PayPal takes steps to become more crowdfunding friendly

PayPal took quite a bit of criticism over the past year for its handling of crowd-funded projects. The situation would often go something like this: A person or team would set up a crowd-funded project or campaign on one of the various sites that offers such a service and it would use PayPal as the final dumping ground for the funds. But PayPal, for various reasons, would sometimes freeze said funding and leave the campaign’s organizers in a bit of a lurch.

PayPal hasn’t always been the biggest fan of crowdfunding. The intricacies associated with crowdfunding — a relatively new form of fundraising that is constantly evolving — have made life tricky for the payments company, but it looks like PayPal is ready to make nice with the crowdfunding community. Last September, PayPal promised to adjust its policies after getting flack for freezing a huge amount of crowdfunding funds. On Thursday, it announced those changes. PayPal now plans on upping engagement with campaign owners early in the process. PayPal’s increased early engagement allows the company to provide users with “upfront guidelines and expectations,” and ensure the campaigns comply with PayPal and government regulations.