capacity well. In addition, we must be realistic and understand that the co-financing process through OIGO will develop progressively, gradually generating a community and a climate of trust that allows us to undertake larger and larger projects.
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Collective returns, as something complementary to individual incentives, are ultimately OIGO's great commitment, which seeks that the donations received in each project generate a social impact in the short, medium and long term.
It is about the development of common goods through the generation of incentives oriented to the commons, which allow reuse, recombination, obtaining new uses and values from what has been done. Seeking the viability of the projects for their promoters, but also the greatest possible benefit for the community, with the aim of creating social capital and that other people can generate derived opportunities, economically sustainable products and services.
The social impacts can be very diverse: sharing free knowledge; derived resources or services; training through didactic manuals, workshops and/or advice on the Internet; raw materials, files and digitizable content (for example, a pattern, a design, a methodology, a program), which can be replicated, reused, remixed, etc.
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First of all, think about what anyone could learn or use from your project, and then come up with a transferable format (text -manual, storytelling, recipes, process description, source code, design, drawing, audiovisual, etc).
Opening the projects, making them accessible, generating useful and valuable collective returns for the community requires extra effort, resources and time. That is why you must take it into account when planning and budgeting your project.
The way to formalize collective returns depends on the nature of each project. If it is code, we recommend repositories like Github. In the case of documents, you can share the drafts and alpha versions on a wiki or online publishing service, or upload them via FTP to an address where they can be downloaded. If it is a video, we recommend Vimeo, YouTube, Giss.tv or Makusi.tv (the latter under construction) to publish it.
In general, when considering online spaces where you can work and host content linked to your project, choose platforms that are as accessible and open as possible, in order to maximize their dissemination and coherence with the commons. If instead of digital returns (online) they are physical (offline), think of public spaces and try to apply the same principles of openness and accessibility.
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Individual incentives are the personal considerations that project promoters can offer (or not in OIGO, they are not obligatory) to co-financiers in exchange for their monetary contribution. They can be important to achieve the participation of as many and as varied co-financiers as possible.
These incentives can be tangible (an object related to the project, a publication, a T-shirt) or intangible (appearance in the credits and other spaces of special visibility in the project, premium or early access to content, specific adapted services, participation in the production, private passes, invitations to parties and presentations, a share in the ownership of the project and its possible benefits).
They should be attractive, exclusive and original, offering different possibilities, both for small co-financiers, as well as for those people or entities that can make larger contributions. We recommend not establishing too many ranges or levels of contribution and that they are well differentiated and scaled, in order to facilitate the decision of co-financiers and co-financiers.
Project owners may not offer as an incentive any type of alcoholic beverage, drugs, medicines, narcotics, betting schemes, lottery, raffles, firearms, vaporizers, pipes, dividends, future profits or company shares.
The incentives that work best are unique, symbolic, low cost, but of very high value. The best way to know if your incentives are working is by asking the following questions:
• Would you normally pay this amount for an incentive of this type? If the answer is "yes" then there is a very good chance that the incentive is worthwhile.
• Is the perceived value of the incentive greater than the value I am about to pay? If the answer is "yes" then there is a very good chance that the incentive is worthwhile.
• Can I get this incentive or offer somewhere else? If the answer is "no" then there is a very good chance that the incentive is worthwhile.
OIGO is not responsible for the delivery of incentives by the beneficiaries. Since the relationship between donors and recipients is non-commercial, the donor accepts the risk of not receiving their incentive in exchange for their donation.
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Incentives must be attractive to those who co-finance the initiative (access to something exclusive or under advantageous conditions, as indicated in the previous answer) but you must calibrate them well, promising something that is easy to carry out, but that encourages the donor to contribute to your project because of the interesting conditions it presents. It is very important that you take into account the resources and economic costs involved in its production, shipping, etc., in order to be able to incorporate them into the minimum amount you request to carry it all out.
Through the project registration form you will be able to define in detail the amounts linked to each incentive, its typology and how many units of each type are offered to co-financiers. Subsequently, when the project has obtained its funding target, from the platform you will have access to a series of tools to manage the shipments and make effective the individual incentives to which you have committed.
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At OIGO, in addition to monetary contributions, you can request additional collaborations to develop your project. From specific skills that you need from third parties (translators, testers, prescribers) to loans of material resources (transport, equipment), as well as infrastructure (spaces, facilities).
Collaborations are requested when the project is registered, but they can be changed and new ones can be added throughout the campaign process. Think that among your co-financiers there are real talents and agents willing to support the project, so value equally the people who support you financially, as well as the work of volunteer collaborators.
