Today we look at the best WordPress crowdfunding themes and plugins available for 2020. Or, more accurately, five of the the best themes, and one plugin you shouldn’t ignore.
If you’re looking to build your own Kickstarter-style crowdfunding website or Indiegogo clone, and you want to use WordPress to do it, one of the premium themes on this list will provide a good starting point. Developing a custom solution from scratch could prove extremely expensive, and a crowdfunding theme will give you the opportunity to test the waters without spending too much money in the process.
The obvious, most basic requirement of a crowdfunding theme is that it allows some visitors to create projects, and other visitors to pledge financial support toward those projects. Currently, the number one plugin that provides this functionality is the premium crowdfunding plugin IgnitionDeck. Though there are a few free plugins that provide basic functionality, none truly compare in terms of features and extras.
Some of the themes on our list do not require IgnitionDeck, but provide their own built-in set of crowdfunding features. For most people, these will also do the job. It really comes down to how much you want to spend, and your design preference.
We suspect that many readers who have landed on this article are hoping a free option. Sometimes there is a perfectly good free solution. In this case, we recommend against it. The low pricing of these themes, compared with their features and ease of use, make them well worth the cost. Support will give you peace of mind, and easy setup and installs will greatly minimize potential headaches.
Now let’s see what we’ve got…
Backer
Backer is a our top pick, and we consider it to be the best crowdfunding WordPress theme currently available. It’s one of the newest themes on our list, offering a familiar, contemporary aesthetic. The design of Backer will appeal immediately to those who are looking to start their own Kickstarter or Indiegogo alternative. The minimalistic, content first approach makes the most of serif fonts and white space to provide an ultra-clean, professional look. Visual distractions and superfluous bells & whistles are wisely kept to a minimum.
Like several other themes in our list, the theme is powered by the popular IgnitionDeck plugin. A basic, free version of the plugin is available, as well as a paid, Pro version that includes many other useful features.
Backer supports the creation of an unlimited number of projects. Each project page displays it’s own custom sidebar, and site visitors can easily make pledges/contributions to the individual projects. The theme is friendly toward project owners, and frontend submission makes creating projects intuitive and easy. Existing projects are displayed in grids reminiscent of popular, existing crowdfunding sites.
On the technical side of things, Backer is fully responsive and retina-ready, providing a flawless user experience across a wide variety of mobile and desktop devices. Lots of customization is possible in the theme options panel, and the useful shortcodes provided add even more flexibility to the theme.
The premium plugin Revolution Slider is bundled in, allowing site admins to build an impressive homepage slideshow. Backer is translation ready and supports the WPML plugin. Highly recommended.
More Info/Download
Startup Idea
Part of the strength of the Startup Idea theme can be found in its simplicity: the clean, airy design helps to pull visitor focus toward content and projects. All of the necessary crowdfunding functionality and plugins are included to build a fully-featured website in the spirit of KickStarter and GoFundMe.
Advanced project management capabilities add even more value, and earn Startup Idea a top spot on our list. PayPal is integrated, and the popular Contact Form 7 plugin is supported.
More Info/DownloadFundingPress
Like Backer, the design and layout of FundingPress duplicates the familiar grid-based style of Kickstarter. Bright accent colors and subtle animations add some nice visual interest to the design. The smart use of space and tasteful, well chosen typography help to make this theme a stand-out. We like a theme that doesn’t over do it, favoring user experience over noisy gimmicks.
Unlike Backer, FundingPress doesn’t use the third-party plugin IgnitionDeck. All of the functionality required for building a full-featured crowdfunding website are provided out-of-the-box. The team behind FundingPress makes a point of it to note that a lot of care and thought went into it’s development. That much is evident after spending only a few minutes with the demo.
All of the forms for creating and contributing to projects are made available on the frontend. Both project owners and funders will enjoy a seamless, pleasant experience.
On the tech side, FundingPress provides admins with a lot of settings to tweak on the backend. An advanced options panel gives site owners control over various elements, typography and colors. A page builder is included, for drag & drop layout support, and the premium LayerSlider plugin is packaged in for free.
The theme is built responsive with the help of Twitter’s Bootstrap framework, and plenty of documentation is a included. A dedicated support forum and support team are also available.
More Info/DownloadUnity
Unlike our other selections, the Unity theme was designed primarily with NGOs and charities in mind. Crowdfunding functionality is provided via the Easy Digital Downloads and Astoundify crowdfunding plugins.
Unity is fully responsive, built on the WPO and Bootstrap 3 frameworks. The theme is translation-ready, supporting the WPML plugin and RTL languages. Revolution Slider and Visual Composer (for front-end, drag & drop page building) are bundled free.
More Info/Download
Goodwork
Our final theme pick is Goodwork, which has the distinction of being the best selling (and best reviewed) crowdfunding theme on the ThemeForest marketplace. Again, its approach is slightly different than the ubiquitous Kickstarter style that we expect many readers are looking for, but we’ve opted to include it because of its professional design and nice set of features. You can never have too much choice.
Goodwork is also another theme that makes use of IgnitionDeck. Though it may appear that we’re shilling at this point, the fact that IgnitionDeck is presently the most popular, widely used crowdfunding plugin bears repeating. Goodwork also includes support for WooCommerce, which could come in handy for some, but note that this is intended strictly for building an online ship, as opposed to crowdfunding.
The theme is retina-ready and fully responsive, and bundles in some premium plugins for free, to add extra value. Visual Composer, Revolution Slider, and FancyBox are all included.
More Info/Download
And that concludes our look at the best WordPress crowdfunding themes and plugins. We hope you’ve found it illuminating. If not, well – you can’t win them all, can you?
Nice round up. Take a look at Thrinacia as well. The reach network offers a crowdfunding widget and a wordpress plugin coming soon. You can easily start a free crowdfunding campaign on your existing website. https://www.thrinacia.com/reach