The first contribution to a goal almost always comes from someone who already knows your work, not a stranger who stumbles onto the page. Publish the goal, message a handful of warm supporters directly with the specific ask, and repeat that ask after any post that explains why the goal exists. 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
This page covers the sequence for landing that first contribution specifically. For turning on the underlying offer, see how to add a goal to your link in bio; for sizing the target amount itself, see how to set a realistic goal.
What's the fastest way to get your first goal contribution?
The fastest way to land a first goal contribution is to publish the goal, then privately message five to ten people who already engage with your work — repeat commenters, people who DM you — naming the goal, the target amount, and the link. A published goal with no direct ask attached behaves like a link nobody knows exists.
Most people do not need the concept of crowdfunding explained to them first. Pew Research Center found that 22% of American adults report having contributed to an online fundraising project on a site like Kickstarter or GoFundMe (Pew Research Center). The barrier for a first-time contributor is rarely comprehension of a progress bar — it is usually that no one has asked them, by name, to be part of the project. The goal itself is one named goal with a progress bar, sitting on the page your followers already visit.
Who gets asked matters more than how many people see the page. Among American crowdfunding donors who gave to help someone facing hardship, Pew Research Center found that 62% had contributed to help a close friend or family member, while just 7% had given to a campaign assisting a public figure.
On Brillay, Goals gives supporters one named goal with a target and progress bar, funded by one-time contributions, with no reward tiers, nothing to ship, and no deadline unless you set one (how it works).
Who should you ask before making the goal public?
Ask the small group of people who already reply to your posts, message you directly, or have offered help before — not the entire audience at once. A goal showing one or two real contributions reads very differently to the next visitor than a progress bar sitting at $0, and the research on early contributions is unusually specific about why.
A field experiment with 24,070 participants, published in the Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, tested whether showing a fundraiser's existing contributions changes giving behavior. The study reported that social information increased the individual donation amount by 17%, and that the effect was strongest at the beginning of a campaign rather than near the end (Journal of Behavioral Public Administration).
"Social information increases the individual donation amount by 17%... social information is most effective in increasing donations at the beginning of crowdfunding campaigns."
— van Teunenbroek & Bekkers, Follow the crowd: Social information and crowdfunding donations in a large field experiment, Journal of Behavioral Public Administration
The same study found that social information did not attract more donors — the participation rate was not affected, only the amount given (Journal of Behavioral Public Administration). That distinction is why privately asking one or two people you already have a relationship with, before a wider audience sees the page, does more for a new goal's credibility than public promotion aimed at strangers.
Does the goal need to start at zero before you ask anyone?
No. You control the sequencing: message one or two supporters privately, then post more broadly once the progress bar moves. The three common sequences differ only in timing.
| Sequence | What it looks like | Why it helps |
|---|---|---|
| Public-first | Publish the goal, post about it immediately to your whole audience | Widest reach, but the page opens at $0 for the first viewers |
| Private-first | Message 2-5 close supporters directly, then post publicly once there's early movement | Later viewers see the kind of early social information the Journal of Behavioral Public Administration study measured, rather than an empty bar |
| Mixed | Post the goal without heavy promotion, follow up privately with a few people, promote harder once it's moving | Balances reach with a page that already shows activity |
Whichever order you choose, your named goal, target amount, and progress bar stay the same.
What should the actual ask message say?
A goal ask should name the specific project, state the target amount, include the link, and give a reason the ask is happening now. A message like "I'm raising $[X] toward [specific goal], here's the page" does more work than a vague "check out my new thing" caption, because a first-time contributor can picture what full funding actually means.
Useful elements to include:
- What the goal funds — a named project, not a general "support me" request.
- The target amount — so a first-time contributor knows roughly what full funding looks like.
- The link — your Brillay page, the same one already in your bio.
- Why now — a real reason (a deadline, a launch, a specific need) rather than no context at all.
Keep the implied contribution size modest in the ask. Pew Research Center found that 49% of American crowdfunding donors say their largest single contribution to a project was between $11 and $50.
A message like "I'm raising $800 toward a new microphone setup so the audio on these actually sounds right — link's in my bio if you want to be part of it" gives a supporter a clear picture in one sentence. Any dollar figures used as examples on this page are illustrative only, not a guarantee of how much any goal will raise.
Where should you share the link once the goal is public?
Share the goal link wherever a follower already looks for your work — your bio, a pinned comment, a video description, or a newsletter — plus direct messages to the specific people you are asking individually. A goal buried behind a generic "links" page performs worse than a goal sitting at the spot supporters already check every week.
