Researching the crowd: Implications on philanthropic crowdfunding and donor characteristics during a pandemic

Abstract

New online forms of giving have appeared next to more traditional ways like doorto-door collections. One of these new forms is philanthropic crowdfunding: donation-and reward-based crowdfunding. Crowdfunding is a promising method for mobilising and recruiting donors who may be unreachable via traditional methods.We analysed online giving via crowdfunding, focusing on donor characteristics and giving behaviour before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our analysis comprises survey research (n = 2125) observing giving behaviour on an individual level for both donors and non-donors. Our contributions are twofold. First, we report on the characteristics of donors who give to crowdfunding sources and in relation to donors who give via a door-to-door (i.e., 'traditional') collection focusing on microrather than macro-level data. Second, we compare the giving behaviour via crowdfunding with references to door-to-door collections before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. We show that the percentage of individuals supporting crowdfunding

The contribution of crowdfunding for philanthropy: A systematic review and framework of donation and reward crowdfunding

“…We conclude that the mechanisms are connected to multiple features and can be summarized in three Third, the features and mechanisms' effect might depend on the project type and the project creator. Crowdfunding projects are hosted mainly by individuals or groups of individuals, but charities, companies and institutions are also present (Van Teunenbroek & Hasanefendic, 2022). At the moment, we consider the literature underdeveloped on this subject, and we cannot describe how the type of project creator impacts the effect of the features and mechanisms of our model.…”

“…Online fundraising methods like donation-and reward-based crowdfunding are becoming more critical since traditional methods like door-to-door collections are less effective in soliciting donations (e.g., see the Netherlands, Van Teunenbroek & Bekkers, 2020b;Van Teunenbroek et al, 2022;Van Teunenbroek & Hasanefendic, 2022).…”

“…With crowdfunding, donors can easily identify the project creator, which is often a person, a group of people, or an institution (Van Teunenbroek & Hasanefendic, 2022). Via this, donors are affected by the relationship with the project creator (Tosatto et al, 2022) or the creator's credibility (Li & Du, 2020).…”

“…Online fundraising methods like donation‐ and reward‐based crowdfunding are becoming more critical since traditional methods like door‐to‐door collections are less effective in soliciting donations (e.g., see the Netherlands, Van Teunenbroek & Bekkers, 2020b; Van Teunenbroek et al, 2022; Van Teunenbroek & Hasanefendic, 2022). Crowdfunding projects involve four actors: the funding goal (“crowdfunding project”), the person or group that is proposing a project and seeking funding (“initiator”), the Internet users who support the project by pledging an amount of their choosing (“donor”) and the Internet platform (“crowdfunding platform”).…”

Four lessons learned: Employees' perceptions of fundraising via reward‐based crowdfunding

“…We advise management to give employees time and resources to develop skills related to crowdfunding, like asking for donations and managing team members, for instance, by attending workshops and expert meetings to learn from the experience of others. Hasanefendic, 2022), as soliciting and giving are highly related (Bekkers, 2003;. We advise connecting with charities to learn from their experience, as they are experienced fundraisers.…”