Funding writing is discussed almost entirely in terms of audience and almost never in terms of plumbing, which is unfortunate, because the plumbing is where people get surprised.
What follows is the boring half — fees, thresholds, timing, and the questions worth asking of anyone who holds your money before you do. It includes exactly how CanonBoard handles it, stated plainly enough to check.
Four questions to ask any funding platform
Before the audience question, ask these. The answers vary enormously and they are not always easy to find.
- **What is the total take?** Not just the headline rate. Many services quote a platform fee and then payment processing is deducted separately, so the real number is several points higher than advertised.
- **When does money become withdrawable?** Some hold funds for a fixed period after each contribution. Some hold until a threshold. Some do both.
- **What is required before you can be paid at all?** This is the step that silently excludes people — full payment-processor onboarding, identity verification, and supported-country requirements that a lot of writers do not clear.
- **What happens to the audience if you leave?** If the relationship lives entirely inside the platform, your following is not portable. That question deserves its own consideration.
How CanonBoard handles it
Stated in full, because a page about fees that is vague about its own fees is not worth reading.
- **A 10 percent platform fee, plus processing at cost.** CanonBoard takes 10 percent of the gross; card processing is passed through at the real amount charged, not a marked-up estimate. There is no listing fee, no charge for opening a Board, and no withdrawal fee.
- **There is no plan requirement.** Funding works identically on the free plan and on paid plans. Paid plans add project capacity, seats, version history, and the AI tools — they do not change the split or gate the ability to earn.
- **Earnings are itemised.** Each contribution is listed with its gross, the platform fee, and the processing shown separately, so the arithmetic is always checkable.
- **Payouts go to PayPal at a $50 minimum.** Add a PayPal address, request a payout once the available balance reaches fifty dollars.
- **Settlement is manual.** A person processes the request rather than an automated rail.
That last point is a deliberate trade and worth explaining rather than burying. Manual settlement means a payout is not instant. In exchange, there is no payment-processor onboarding to complete before you are allowed to earn anything — no verification gauntlet, no supported-country wall, no account that can be suspended by a third party while your money sits behind it. For a writer whose first payout is fifty dollars, that trade is almost always the right way round.
Who the money goes to
One mechanic causes more confusion than the rest combined, so it is worth isolating.
When a reader backs a pitch on your Board, the money goes to **you, the creator of the project** — not to the person who submitted the pitch. That is by design, and every person who submits a pitch agrees to it in advance via the Board Participation Terms.
Contributors to a Board receive credit for canonized ideas, not compensation. Canonizing a pitch creates no payment obligation, no ownership interest, and no claim of any kind. If you want the full reasoning, it is set out in credit, not compensation and in the public terms at /board-terms.
The practical implication for a creator is that funding cannot create a surprise liability. There is no scenario in which canonizing a popular idea turns out to have obligated you to pay someone.
Housekeeping that will save you trouble
- **The PayPal address must be able to receive payments.** An address on an account that cannot accept incoming payments is the most common reason a payout stalls.
- **Money earned is income.** Audience funding is taxable in essentially every jurisdiction, it does not arrive with anything withheld, and it is your responsibility. Set some aside from the first payout rather than the first large one — the habit is easier to form when the numbers are small.
- **Keep your own record.** Earnings are itemised in the account, but a platform is not an accountant. Export or note the figures as they arrive.
- **Agree splits before revenue exists.** If there is a collaborator — an artist, a co-writer — write the split down while the amounts are hypothetical and everyone is relaxed. Earnings pay to the account that owns the project; anything beyond that is between you.
Frequently asked questions
- What fee does CanonBoard take from creator funding?
- A 10 percent platform fee on the gross, plus card processing passed through at cost — roughly 2.9 percent plus 30 cents on a typical card. There is no listing fee, no charge for opening a Board, no withdrawal fee, and no subscription requirement. A ten-dollar contribution reaches the creator as about $8.40.
- How and when do creators get paid?
- Earnings accrue to a balance on your account, itemised by contribution. Add a PayPal address and request a payout once the available balance reaches fifty dollars. Payouts are settled manually to that PayPal address, which means they are not instant but also means there is no payment-processor onboarding or identity verification to clear before you can earn.
- Do I need a paid plan to receive funding?
- No. Funding is available on every plan including the free one, and the split is the same on all of them. Paid plans add unlimited projects, additional seats, version history, and the AI tools.
- Is money from audience funding taxable?
- In essentially every jurisdiction, yes. It is income, it arrives with nothing withheld, and reporting it is the creator's responsibility. This is general information rather than tax advice — the specifics depend on where you are, and a local accountant is worth the fee once the amounts become meaningful.
CanonBoard scans your whole world and tells you where it disagrees with itself.
Start free