What a Pledge Manager is and why you should have your own
Dalszą część artykułu przeczytasz poniżej - pod formularzem.
Definition of Pledge Manager
Pledge Manager is a system for handling and finalising orders after a crowdfunding campaign, giving backers the ability to select add-ons, confirm their pledge and pay.
Popular commercial solutions
Some of the most commonly used Pledge Managers include BackerKit, Gamefound, CrowdOx and PledgeBox. PledgeManager.com offers a portal with full backer support, white-label branding, a simple fee model and tracking tools. Popular Pledge Managers are SaaS solutions with a commission-based fee.
Limitations of off-the-shelf tools
Off-the-shelf solutions often come with high subscription fees or commissions, limited personalisation options and the need to trust an external data provider https://www.krakweb.pl/porownanie-narzedzi-crowdfundingowych-backerkit-gamefound-crowdox-vs-wlasny-pledge-manager-alternatywy. Losing full control over backers' data can raise security and RODO compliance risks.
ICEberg CMS 5 as the foundation of your own Pledge Manager
Campaign management in ICEberg CMS 5
Characteristics of ICEberg CMS 5
ICEberg CMS 5 is a mature content management system, developed for more than 15 years, designed for corporate websites, online shops, portals and multilingual websites https://www.krakweb.pl/cms.
Sales statistics in Pledge Manager in ICEberg CMS 5
Intuitive interface and modularity
The system offers a clear WYSIWYG interface, easy management of widgets and the possibility to expand with any modules - articles, galleries, forms or the product catalogue https://www.krakweb.pl/cms.
Your pledge
Advanced administration
The ICEberg CMS 5 administration panel allows for global site settings, social media integration, template and menu editing, as well as advanced SEO mechanisms and script management.
Funkcje e-commerce i integracje
With pre-built e-commerce modules, it is easy to create a dedicated online shop, implement a multisite, support multiple currencies and languages and integrate with external crowdfunding platforms by importing pledge data via the API
Delivery locations in Pledge Manager in ICEberg CMS 5
Security and data management
ICEberg CMS 5 places a strong emphasis on data protection - using encryption mechanisms, extensive roles and privilege assignments and regular security updates https://www.krakweb.pl/cms. Full control over local storage of backers minimises the risk of leaks and legal issues.
Process automation
The system allows automatic emailing, generation of reports and synchronisation of order statuses, which significantly reduces the manual work of the team and the risk of mistakes https://www.krakweb.pl/porownanie-narzedzi-crowdfundingowych-backerkit-gamefound-crowdox-vs-wlasny-pledge-manager-alternatywy. Integration with analytical tools allows rapid monitoring of campaign progress.
Example of implementation on GameFlight.com
Sprawdź: https://gameflight.com
Gameflight.com
Characteristics of the GameFlight platform
GameFlight is a new crowdfunding campaign management platform owned by ITU - Into The Unknown - a game studio from Poland. It is a dedicated Pledge Manager
Gameflight.com - Enormity Campaign
ICEberg CMS 5 in GameFlight
- Data import: ICEberg CMS 5 implemented in GameFlight allows the import of a list of backers, their pledges and support levels.
- Product mapping: products and add-ons are defined in the product catalogue module of ICEberg CMS 5 as e-commerce products.
- Interface personalisation: the front-end of ICEberg CMS is styled under the GameFlight brand, with responsive design and white-label mechanisms. The implemented layout is consistent with the visual identity of the ITU studio, which owns the GameFlight website.
- Order finalisation: the backer logs into their zone, confirms the pledge, selects the add-ons and pays for the order directly through the ICEberg CMS 5 payment module. Payments use Stripe, which provides powerful capabilities for offering customers and site owners a variety of payment and financing methods.
Gameflight.com - Enormity campaign - additions
Advantages of the solution, using GameFlight as an example
- Full control over backer data and fulfillment processes.
- No subscription fees - one-off implementation costs replace the fixed commissions of crowdfunding platforms. For campaigns with a support size of USD 1 million - over PLN 4 million, the implementation costs pay for themselves on the first project.
- Rapid adaptation - new add-ons and process changes can be implemented immediately thanks to the modular architecture.
- Brand consistency - the entire backer experience within a unified GameFlight ecosystem - ICEberg CMS
Competitiveness and market prospects
Growing competition between Kickstarter and Gamefound
In 2025, Kickstarter introduced its own late pledge and instalment payment tools (Pledge Over Time) to fend off competition from Gamefound, which saw revenue growth of 49% in 2024 Źródło:boardgamewire.com.
Places on the market for customised solutions
Although platforms such as Gamefound offer extensive features, more and more developers are looking for independent, dedicated solutions to gain flexibility, security and cost savings - which creates the perfect conditions for the implementation of ICEberg CMS 5 as a Pledge Manager.
