Do Tips Count Toward My Goal?

No. On Brillay, Tips do not count toward a Goal. Only money paid directly to that specific goal moves that goal’s progress bar. Tips are separate one-time support payments with no required reply or delivery, so they stay outside project totals. A Goal is one named goal with a progress bar: followers make one-time contributions and every contribution is yours whether or not the goal is reached — no deadline unless you set one, and nothing to ship.

No monthly fee, you only pay a small platform fee when you get paid. 8% platform fee when a follower pays for work, 5% platform fee on tips and goals. Card processing is separate. pricing

Do tips count toward my goal?

Only Goal contributions count toward a Goal because Tips support your work generally. A Tip is general support for the creator. A goal contribution is cash assigned to one specific goal, and only those goal-specific payments update that goal’s public progress bar.

That separation is intentional. A supporter who taps Tips is saying, “I want to support you.” A supporter who contributes to a Goal is saying, “I want this money to move this stated project forward.” Those are different signals, even if the same supporter sends both payments on the same day.

Use your Brillay page to make the choice obvious. Put general appreciation under Tips, and put equipment, studio costs, event travel, series production, or another defined target under Goals. None of these offers require a follower minimum or platform approval, so you can turn on Tips and Goals with the audience you already have. If a supporter asks whether their tip moved the bar, the accurate answer is: “Thanks for the tip — it supports me directly, but only goal contributions update the project bar.” For the mechanics behind each payment type, see tips vs. donations vs. paid requests.

This page explains which follower payments move a Goal and provides general educational information.

What payments move the progress bar?

Only contributions paid directly to a specific Goal move that goal’s progress bar on Brillay. The goal total tracks payments made through the Goal page itself, separately from Paid Questions, Personalized Videos, Custom Work, Tips, and Brand Collaboration Inquiries.

Followers can pay by card as guests for Paid Questions, Personalized Videos, Custom Work, Tips, and Goals. Brand Collaboration Inquiries collect a brand’s budget, timeline, and deliverables into a separate brand inbox. One Brillay link can hold all six offers together. Followers pay upfront without creating an account, and you can decline any request. Keep clear records of each goal and request — Tips and Goal contributions land directly, while for Paid Questions, Personalized Videos, and Custom Work you deliver after payment. If you are unsure whether supporters will actually pay, start with a small, clearly named goal or a low-priced offer so an interested supporter can act on it without a big ask.

Each Goal has a public goal page with a “Share goal link” button. That design lets you point followers to one clear target instead of mixing every payment on your page into one total. Several goals can be open at once, and money contributed to one goal does not move another goal’s bar — the mechanics of running that setup are covered in can you run more than one goal at a time.

This is different from some crowdfunding systems. Kickstarter describes its model this way:

“Funding on Kickstarter is all-or-nothing. No one will be charged for a pledge towards a project unless it reaches its goal.” — Kickstarter Help Center, What are the basics?.

Goals use flexible funding rather than an all-or-nothing cutoff. Each contribution is a completed payment when made, and the progress bar tracks completed payments to that one goal.

Why separate tips from goal support?

Separating Tips from goal support prevents accidental misrepresentation. A supporter who gives a Tip may not intend to fund a camera, trip, episode, or studio upgrade. A supporter who contributes to a goal has selected that purpose, so the public progress bar should reflect only that explicit choice.

Clear accounting matters because supporters read a progress bar as a purpose-specific total. If a creator says “Help fund my new mic,” the displayed amount should come from people who chose that mic goal, not from unrelated thank-you tips, birthday Personalized Videos, or Paid Questions.

Other platforms also distinguish optional tips from fundraiser totals or platform support. GoFundMe’s help center says:

“Leaving a tip is not mandatory, and it can be changed to any amount, including 0.” — GoFundMe Help Center, Choosing a tip amount.

GoFundMe’s pricing page separately states that donors can make an optional contribution and lists one transaction fee of 2.9% + $0.30 automatically deducted from each donation (GoFundMe Pricing and Fees). The broader lesson is simple: “tip” and “fund this goal” are not interchangeable labels.

Can I manually add tips later?

Brillay records Tips and Goal contributions separately, so tell supporters that only Goal contributions move a funding bar. If you want a supporter’s payment to count toward a public target, send the supporter the specific Goal link before they pay.

Manual workarounds create confusion. A public goal bar is clearest when it counts only money supporters send through that specific Goal. If a supporter pays through Tips, the cleanest record is that the supporter made a Tip. If a supporter pays through the goal page, the cleanest record is that the supporter contributed to that goal.

The practical fix is messaging, not retroactive editing. Add a short line to your posts and bio link copy:

• “Want to move the setup fund? Use the goal, not the tip button.”
• “Tips support my work generally. Goal contributions move the progress bar.”
• “If you want your payment shown in the goal total, choose Goals.”

This distinction is also useful when supporters ask for refunds or changes.

How should I explain this to supporters?

Tell supporters that Tips support you generally, while a Goal funds one named goal. Use the same wording everywhere: on the goal title, in social captions, and near your tip button. Supporters should know before paying whether their money updates a public progress bar.

