Culvita
About
Culvita is a crowdfunding platform for high-school entrepreneurs. Teens build something — a ceramics line, a short film, a robotics kit, a tiny indie game — and backers chip in to fund it in exchange for rewards (a copy of the thing, a thank-you note, a behind-the-scenes look, anything that isn't money).
The hard part of running this for minors isn't the website. It's the legal model. Culvita is designed around four load-bearing pieces:
Rewards-only, never investments
Every project is checked, at write time, by an automated scanner that blocks language like “equity,” “revenue share,” “ROI,” “investor,” or any percentage-of-profits offer. Crossing those lines turns a campaign into a securities offering and pulls in the SEC. Staying rewards-only is what keeps Culvita a normal startup.
Parent-as-account-holder
Funds move through Stripe Connect under the “agent of payee” model. The legal account holder is the teen's parent or legal guardian (over 18), who holds the funds in trust for the minor. Culvita never touches money; the platform isn't a money transmitter.
Milestone-protected escrow
Backers' cards are authorized when they pledge, captured when the project hits its goal, then disbursed in tranches as the creator submits — and staff approves — proofs of each milestone. Miss a milestone deadline without an approved proof, and the remaining authorizations are automatically refunded to backers. Delivery accountability is built into the platform, not buried in a terms-of-service.
Joint parental liability
Before a teen can publish anything, their parent signs an explicit consent acknowledging joint liability for delivery obligations, tax routing (1099-Ks go to the parent), and the refund policy. We capture IP, user-agent, and a typed signature in the guardians table.
Boring-but-mandatory
- • Minimum age: 13 (federal COPPA floor). Enforced at the database via a CHECK constraint.
- • 1099-K issuance: routed to the parent of record. Threshold is the IRS's.
- • School student-data integrations: none. Not in v1.
- • Charitable framing: explicitly disallowed. Culvita is a commercial rewards platform and stays that way.
- • Crypto / NFTs / tokens: disallowed in v1.
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