Summary
Implementing ICEberg CMS 5 as a Pledge Manager engine is a strategic step for game developers and crowdfunding campaigns who want to:
- Reduce operating costs by eliminating subscriptions and commissions,
- Maintain full control over data and processes,
- Respond quickly to changes in offerings and backers' needs,
- Build a consistent, professional brand image.
Using GameFlight.com as an example, we can see that combining the capabilities of ICEberg CMS 5 (modularity, security, automation) with the experience of the platform's developers can produce a powerful, flexible and scalable Pledge Manager tool.
Pledgemanager costs and how much can you save by implementing your own PM?
Let's say you are using one of the popular solution-market leaders and your campaign has raised €1000000 on Kickstarter (€1 million).
You will pay 5% platform commission and 3% payment commission.
That is, it will be EUR 50000 platform commission and 30000 payment commission. A total of EUR 80000.
At the exchange rate on 26.06.2025, this will be 339200 PLN (zł). (I convert to PLN for Polish clients)
For your own Pledge Manager you will pay about EUR 25000 to EUR 35000 - implementation from A to Z with support.
Let's average this out to EUR 30,000.
You will also pay a commission on the payment and its possible currency conversion (applicable in some cases). However, you can optimise operators and reduce commissions. Because, for example, you will offer BLIK, where the commission will be around 1.5%. Also, the commission for paying with payment cards can be in a similar amount. Given the volume of transactions, it is also possible to negotiate individual commission rates with payment platforms (PAYU, PayPal, Stripe and others). Some platforms will agree to a commission of 1.1-1.3%. An in-house platform also offers the possibility of optimisation through the integration of multiple electronic payment providers and automation in the form of, for example, the presentation of different providers depending on, for example, the customer's location.
Let us assume an averaged payment and currency conversion commission of 2.5%.
So we have an amount of EUR 25,000 in payment commission (you save on my pessimistic assumptions) of 0.5% - EUR 5,000.
In total, with a campaign for EUR 1 million, the costs will amount to EUR 55,000 - PLN 233200
On the first campaign you save EUR 25,000 - PLN 106,000.
And you are left with a platform from which you no longer have to pay the five per cent commission on subsequent campaigns.
Of course, the maintenance of the platform also costs money.
An efficient dedicated server together with care and administration costs in the range of 2000-4000EUR per year (you can also provide the server yourself).
Support, warranty, updates will cost €3000-5000 per year. At the same time, depending on the Pledge Manager option you have purchased, you can get this package for 6, 12 or 24 months in the price.
By setting up 1 campaign once every 2 years - you still save and get your own Pledge Manager in this amount.
Calculation for a second campaign after 2 years.
Annual fees (server, support, guarantee, updates) - averaging: eUR 7,000
Commission on the second campaign: 2.5% on EUR 1,000,000 = EUR 25,000.
A total of EUR 32,000 - EUR 48,000 less than the estimated commission of a popular cloud-based Pledge Manager solution.
You save 48,000x 4.24 = £203,520.
For campaigns larger than EUR 1 MLN, the savings are even greater.
Smaller campaigns require individual calculation. But for the amount of EUR 0.5 million raised on Kickstarter, it seems that the investment will still pay off in the first year.
In fact, the commissions you will pay on the cloud-based Pledge Manager platform are quantitatively even higher, because in addition to the amount raised directly on Kickstarter on the Pledge Manager platform you will also raise additional funds. These will be contributions related to supplementing orders with VAT for European recipients (on Kickstarter, this is not charged - it cannot be charged because the location of the backer is unknown). But they will also - above all - be additional orders. This is because some backers will extend their Pledge, buy additional items.
In the example campaign carried out with ICEberg CMS 5, such contributions on the part of the Pledge Manager amounted to an additional 50% or so over the amount raised on Kickstarter.
It is well worth the time, financial commitment to create your own Pledge Manager. The investment will quickly pay for itself.
Owned Media vs Paid Media vs SaaS
Owned Pledge Manager is a typical Owned Media. You have it installed on your server, with a properly structured licence agreement you have perpetual rights to use the system on your domain and sell it without commission to the system's author.
But the financial savings may not be the most important thing.
You can brand your own Pledge Manager any way you like - you can give it your own name, create your own logo, use brand colours and have a designer design it from A to Z, and then implement this design with the help of an implementation agency / webdeveloper. Of course, fully bespoke designs lengthen the implementation a little and increase the cost, but this is a one-off cost and still - it pays for itself with the first campaign in the budget mentioned above.
You are also not restricted by platform terms and conditions - you can collect and process personal data for the purposes you specify - e.g. sending marketing and sales mailings, using marketing automation mechanisms, etc.
You can also combine Pledge Manager with a traditional online shop - in the same engine and the same domain.
ICEberg CMS 5 has traditional shop functions.
