You can transfer funds directly to the project creator, however unlike pledging through Spacehive, this is insecure and you will need to arrange this yourself.
In order to quickly and easily pledge to campaigns Spacehive uses Stripe payments, which enables backers to use debit card, Direct Debit, or bank transfer. Funds are held by Stripe until the end of the campaign, either being transferred to the project team if the campaign is successful, or returned to the backer if it is not.
We strongly recommend pledging this way, rather than making your own direct donation to the project team. ‘Pledges’, rather than actual cash transfers to the project creator, are less risky as the money only gets released if the campaign is successful in hitting its target. It also means that if the campaign is unsuccessful then there’s no need to refund the backer as the pledge is simply cancelled. Pledges made via our platform also have the advantage of showing in the campaign alongside the name of the individual backer, which in turn boosts its appearance as a popular campaign.
If someone wants to pay via cash/cheque, then they can do so by directly transferring this to the project creator, who can then upload this to their campaign. If the campaign is successful then the project creator already has the funds. However if the campaign is unsuccessful then it is up to the project creator to return them to the backer.