Importing pledges

When opening a Late Pledge or Pledge Manager on Gamefound for an externally funded campaign, importing the pledges should be the last step of your setup, after you have created rewards and add-ons in the system.

From this article, you will learn:

• Where the pledge import can be found;
• How to prepare an import file;
• What the pledged amount and bonus support are;
• How to import incomplete pledges from an external platform;
• How to manage backers using Apple ID emails (iCloud Private Relay).

1. Importing pledges

To import pledges from an external crowdfunding campaign to a Gamefound Late Pledge or Pledge Manager project, you need to have a project created. On the Admin page, after selecting the project, go to 'Orders' -> 'Order List' and click 'Import pledges' (at the top of the list). You’ll see a wizard with further instructions: 

When importing pledges, you can mark backers as 'Original backer', indicating that these are users imported from an external crowdfunding platform. You can later filter them easily in the User list:

NOTE: Marking a backer as an "Original backer" is not the same as adding the user to the User Group.

2. Preparing an import file

We recommend downloading the example file and filling it with data extracted from Backers export obtained from the external crowdfunding platform. The file includes the following columns:

• Backer number
• Backer name (required) - should be the full name of the backer, it should not have any numbers or special characters ($, %, ^, etc.)
• E-mail (required) - backer's email

NOTE: If backer used an Apple ID email (iCloud Private Relay) to back your campaign, see the instructions below.

• Reward title - the name of the reward, should be exactly the same as the reward created in Gamefound project, may differ from original campaign
• Bonus support - the extra amount (tip) added by the backer for the creator
• Pledge amount (required) - the amount pledged to the project; needs currency symbol or ISO code to be imported correctly
• Pledged status (required) - pledges with status 'collected' will be imported to GF as 'Paid', pledges with status other than 'collected' will be imported as 'Awaiting Payment'

NOTE: You may skip unpaid (not 'collected') pledges by ticking the option 'Skip unpaid pledges' in the 'Import pledges' window

• Notes - comments, will be visible only to the creator
• [Addon#X] Addon name - add-on name should be the same as the one created in Gamefound project, importing add-ons requires to precede their name with '[Addon #X]', where X is a consecutive number, unique for each add-on

When you select the file, click  'Import'. The system will validate the file and provide you with potential errors if any discrepancies are detected. After successfully uploading the file, you’ll see a list of imported pledges in the 'Order List'.

NOTE: Imported pledges can be removed in bulk by Gamefound Staff. If any of the orders were edited after the import, the 'remove imported pledges' feature will not take them into consideration.

3. Pledge amount and bonus support

Pledge amount in the import file is the amount that the backer paid via the external platform, and it will be reflected by the amount of funds available to the backer in Gamefound after importing their pledge. It is described by the following equation:

[Pledge amount] = [Reward price] + [Bonus Support] + [Add-on #1 price] + [Add-on #2 price] + ...

• If the pledge amount is lower than the sum of the individual prices of pledge components, the import tool will apply a discount in the system.
• If the pledge amount is higher than the sum of the individual prices of pledge components, the import tool will import the overcharged order into the system.

Bonus amount is imported as a separate item that can later be removed from the pledge by the backer. These funds can be used towards pledge upgrades or paying shipping fees. If the backer pledged only the bonus amount, you don't have to fill the Reward Title field.

NOTE: For the correct import, make sure the values in the fields Pledge Amount and Bonus Support include the currency symbol or currency ISO code.

4. Importing unfinished pledges

Our import tool is designed to allow creators to import pledges that were unfinished on the external crowdfunding platform. These pledges can reflect the original order composition and will be imported with the payment status 'Awaiting Payment'. Backers will be able to access those pledges and finalize them using Gamefound and one of the multiple Payment Methods we offer.

To import unfinished pledges, the Pledged Status in the import file needs to be something other than 'collected' and you should not select the 'Skip unpaid pledges' checkbox in the import wizard.

To obtain an export file from an external platform that includes incomplete pledges, you need to select more statuses than are chosen by default.

NOTE: As a creator, you should ensure that all imported unpaid pledges were not cancelled by backers themselves, but were incomplete because of other reasons, e.g. failure to collect payment.

5. Managing backers using Apple ID emails

Some backers may have used an Apple ID email (iCloud Private Relay) to back your campaign. Unfortunately, this will prevent Gamefound from relaying any messages due to the nature of the iCloud Private Relay service.

To ensure that the backer can access their pledge and receive notifications about the project, you need to ask them for another email address to replace the Apple ID email in the import file. You can also update the email associated with their pledge later using the 'Transfer to another account' feature.