A concise explanation works better than a long policy page. You can write:

“Tips are always appreciated and support my work overall. If you want to help fund the new editing setup and move the public progress bar, please use the Goal.”

That language does three things. It thanks tippers. It identifies the exact action that updates the goal. It avoids implying that every payment on your page is project-restricted.

The FTC’s crowdfunding guidance is aimed at consumer protection, but the principle is useful for creators too. The FTC’s business blog summarizes a crowdfunding payout with: “If you launch a crowdfunding campaign, keep your promises” (Federal Trade Commission). A Brillay goal uses one-time contributions with no reward tiers, while a clear funding promise still deserves clear wording.

What happens if the goal is missed?

Completed contributions fund the Goal whether or not it reaches its target — there is no all-or-nothing cutoff, and the progress bar shows how much has been raised against the target you set.

That makes Brillay Goals closer to direct funding than traditional all-or-nothing crowdfunding. You can set a target, add an optional deadline, share the goal page, and keep supporters updated. If the goal ends below the target, the contributions already made remain completed payments.

Indiegogo’s official fee page illustrates how campaign models and fee rules vary across platforms: it lists a 5% platform fee on the collected amount and gives an example where a project that raises $10,000 has a $500 Indiegogo fee plus a $320 payment-processing fee under the stated assumptions (Indiegogo Fees). Brillay’s Goals collect cash support toward a creator goal, with no reward tiers and nothing to ship. Supporters chip in one time, every contribution counts toward the goal as it arrives, and there is no cutoff.

If you need a hard minimum before starting a project, say so in your own update copy. Brillay shows the funding progress, and you decide when to start the project.

Which Brillay offer should supporters choose?

Supporters should choose Goals when they want to move a named goal, Tips when they want to support you generally, and another Brillay offer when they want to make a specific request or receive a deliverable. The right button depends on the supporter’s intent, not only the payment amount.

Use the offer names as labels for supporter intent:

• Goals: “Help fund the new camera,” “Support the tour travel fund,” or “Back the next video series.”
• Tips: “Thanks for the free tutorial,” “Loved the stream,” or “Just supporting your work.”
• Paid Questions: One private question, one written answer — followers pay upfront.
• Personalized Videos: One custom video, such as a birthday message, congratulations, or pep talk.
• Custom Work: One scoped deliverable, such as feedback, a mini audit, or a custom asset, at the fixed price and delivery time you set. State what is included because the Custom Work setup states what the supporter gets, what you need from them, and what is not included.

If your most common supporter confusion is “where should I pay?”, link directly to the relevant goal in your social post instead of sending everyone to your general page. Creators redirect followers from social DMs to their Brillay link, where the request and the payment happen on the page. For the broader flow, see how Brillay works.

What fees apply to goals and tips?

Brillay's platform fee applies to paid transactions, including Tips and Goal contributions. Stripe payment processing is separate and varies by payment method and country. Creators can get paid in 41 countries after connecting their bank through Stripe.

As last verified September 2026, for typical US online-card payments, Stripe’s published pricing lists 2.9% + $0.30 per successful domestic card transaction (Stripe Pricing). That is not a universal global fee; international cards, currency conversion, manual entry, ACH, and non-US pricing can differ.

A simple illustrative example: on a $50 goal contribution, Brillay’s 5% platform fee would be $2.50. Typical US online-card processing at 2.9% + $0.30 would be about $1.75. The creator would receive about $45.75 before any other applicable deductions. This example is illustrative only and is not an earnings guarantee.

For comparison, Buy Me a Coffee’s official FAQ says it charges a 5% transaction fee and creators keep 95% of earnings (Buy Me a Coffee FAQ). Patreon’s help center states that the standard platform fee for new creators after August 4, 2025 is 10% (Patreon Help Center). Fee structures vary because the products are different: Brillay is a creator link-in-bio for paid requests and one-time support, not a monthly subscription platform. A follower pays once for one question, one commission or one video, and nothing is owed afterwards — so the people who were never going to subscribe can still pay you, beside the Patreon you already run.

Frequently asked questions

Do Brillay Tips ever update a goal bar?

No. Brillay Tips are one-time support payments separate from Goal contributions. Only payments made directly to that specific goal count toward that goal.

Can one supporter tip and support a goal?

Yes. A supporter can send a Tip for general support and separately contribute to a Goal. Only the goal contribution moves the progress bar.

Should I turn off Tips during a campaign?

You do not have to turn off Tips, but you should label the difference clearly. If your priority is moving one goal, promote the goal link directly and explain that Tips support you generally.

Do Personalized Videos or services count toward goals?

No. Personalized Videos and Custom Work are paid request offers with their own deliverables. Only a separate contribution through that Goal updates its progress bar.

Is a Goal crowdfunding?

A Goal is cash toward a creator goal with a progress bar, but it is not tiered rewards crowdfunding, not product shipping, and not all-or-nothing funding. Each contribution is a completed payment when made.

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