{"id":10760,"date":"2017-11-08T08:00:14","date_gmt":"2017-11-08T02:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/?p=10760"},"modified":"2021-09-30T18:52:54","modified_gmt":"2021-09-30T12:52:54","slug":"crowdfunding-science-simplifying-research-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enago.com\/academy\/crowdfunding-science-simplifying-research-funding\/","title":{"rendered":"Crowdfunding in Science: Simplifying Research Funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Traditionally, government agencies fund research projects. The researcher submits a proposal and waits for an approval. However, acquiring research funding\u00a0can become a\u00a0difficult task and rejections\u00a0take place\u00a0in many countries. For instance, only 10% of studies<\/a> in the United States are federally funded. Currently, crowdfunding has emerged as a viable alternative for scientists needing funds. In the past few years, the internet and social networking platforms have made raising money for causes easier and simpler. Crowdfunding can help raise money relatively quickly, and some scientists offer tokens of appreciation, such as mugs, t-shirts, and posters.<\/p>\n

Crowdfunding: A Novel Approach<\/h2>\n

The number of researchers engaging in crowdfunding is growing. For instance, the crowdfunding site Experiment.com reported an exponential growth in crowdfunding since 2013. Another platform, SciFund Challenge, reported a 70% success<\/a> rate of funding projects between February to March 2014. Crowdfunding can help researchers raise cash in a short amount of time, but donors often need incentives. In addition, scientists need to push through projects on social media\u2014easier to do, undoubtedly, but time-consuming as well. In addition, not all academics are comfortable with self-promotion. Concerns have also been raised as to the credibility of research<\/a> generated through crowdfunding as opposed to presenting research to a group of experts.<\/p>\n

Crowdfunding Platforms<\/h2>\n

The concept of crowdfunding is relatively simple\u2014a scientist pitches a research proposal online and gathers funds from interested people. There are a number of platforms for crowdfunding. One platform is Patreon, which has a different crowdfunding model from others. With Patreon, the task of building funds becomes fully integrated into the task of building an audience. This model is appropriate for research communicators who seek to build audiences. In addition, Patreon is also suitable for researchers that build something.<\/p>\n

Kickstarter<\/a> is another platform that has already raised more than $3B for researchers. Although Kickstarter has become a buzzword in social media sites, not all of its projects\u00a0receive funding successfully. Only about 36% of its projects succeed<\/a>. Kickstarter does not aim to provide long-term viability for research projects. It does, however, give novel ideas the traction that they need to grow into small or medium-sized companies. While Kickstarter and Patreon are popular, an equally popular platform is Indiegogo. Indiegogo recently partnered with MicroVentures in the hopes of dominating the equity in the crowdfunding space. It aims to do this by leveraging its 15 million consumers per month.<\/p>\n

Crowdfunding vs. Traditional Research Funding<\/h2>\n

Crowdfunding has many pros and cons as opposed to traditional research funding. Scientific crowdfunding can propel research to completion, but there are drawbacks to this method.<\/p>\n

Pros and Cons of Crowdfunding<\/h3>\n