Never lose sight of the community: this is the driving force behind OIGO - every contribution counts! Try to integrate the partners in the project's growth processes, thinking about possible collective returns, individual incentives or even financial compensation that you did not initially foresee.
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Once you have registered your project, it enters a selection process that takes into account all the projects registered so far on the platform. This selection is carried out by the OIGO team in close collaboration with a community of experts and collaborators from different fields.
The process takes into account the purposes, subject matter, typology and origin of the project; its relevance and innovative or differential character (it is important that the set of published projects form an ecosystem as diverse as possible); an estimate of the collective return it generates; and also the competence or experience of the promoter.
During this process, we carry out a review and advisory work to achieve the optimization of the project. After an initial assessment that we will send you by e-mail, you will have to provide complete information in a second phase of the campaign form, trying to take into account the advice that we have sent you. Either on the most effective way to communicate the values of the initiative through OIGO or other media (mainly digital), or on how to set it up or adapt it, or on how to propose the appropriate collective returns.
In the case of closed campaigns, the selection process will be specified in the matchfunding call rules prepared for this purpose. You should read the document carefully to find out if you can participate and what the evaluation process and criteria will be.
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We will get in touch no later than approximately two weeks after the registration of the project, or earlier if possible. Later, regardless of possible communication about revising and optimising the project, the reply about publishing or not publishing your project on OIGO will take no more than another week.
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For public campaigns, once the selection has been made, the projects are published organized according to their purposes, in different categories or thematic sections: social, cultural, scientific, educational, technological or ecological (the same project may pursue several purposes and therefore be in several of these sections).
Grouping projects according to their goals is a way of overcoming disciplinary limits to generate transversal synergies; adding diverse knowledge to face common objectives; attracting sponsorships and specific calls for proposals.
These thematic sections count on the complicity, commitment and advice of expert agents, people who act as prescribers, advisors or enthusiastic informers, and who make up OIGO's knowledge network.
In the case of closed (private) campaigns, the projects will be grouped according to the matchfunding call in a channel designed for this exclusive purpose.
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For the case of public campaigns:
At OIGO we propose two rounds of co-financing, of 40 days each (40+40) or one of 40 days and the second of 20 days (or 40+20).
- 1st round : It is linked to the budget that you have established as a minimum: the capital necessary to develop the initial, critical or essential tasks for the implementation of the project. Fundraising is done on an "all or nothing" basis; that is, the economic contributions committed by the donors only become effective if the minimum budget is reached. If this is not the case, the money is returned and the commitments (yours, the promoter's and your donors') are extinguished.
- 2nd round : If the minimum budget has been reached or exceeded during the first round, then a second round is launched, also of 40 days or 20 days, linked to the optimal budget. This allows the rest of the tasks for the production of the project and other additional tasks of sophistication or improvement to be carried out. This second round also serves to open the project to more people and above all to work openly, in real time, reporting progress with transparency (something that has a direct impact on obtaining more visibility and support). In this round, all the contributions that are collected become effective at the end of the term, whether or not the optimal budget is reached.
For private campaigns:
Together with the matcher, the duration of the campaign(s) is defined; however, the closed (private) campaign may operate with at least one 40-day campaign. The money raised is effective as long as the minimum budget of the project has been reached.
If this is not the case, the money is returned and the commitments (both yours, the promoter's and your donors') are extinguished.
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During the first round of OIGO, both for open and closed campaigns, fundraising is done on an "all or nothing" basis, so if you do not reach the minimum budget in 40 days, the pledged monetary contributions are not made effective. The project cannot continue to campaign in a second round and must be archived, giving its space of attention in OIGO to another project.
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This is a very good sign! It means that your project is drawing interest and that there are many people willing to support it. Based on this interest, even though you have reached the optimum estimated funding, you can complete the first round and start the second round.
If you obtain a level of funding much higher than the one you estimated initially, you will need to complete the collective rewards which you initially proposed, in a manner equivalent to the possibilities offered by the new funding.
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Each promoter has a control panel as an operations center ("My panel"), from where you can manage the public information of your project, make it more dynamic and manage it. From this space you can publish updates and add complementary information (texts, photos, videos, etc.), see how the collection and contributions of your co-financiers are evolving, and later make public the collective returns and manage individual incentive mailings.
