General Questions
For Campaigners
For Supporters
Technical Support Questions
Crowdfunding is a smart, popular and proven way to raise money online from your network of family-members, friends and even like-minded people you don’t even know yet – “the crowd” – to launch or grow your business. In return, you offer them awesome “rewards”, without giving away equity in your company. Rewards could include your product or service, a thank-you postcard, a personalised t-shirt, a credit in your book or film or product manual, a memorable experience with you and your team…
Next Chapter is a rewards-based crowdfunding platform for female entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses. Our focus is on businesses by women, creating products and services for women. We’re based in Hong Kong. The founder and CEO of Next Chapter is Nicole Denholder, an Australian who lives in Hong Kong with her husband and children. Nicole says: “I feel blessed to have an amazing family, friends and co-workers who have always been supportive of my career and business ambitions. I had a rewarding career in finance and consulting, and now as a mum I’m passionate about providing an environment that empowers other women to succeed in business.”
Yes, there are lots of other crowdfunding platforms out there. Here’s why we think it’s a good idea (for you, us and everyone) for you to create or support a campaign on Next Chapter:
- Championing women-owned and women-led enterprises makes good business sense, and it’s good for society!
- We believe women want to support businesses owned and led by other women, and we want to create an online space where they can do that.
- Women understand what women want and need, so they’re more likely to come up with practical, user-friendly solutions. After all, necessity is the mother of invention!
- Women’s start-ups have less access to capital, and often don’t achieve the same level of long-term success as start-ups by men, even though women start the same number of businesses as men. So we want to change that by increasing women’s access to funding and empowering them to take charge of their financial destiny, make a profit, thrive and inspire other women.
- We’re based in Hong Kong, so we’re able to work closely with you on your campaign.
- We’re not just a “passive” platform where you simply list your project and pay us a fee. We’ll work closely with you and give you online and offline support and mentoring to increase your campaign’s chances of success.
- We’re building a community of generous, like-minded people who share their experiences and lessons, and celebrate each other’s successes.
- We host live educational events about crowdfunding and female entrepreneurship.
- We partner with like-minded organisations in Hong Kong and around the world, so you have access to their people and resources.
- We give back! We’ll donate a percentage of the funds raised in every successful campaign to causes that help female entrepreneurs.
We welcome campaigns by:
But if a man is a co-founder of a campaign and the business behind it, that’s fine. And of course we’d love to see men supporting campaigns on Next Chapter too!
- female entrepreneurs who want to own their own financial destiny
- businesses that are co-founded or co-led by a woman
- businesses that are in line with our mission of enabling women
But if a man is a co-founder of a campaign and the business behind it, that’s fine. And of course we’d love to see men supporting campaigns on Next Chapter too!
We welcome campaigns that are led by women or that have women as co-founders. We focus on entrepreneurial campaigns and those with a positive, socially responsible impact.
So we’re looking for female entrepreneurs who believe they have a great business to launch or grow, and who see crowdfunding as an important way to validate or build their business. We want entrepreneurs who are innovative and bring new solutions to the market, and we’re especially interested in solutions for women and families to improve all of our lives.
So we’re looking for female entrepreneurs who believe they have a great business to launch or grow, and who see crowdfunding as an important way to validate or build their business. We want entrepreneurs who are innovative and bring new solutions to the market, and we’re especially interested in solutions for women and families to improve all of our lives.
We won’t list campaigns that promote violence, pornography, drugs, alcohol, hate speech, discrimination or any illegal activity, or that infringe other people’s or companies’ patents, trademarks or trade secrets. See our Terms and Conditions for more details.
We welcome campaigns by:
- female entrepreneurs who want to own their own financial destiny
- businesses that are co-founded or co-led by a woman
- businesses that are in line with our mission of enabling women
We’re an “all-or-nothing” crowdfunding model. That means you’ll need to reach your funding target by your deadline to receive the pledged funds. We’ll receive 5% of the funds raised, and PayPal, our payment provider, will receive about 2.8% in fees.
Our terrific techie folks assure us that our site has all the latest built-in security features, and they’re constantly monitoring and updating those features, so your data is safe. If you’d like to know the technical details, please send us an email and we’d be happy to send you the information you need.
