Canceling your Community Round

## Can I cancel my Community Round? Yes. You can cancel at any point - before you file your Form C, or after. The process is slightly different depending on where you are in the raise, but the bottom line is the same: email **support@wefunder.com** and we'll walk you through it. Do not try to cancel by hitting "close" on your dashboard. Closing a round that has live investments triggers the final-withdrawal window. That's the wrong path if you want to cancel and refund everyone. ## What happens if I cancel before Form C is filed? This is the cleanest path. Before you file your Form C, there are no real investments yet - only reservations. Reservations are non-binding (see [Reservations vs. investments](https://help.wefunder.com/article/ba7cf0ee-reservations-vs-investments)), so no money has changed hands and nothing has to be unwound with the SEC. Email **support@wefunder.com** and tell us you want to cancel. We'll: - Take your page down (or unpublish it, your choice) - Cancel all open reservations - Notify your reservation-holders that the raise is no longer moving forward You won't owe Wefunder anything. Reservations didn't collect payment toward an investment — but they do require a placeholder payment method to be set up at the time the reservation was made. Depending on the method the investor used, some money may be sitting in their Wefunder cash account. We can return it directly, or the investor can transfer it back to their bank themselves at [wefunder.com/cash](https://wefunder.com/cash) for no charge. ## What happens if I cancel after Form C is filed? You can still cancel, but it's more involved. Once a Form C is filed and investors have started funding, the SEC requires that you formally withdraw the offering and refund every investor 100% of what they paid. Email **support@wefunder.com** to start the process. We will: - Stop accepting new investments immediately - File a Form C-W (withdrawal) with the SEC on your behalf - Refund every investor in full, including any payment processing fees - Notify investors that the raise has been canceled For refund timing by payment method, see [Understanding refunds](https://help.wefunder.com/article/33fd9dca-understanding-refunds). ## Will canceling hurt my ability to raise again later? It depends on why you're canceling. A clean, deliberate cancellation - "we decided to take a different path" - is fine. We've had founders cancel and come back to raise successfully later. But if your raise stalls and effectively fails (you couldn't hit your goal), the rules in [If your raise fails](https://help.wefunder.com/article/9e5855e7-if-your-raise-fails) apply: you won't be able to run a new one on Wefunder unless you can show you've reached a meaningful milestone since. ## Can I just "close early" instead of canceling? Only if you actually want to keep the funds you've raised. "Closing early" means you ended the campaign and want to disburse whatever's already been raised. "Canceling" means you want to refund every investor and walk away. If you're not sure which you want, email **support@wefunder.com** before you do anything in your dashboard. We'll help you pick the right path. ## Will Wefunder notify my investors that I canceled? Yes. When you cancel a raise (Community Round or Private Round), Wefunder automatically emails every affected investor and reservation-holder. You don't have to send anything for the basic notification - it goes out the moment we process the cancellation on our side. The automated email tells investors: - The raise has been canceled - Their reservation or investment is no longer active - If they paid, a refund is on the way and roughly when to expect it - A link to their portfolio so they can confirm the status themselves ## Should I also send a personal message? We recommend it, but it's not required. A short note from you explaining what happened goes a long way - investors who reserved or invested in your raise had to decide to back you, and a personal message respects that decision. A good template: > "Hey - I wanted to reach out personally. We've decided not to move forward with our raise on Wefunder. [One sentence on why.] If you reserved or invested, you'll get an automated email from Wefunder with the details. Thanks for being willing to back us - it means a lot." Post it as an investor update on your campaign page if it's still live, or send it directly. Don't disappear silently. Founders who communicate well during a cancel are the ones who can come back later. ## What about people who only followed my page but never reserved? Followers don't get a cancellation notification by default - only people with an active reservation or investment. If you want to tell your followers too, you can post a final update on your campaign page before we take it down, or export your follower list and email them directly. ## When do the automated emails actually go out? Within a few minutes of us processing the cancellation. The refund-status email may take longer - it's tied to when the refund is actually initiated against the original payment method, which can be hours later for batched refunds. ## What if an investor doesn't get the email? Have them check their spam folder first, then ask them to log into their Wefunder portfolio at **wefunder.com/portfolio**. The status will show "Canceled" with the refund timeline. If something looks wrong, they can email **support@wefunder.com** and we'll dig in. ## Who initiates the refund? Wefunder does. Once we agree the raise is being canceled, you don't have to do anything in your dashboard - we trigger the refunds from our side. Email **support@wefunder.com** to start the process and we'll handle the rest. ## Do investors get 100% of their money back? Yes. Every investor gets a full refund of the amount they paid, including any payment processing fees. Wefunder absorbs the processing cost on cancellation refunds. This is required by the SEC under Regulation Crowdfunding. There is no scenario where you cancel a Reg CF offering and investors get back less than they put in. ## How long does it take? Timing depends on the investor's original payment method (ACH, wire, card, etc.). For the full breakdown, see [Understanding refunds](https://help.wefunder.com/article/33fd9dca-understanding-refunds). For investors whose payment is still "pending" (in transit, but not yet in escrow), we cancel the payment before it lands. They won't see a refund because the money never left their account. ## What about reservations? Reservations don't trigger a normal "refund" because no investment payment was collected — but a reservation does require a placeholder payment method, so a small amount may already be sitting in the investor's Wefunder cash account. When you cancel, we return that money to the investor, or they can transfer it back to their bank themselves at [wefunder.com/cash](https://wefunder.com/cash) for no charge. If a reservation-holder had already confirmed their reservation into a real investment and paid, that payment is refunded normally. ## Do I owe Wefunder anything when I cancel? No. Wefunder's success fee only applies to funds you actually withdraw. If you cancel before withdrawing any capital, there's no fee. If you already took a rolling withdrawal and then decide to cancel the remainder, the fee on that earlier disbursement still stands, but no new fees apply. ## Can I refund just one investor? Yes. If you want to refund a specific investor (not cancel the whole raise), email **support@wefunder.com** with their name and the reason. We handle these case-by-case. Common reasons: the investor changed their mind after their refund window closed, they failed KYC and you don't want to wait for them to retry, or there's a dispute.