Your crowdfunding total and backer count, live on every screen.
A crowdfunding campaign is 30 days of time-boxed adrenaline. The team is obsessed. The backer count matters hourly. But the Kickstarter dashboard lives behind a login, Indiegogo refreshes slowly, and nobody on the team feels the rhythm except the person babysitting the browser tab.
PingBell turns your crowdfunding campaign into an office-wide pulse. Live backer count on the warehouse TV. Dollar total on the conference room screen. Push notification with a custom sound on every team phone. Every new pledge fires all three at once. The team lives the campaign together.
Who this is for
- Hardware founders running a Kickstarter campaign with a team of 3-20 people.
- Tabletop game and card game publishers running Kickstarter or Gamefound campaigns.
- Indie film, music, and creative project teams running Kickstarter, Indiegogo, or Patreon launches.
- Nonprofit crowdfunding via Crowdfundr, GoFundMe, or Raisely.
- Self-hosted crowdfunding campaigns running on BackerKit, Crowdfundr, or a custom site.
How PingBell solves it
Works with every crowdfunding platform. Kickstarter and Indiegogo don’t offer native webhooks, but both have scraping-friendly public stats pages and email notification APIs. PingBell can poll those for near-real-time updates, or use Zapier’s Kickstarter/Indiegogo triggers as an alternative. Platforms with proper APIs (BackerKit, Crowdfundr) connect directly via webhook.
Three counters from one campaign. Most campaigns end up running three counters simultaneously: total dollars raised, backer count, and progress toward the next stretch goal. All three fit on one dashboard, and the TV can rotate through them.
Stretch goal celebrations. Set stretch goals in PingBell. When a campaign crosses a stretch goal threshold, the TV celebrates with a special effect (sound + visual pulse) and the team phones get a distinct notification.
Push notifications with backer details. Template like New backer: {backer_name} pledged ${amount} to {reward_tier}. Every pledge feels personal.
Live graph for pacing. Crowdfunding campaigns have a classic “big launch, mid-campaign slump, final-week surge” curve. Seeing the graph live helps the team know when to push harder.
Setup in 5 minutes
- Create the counter. Name it after your campaign. Set the goal. Choose “Thermometer” or “Counter” display.
- Connect the data source. Direct webhook (BackerKit, Crowdfundr) or Zapier (Kickstarter, Indiegogo, GoFundMe) or manual push via a custom script.
- Add stretch goals. Enter stretch-goal thresholds; PingBell celebrates each as you cross.
- Pick a sound and template. Backer-friendly notification body.
- Install apps. TV app on Fire Stick or Apple TV; mobile on team phones.
Pricing for this use case
A single 30-day campaign works on Core at $10/mo (and you can cancel when the campaign ends). Teams running multiple campaigns or ongoing fundraising belong on Plus at $25/mo. Agencies managing campaigns for clients: Pro at $50/mo.
See pricing.
FAQ
Does Kickstarter have a native webhook / API?
Not officially for campaign-owners. Kickstarter has a private GraphQL API, and its public pages can be scraped. PingBell uses a combination of public stats polling and Zapier’s Kickstarter connector (which uses their unofficial API) for near-real-time updates. Typical lag: 30-90 seconds.
What about Indiegogo?
Similar story. Indiegogo doesn’t publish a campaign-owner webhook API. We use polling and the Zapier connector. Typical lag: 30-120 seconds.
How fast are updates for BackerKit / Crowdfundr?
Those platforms offer direct webhooks, so updates are under 3 seconds from pledge to counter update.
Can I celebrate stretch goal crossings with a special animation?
Yes. Set stretch-goal thresholds and PingBell triggers a celebration effect (visual pulse + distinct sound) when the counter crosses each one.
Can I track backer count separately from dollar total?
Yes. Two separate counters, fed from the same source events. Show both on the TV side-by-side or rotate between them.
What if my campaign is self-hosted on my own site?
Even better. You can POST events directly to the PingBell webhook endpoint from your checkout flow. Real-time, no polling.
Can I add pledges from off-platform sources (direct Stripe charges, etc.)?
Yes. Connect Stripe as a second source and those charges feed the same counter. Useful for campaigns accepting pledges via both Kickstarter and direct wire.
Does PingBell handle pledge cancellations (dropped backers)?
Yes. Subscribe to cancel events (where the platform exposes them) and PingBell will decrement the counter. Note: Kickstarter doesn’t expose cancellation events in real time — dropped backers show up in the stats page polling.
Get started
Start a free 7-day trial. Connect your crowdfunding platform. Your next pledge will ring a bell the team actually hears.