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Not only can you, but you should. The success of your co-financing campaign at Oigo depends on the interest and quality of the project, but also on your ability to communicate and stimulate it effectively, and thus attract potential co-financiers and collaborators, reaching the target audience in the most direct way possible. be benefited by your proposal.
Regular updates and dynamic, transparent, and empathetic communication are very helpful in getting the project to attract attention and support during the two 40-day rounds (or 20 days the second round).
You must have a small revitalization plan, considering what additional information to provide about yourself or your team, about the origins and virtues of the project, about the production process, etc. This information is incorporated into the "News" section through messages, articles, photographs, videos, etc.
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You can't change your project details once it is under campaign, except the parts regarding collaborations and your public profile. Nevertheless, you can always update information of clarify some points in the "News" section.
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Much of the work of energizing your project during your time in the campaign must be done by expanding your field of communication beyond the OIGO. In this sense, we have a project communication guide that we are updating and we recommend you carefully. In this regard, in addition to making the most of your contacts and formal and informal networks, the possibility offered by Internet platforms and social networks, both general and specific, is essential.
To facilitate this work of dynamization of the project, OIGO offers you tools that allow you to share it on different social networks, paste its direct link wherever you want, even the code of a 'widget' with a visual summary of what your initiative aims to achieve and how its financing is progressing, so that you can put it on blogs, websites, etc.
If your project has an important offline dimension, linked to a specific geographic area, also think about ways to give visibility to your campaign: presentations, handing out brochures, seeking visibility in the local media, etc.
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Yes, at OIGO there are two types of commissions that you should take into account when setting the budget for your project, as they are deducted from the total amount obtained:
- From Oigo , for the provision of services (publication space and management tools on the platform, promotion of the project, advice on the best way to present and communicate your project or set returns and incentives, intermediation, etc.) we charge a commission in US dollars of 4% plus taxes on the total money raised over the two rounds of 40 days (or 40 and 20 days) in the case of open or public campaigns.
In the case of closed or private calls for proposals (matchfunding), the commission charged is 4% plus taxes on the total amount of money raised, including the matchfunding or venture capital fund. In addition, the design and customization of the matchfunding channel costs US$ 600 (six hundred United States dollars) per channel.
In the following FAQ (no. 24) you can find more information about the reason for our 4% commission.
- On the other hand, there are the commissions derived from economic transactions. In the case of contributions made through credit cards, the commission is 4 to 5% on average.
These commissions are only effective in the event that the financing is obtained and the contributions are finally carried out. Otherwise, publishing a project on OIGO does not imply any cost for its promoter.
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For the lease of the platform, OIGO deducts 4% plus tax from the total amount raised by each project, as well as the amount corresponding to the cost of financial transactions for the use of credit cards, Stripe, derived from the campaign.
This 4%, as management fees, contributes to cover, specifically, the following costs derived from the operation of the projects on the platform:
- Digital maintenance of the platform.
- Hosting of the project.
- Cost of the servers (database server, mass email server, content server and http server).
- Cost of traffic and bandwidth.
- Daily server administration.
- Daily data backups.
- OIGO.aroyi.org mailboxes users and information management.
- Daily control of credit card transactions and resolution of related incidents.
- Incident resolution of the promoter team or co-funders in real time during the campaign.
- Contract and documentation management with project promoters.
- Preparation of final collection report.
- Payments to projects through bank transfer.
- Management of invoices or donation certificates with all required co-financiers of the projects.
- Massive sending of information to co-financing users.
- Extraction of statistical data from the database.
- Monitoring of projects in terms of compliance, at a minimum, to respond to their community of co-financiers, in relation to making effective the project itself, the collective returns and the individual incentives committed.
- Assistance in project ramp-up and accountability and during campaigns and implementation.
- Fundraising
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Donors and entities make their contribution commitments by credit card, using the Stripe payment gateway (4% average) + 0.45 USD per transaction.
To receive the money raised for your project, it is mandatory to provide us with a bank account in Ecuador.
OIGO favors donations through credit cards. It is important that you provide us with the above mentioned information prior to the publication of your project in OIGO. If your project is in campaign, to solve any incidence and to add or modify your bank account, you will have to contact us.
When your project reaches the minimum funding target, you will receive a notification and you will have to provide us with your bank details.
If the project has reached the minimum, and after finishing the second round of funding (60 or 80 days after the start of the campaign), having checked all the contributions and having received the signed contract, you will receive the total proceeds of the campaign (regardless of whether you have reached or exceeded your optimal budget). In both cases OIGO's commission (4%) and the financial costs of the transactions will be deducted.