We use PayPal to handle all payments, so we don’t have access to the funds.
Yes, we give back! We’ll donate a percentage of the funds raised in every successful campaign to worthy causes that help female entrepreneurs.
If you would like to keep taking orders via the Next Chapter website after the campaign ends, then please email us at [email protected] and we will arrange for this to occur.
Yes. We’re launching in Hong Kong first, but we encourage good campaigns from female entrepreneurs worldwide.
Payment can be made via the currency of your choice using PayPal or credit card. However all campaign rewards will be listed in US dollars.
A reward is a non-cash item that you offer your Supporters to thank them for supporting your campaign. You only deliver the rewards if your campaign reaches its funding target by your deadline.
Rewards could include your product or service, a thank-you postcard, a personalised t-shirt, a credit in your book or film or product manual, a memorable experience with you and your team… Be creative!
Rewards could include your product or service, a thank-you postcard, a personalised t-shirt, a credit in your book or film or product manual, a memorable experience with you and your team… Be creative!
We follow an “all-or-nothing” funding model, so if your campaign doesn’t reach its target by your deadline, you won’t receive the funds and you won’t have to pay any fees to Next Chapter or PayPal. It also means you won’t have to deliver any rewards to your Supporters (but you’ll need to keep them informed about that).
We follow an “all-or-nothing” funding model, so if you reach your target by your deadline, you get to keep all of the funds raised – minus our platform fees and PayPal’s fees.
Please note that it might take several working days for your funds to be released after successfully completing your campaign.
Yes, however if money has transacted through your campaign, then campaign information will be maintained on our website in our archive. Please contact us if you have any questions.
We won’t list campaigns that promote violence, pornography, drugs, alcohol, hate speech, discrimination or any illegal activity, or that infringe other people’s or companies’ patents, trademarks or trade secrets. See our Terms and Conditions for more details.
Yes. After you submit your initial campaign request to us, we’ll review your information and work closely with you to make sure your campaign idea meets our criteria and has a good chance of succeeding.
See the answers to the “What kinds of campaigns does Next Chapter accept?” and “What kinds of campaigns are not accepted?” questions in the “General Questions” section above.
See the answers to the “What kinds of campaigns does Next Chapter accept?” and “What kinds of campaigns are not accepted?” questions in the “General Questions” section above.
We’ll offer you mentoring, education and support (both online and offline) to help you create, manage and market your campaign, so it has a good chance of succeeding. We’ll also do whatever we can to promote your campaign and attract potential Supporters to the site.
No. At the moment we’re offering a rewards-based service only – that means you’re asking “the crowd” to support you in exchange for rewards; you’re not asking for loans or giving away equity in your business. But if you’re seeking an investment, we might be interested, or we might know people or organisations that might be interested (no guarantees) – please contact us.
Browse the campaigns on the site and choose one you like! On the campaign page you’ll see a list of rewards, depending on the level of your support. Select the level of support you’d like to offer, and you’ll be taken to a page to pledge your payment. Don’t worry, the payment will only be processed if your chosen campaign reaches its funding target by its deadline.
The Campaigner will keep in touch with you throughout the campaign, and you can come back to the site at any time to check on its progress.
You can also help your chosen campaign to succeed by telling all your friends and spreading the word on social media.
The Campaigner will keep in touch with you throughout the campaign, and you can come back to the site at any time to check on its progress.
You can also help your chosen campaign to succeed by telling all your friends and spreading the word on social media.
Yes, absolutely!
No. You’re effectively making a donation in exchange for a “reward” – a product or service. And of course the warm fuzzy feelings you’ll get from supporting a worthwhile project and a female entrepreneur you believe in.
That is fine. You can pay by credit card using the link at the bottom of PayPal's payment page.
If the campaign reaches it funding target by the deadline, the Campaigner will contact you directly once the campaign ends to let you know how and when your reward will be delivered. The Campaigner will give you their email address so you can ask any questions.
Our terrific techie folks assure us that our site has all the latest built-in security features, and they’re constantly monitoring and updating those features, so your data is safe. If you’d like to know the technical details, please send us an email and we’d be happy to send you the information you need
Yes however this can only be done before the campaign finishes. To cancel a pledge please contact us.