How the crowdfunding platform could and should help creators work better and offer quality content more easily to their patr(e)ons.

After almost three years of use, and two active projects, here are some practical suggestions about how Patreon could extend or just tweak three of its features and empower even more its growing base of creators.

1) multi-month pledges/passes (and multi-month rewards)

Give the choice to pledge three, six or even twelve months of funds in advance, not just one. This would be a boon for creators and would allow for the production and publication of longer and more ambitious creative work that goes beyond the one month window.

2) a calendar/grid view for published and scheduled posts

So far, creators on Patreon can review new or already published content only in list view, which is kinda OK if you share one or two things each month. But it’s an unmitigated mess if you have new stuff every other day, have specific content for tiers and also publish thematic stuff that belongs to multiple series.

3) allow to pause the page for more than one month

Sometimes creative people need a sabbatical, to recharge their energies, or to focus for a while, be it on the production or promotion of their online publishing ventures. Once they set a pause that pause should stick, avoiding unwanted and embarassing charges to their paying patrons when there’s no new stuff (yet).