Asking supporters to reshare has a measurable effect. GoFundMe reports that when someone shares a fundraiser with their network just once, it results in an average of $13 more in donations, and that fundraisers shared on social networks raise three times more than those that are not shared (GoFundMe).
GoFundMe's own guidance for creators seeking their first donations is blunt about who actually gives:
"Sharing your GoFundMe is key to reaching your goal since strangers usually don't donate to strangers."
— GoFundMe Help Center, Tips for receiving your first donations
Brillay puts Goals, Tips, and Paid Questions on one creator page, so one link in your bio can carry all three offers. Reusing one consistent link helps because a supporter who recognizes the link does not have to re-evaluate it each time it appears.
Do you need a big or highly engaged audience to land it?
No. Brillay sets no follower minimum for turning on Goals or receiving a contribution. A first goal contribution depends on whether a handful of people who already value your work will put money toward one specific thing, which is unrelated to total audience size or subscriber count.
That is different from platform monetization programs that gate supporter-funding features behind audience thresholds. YouTube requires 500 subscribers plus 3 valid public uploads in the last 90 days, along with either 3,000 qualified watch hours in the last 12 months or 3 million public Shorts views in the last 90 days, before a channel can access the supporter-funding tier of the YouTube Partner Program (YouTube Help). A Brillay Goal is a page the creator controls, with no follower minimum or approval step, so the first contribution turns on whether the people already paying attention have been asked. The same viewers can also send paid requests with no threshold to reach: a written answer, a custom video, a commission, a tip or a contribution toward a named goal.
What happens right after the first contribution comes in?
After the first contribution lands, the amount counts toward the displayed total, the progress bar moves, and you're paid for it, with no reward to fulfill and no shipping to arrange. What the creator does owe is a quick, specific thank-you to that first contributor.
Two costs apply to that contribution, as with any other payment on a Brillay page: the platform fee in the fee line near the top of this page, and card processing, which is separate. Stripe's published pricing lists 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction for domestic cards in the United States, separate from Brillay's own fee (Stripe). Neither cost is something the creator has to work out by hand. From there, the same pattern that produced the first contribution — a direct ask to someone specific — is what produces the second and third.
How is a funding-goal contribution different from a tip or a wishlist purchase?
A funding-goal contribution is cash toward a specific, named project tracked against a visible target and progress bar. Tips are open-ended, one-time support, and a wishlist purchase covers a listed item. Brillay puts Tips, Goals, Custom Work, and Personalized Videos on the same creator page.
| Offer | What the supporter is paying for | Deliverable owed | Best ask |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tips | Open-ended, one-time support | None | "If this helped, you can tip here" |
| Goals | Cash toward a named goal with a target amount and progress bar | None — no reward tier or shipping | "I'm raising $800 toward a new mic" |
| Custom Work | A defined piece of work at a set price and delivery time | Yes, the agreed deliverable | "Buy a written portfolio review" |
| Personalized Videos | A custom recorded message | Yes, the recorded video | "Order a birthday shoutout" |
Mixing these offer types up — describing a goal like an open-ended tip — makes the request less specific than it needs to be.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a certain number of followers before I can get a funding-goal contribution?
No. Brillay sets no follower minimum for turning on Goals or receiving a contribution. What determines whether a first contribution lands is whether a creator has directly asked someone who already values the work, not whether an audience-size threshold has been crossed.
Should I ask privately before posting the goal publicly?
Asking a small number of close supporters directly before a wider public post is a reasonable sequencing choice, not a requirement. A field experiment with 24,070 participants found that social information increased individual donation amounts by 17% and was most effective at the beginning of a crowdfunding campaign (Journal of Behavioral Public Administration).
What if my first ask doesn't get a response?
One message rarely works by itself. Landing a first goal contribution typically takes asking several people individually, or repeating the ask after a post that explains why the goal exists. A quiet first attempt does not mean the goal is broken.
How much should I expect a first contributor to give?
Contribution amounts on Goals vary. For external context, Pew Research Center found that 49% of American crowdfunding donors say their largest single contribution to a project was between $11 and $50, and 21% say it was between $51 and $100.
Can I use a goal instead of a tip jar?
Funding goals and tips are built for different requests. Use Tips for open-ended, one-time support with no specific project attached, and Goals for cash toward a named goal with a target amount and progress bar. You can run both offers on the same Brillay page.
What does Brillay charge on a Goal contribution?
A Goal contribution carries Brillay's platform fee described above, plus standard card-processing costs: Stripe's published pricing lists 2.9% + $0.30 per successful transaction for domestic US cards, which applies on top, the same as it would on any other payment on the page.
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