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In general, feedback in OIGO is done through the "What's New" section of each project, where you can post updates and make calls for collaboration.
Collaborations are made directly without the mediation of OIGO, so the contact will be established initially from the platform and, from then on, in the manner determined by both parties.
For other types of communications, OIGO offers the possibility of exchanging direct messages between promoters and donors from the My Dashboard section, allowing a one-to-one relationship to be established as far as both parties deem appropriate.
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At OIGO, this is an aspect of great importance. We are committed to accurate, thorough, transparent and timely accountability.
If the donation process is successful and you obtain at least the minimum amount (Target) requested, you will receive the money obtained and make a firm commitment to your donors and to OIGO.
You will have to carry out the project according to the specifications you have detailed; make public the results and collective returns (linking them from OIGO), and make the individual incentives effective on time (from the control panel you will have access to the data that each donor has specified to receive it).
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If the co-financing process is successful and you obtain at least the minimum amount requested, in addition to our congratulations you will receive the money obtained, after having signed a legal contract through which you will acquire a firm commitment with your co-financiers and with OIGO S.A., the entity that manages oigo.aroyi.org, created to bring promoters and donors closer and to strengthen the venture, maintaining the principles of openness, neutrality, transparency and independence in the development and maintenance of OIGO.
Once the campaign is over, the process is as simple as that:
For the case of open or public campaigns (crowdfunding).
- We will send you the legal contract that you will have to return to us signed, in which it will be clear that you or the entity you represent are committed to carry out the project and to make effective the collective and individual returns with the people and with OIGO. The person or entity that signs will also be the one who will declare the collection of resources before the SRI. The contracting process begins once the first round is completed.
- We will deposit the respective money in the accounts you provide us (bank), while we will send you a detailed report with all the contributions made, the commissions deducted (4% commission for the use of the platform + charges for the use of credit cards, in the Stripe system), and the incidents registered. This will be done once the second round is finished, so keep in mind that payments are made approximately 90 days after the start of the campaign and always once the signed contract has been received.
- You will receive a settlement in the name of the individual or legal entity you indicate, together with your original signed contract.
In case of closed or private campaigns (matchfunding)
- A contract will be signed between the matchmaker and OIGO S.A. in which it is clear that the matchmaker acquires the commitment to carry out the follow-up of the projects that participated in its call, to transfer to the bank accounts of the promoters the resources collected and to make effective the collective and individual refunds with the people and with OIGO. The matcher will be the one to declare the resources collected to the Internal Revenue Service.
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The beneficiaries of donations are responsible for filing their taxes. Income from donations that exceed the tax deductible base determined annually by the Internal Revenue Service must pay income tax in accordance with the provisions of Article 36 of the Internal Tax Regime Law. The tax deductible base for the year 2021 is set at USD $ 71,434.00. There is no special treatment in the law for this type of short donations, in which there is an intermediary such as OIGO. We suggest to consult with your legal advisor on how to register and declare the donations received.
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The oigo.aroyi.org platform has a multi-currency display system. On the one hand, from your user panel you can choose a default currency of preference for viewing project information on oigo.aroyi.org; and on the other hand, when creating a project you can choose in which currency you want to define the costs that will appear in the Needs section of the public page of your campaign.
However, the oigo.aroyi.org platform operates in all cases in US dollars, the legal tender in the Republic of Ecuador, and applies the conversion rate in which the transaction is made.
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To properly publish the collective returns of your project, indicating its free / open license, you must follow a few simple steps:
1.- You must indicate the type of license chosen in each document and in a clearly visible place, according to the guides that you will find on the websites of each license, for example if it is Creative Commons: http://creativecommons.org/choose/
2.- Once the license is correctly indicated, you must publish the documents on your website or on hosting websites such as Issuu, Youtube, Bandcamp, GitHub, etc. (without passwords or access restriction)
If you publish on YouTube, in addition to stating the license within the video, you must follow these steps:
- go to the Video manager section (https://www.youtube.com/my_videos?o=U), - go to Edit / Information and configuration,
- once here, go to Advanced Settings, where you will find the License and rights ownership drop-down, and here you can select the Creative Commons of your choice.
For Vimeo:
- go to Video Settings
- go to the Advanced section, and here choose the Creative Commons license you prefer.
3.- When the return is already online, you must indicate from your user panel in Oigo the urls to link these documents, specifically here by clicking on [Url]: https://oigo.aroyi.org/dashboard/projects/ commons
And that's it, you've generated one more piece for common knowledge management.
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