Crowdfunding and Social Media Campaigns have been heavily criticized, but they are exactly what our society needs in order to advance our scientific, entrepreneurial, and charitable communities.

1. CROWDFUNDING & SOCIAL MEDIA
CAMPAIGNS
SOCIETAL BENEFITS
Created by Alina Sedlak

2. Crowdfunding and Social Media Campaigns have been heavily criticized,
but they are exactly what our society needs in order to advance our
scientific, entrepreneurial, and charitable communities.
Photo by David Marcu

3. There’s no peer review, so potential experiments do not benefit from the fine-tuning
of a panel of experts. The absence a formal review process could also undermine the
credibility of a study.
SC I E N T I F I C CO M M U N I T Y
CRITICISM:
Photo by Wesley Wilson
Crowdfunding and Social Media Campaigns “Lack the
safeguards and expert assessment of a traditional review
process.” (1)

4. “Scientific research really shapes our society and can really
improve our lives... At the same time, getting funding is really
difficult. Only about 10 to 20% of funding applications are
successful and it is particularly difficult for scientists early in
their career.” (2)
Photo by Ryan McGuire
That means many potentially critical
experiments never see the light of day.

5. Preliminary funding, like that generated from crowdfunding,
can help projects get recognized by scientific institutions.

6. Astronomer David Kipping raised $12,000 in less than a month to
fund his project – the search to find the first moon orbiting a planet
in another solar system.
This got NASA’s attention: the work he’d accomplished with the
initial $12,000 got him a $2,000,000 grant to continue his
research. (2)
Photo by Max McKinnon

7. Even if projects don’t end up benefiting from formal reviews or
grants, they do benefit from the community at large.
Nesta, a charity in the U.K., reported on the impact of
crowdfunding on scientific initiatives and found two other side
effects:
• 27% of the donors had also offered to help or volunteer with
the projects they backed
• 29% gave feedback or advice on the campaign. (3)
Photo by Kaique Rocha

8. Even universities have hopped on the Crowdfunding trend, setting up
official pages for their students to solicit funding for their projects.
"Many universities now encourage, if not facilitate, some form of
crowdfunding… Over 50 colleges and universities worldwide have
such pages, including MIT, Columbia, Stanford, Duke and the
University of Edinburgh.” (4)
This virtually eliminates any legitimacy concerns.
Photo by Tamás Mészáros

9. “The majority of crowdfunding campaigns fail, with most
commercial ventures… never shipping to market.” (5)
Investors do not get their money back for failed initiatives, and even if
successful, there are no assurances that the money raised will be used as
advertised.
ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNITY
CRITICISM:
Photo by Malik Earnest

10. But even when campaigns don’t reach their monetary goals, there are
many other benefits involved.
Photo by Jared Erondu

11. “Kickstarter has a 44% success rate. That doesn’t mean it’s not useful
though – crowdfunding (besides resources) also provides proof of
concept for potential stakeholders and unparalleled access to global
markets.” (5)
Photo by Michael Schwarzenberger

12. A study conducted by Northwestern University found numerous motives to
crowdfund other than just gathering resources. Many launched campaigns in
order to:
Expand awareness of work,
Form connections,
Gain approval,
Maintain control,
Learn new fundraising skills (6)
Photo by Aleks Dorohovich

13. “You’re building this group of people who are very
enthusiastic about your idea. It can take years for a company
to develop a fan base, but [with crowdfunding], you get these
people who get in on the ground floor.” (6)
Photo by Salo Al

14. Additionally, just like in the scientific community, small crowdfunding
successes can gain the attention of much bigger players.
Photo by Daniel Nanescu
“Kickstarter is more than just a fundraising tool; it's a proving
ground. That's critical as more and more angel and venture capital
groups are looking for proof of concept before they're willing to
invest.” (7)

15. These crowdfunding initiatives are expanding beyond just entrepreneurial
projects to have an effect on the overall workforce. Many students are now
turning to crowdfunding to help pay for their education.
Photo by Erik Bailey
GoFundMe’s education section has grown exponentially:
• A modest 135 campaigns in 2010 to 160,000 today
• Just $16,493 in donations throughout 2010 soared to $23.7 million in 2015 (8)

16. “Slacktivism” – promoting a cause on social media makes you feel good,
but; “clicking a button to share something is worthless, and people
should get out from behind their screens and DO something.” (9)
CH A R I TA B L E CO M M U N I T Y
CRITICISM:

17. These criticisms are foundationless: there have been many, many successful
social media campaigns have have made tremendous impact.
Photo by Karolina Grabowska

18. The Ice Bucket Challenge, which was created to raise awareness
for ALS, went viral on social media. In 2014, $15.6 million was
raised from July to August alone, representing an 800%
increase from the prior year. (9)
The numbers don’t lie.

19. “The Tap Project invites people to take a break
from their smartphones while our mobile app
tracks their downtime. The longer they stay
unplugged, the more Giorgio Armani Fragrances,
S’well, and other sponsors pump funds into
UNICEF’s clean water program.” (10)
Photo by Karolina Grabowska
Another wildly successful social media campaign was UNICEF’s
Tap Project.
In 2014, 2.6 million participants spread the word over social
media, and raised over $1 million in clean water funding. (10)

20. It’s not just large organizations that have had success with social
media and crowdfunding – these tools have enabled individuals to
organize charitable campaigns as well.
Julia Hawkins, from the small community of Little Pond, Nova
Scotia, was able to raise a surprising $22,000 for a homeless man
who had been seriously injured – enough to both pay for his
hospital bills and to get him back on his feet. (11)
Photo by Stefan Stefancik

21. Crowdfunding has also provided a much faster alternative for charitable
donations, which capitalizes on donors’ impulses and allows for
immediate action.

22. Natural disasters happen quickly, and can be very devastating in a very
short amount of time. A social services agency in New York was hoping
to deliver food and water to the families affected by a superstorm, but
their servers were down and they weren’t able to use traditional
means.
Instead, they turned to crowdfunding. They did a promotional blitz on
social media, and raised over $20,000 in less than 24 hours.
(12)
Photo by Khaled Ashgr

23. Crowdfunding and social media campaigns are
not without their criticisms. Legitimate
concerns as to the lack of regulation in the
scientific field, the high rate of failure within
the entrepreneurial community, and the effect
of “slacktivism” within the charitable sector do
exist.
Photo by Daniel Nanescu

24. However, despite these concerns, there have been thousands of
successful campaigns that have achieved tremendous
accomplishments, proving that crowdfunding is a powerful tool that
empowers individuals to take action and to benefit our society.

25. WO R K S CI T E D
1
Lin, Thomas. "Scientists Turn To Crowds On The Web To Finance Their Projects". The New York Times 2011. Web. 3
June 2016.
2
Gray, Richard. "Crowdfunded Science: Harnessing The Wisdom Of The Crowd, Or Selling Out?". The Guardian 2015.
Web. 3 June 2016.
3
Makris, Gregory. "Crowdfunding: From Startup Businesses To Startup Science". BMJ 350.jan14 19 (2015): h18. Web. 3
June 2016.
4
Marlett, David. "Crowdfunding Art, Science And Technology: A Quick Survey Of The Burgeoning New Landscape".
Leonardo 48.1 (2015): 104-105. Web.
5
Lewis, Michael. "Majority Of Kickstarter Campaigns Fail Despite High-Profile Successes Like Vanhawks". The Toronto
Star 2016. Web. 3 June 2016.
6
Gerber, Elizabeth M. and Julie Hui. "Crowdfunding". ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction 20.6 (2013):
1-32. Web.
7
Johnson, Mary. "Crowdfunding Success Can Help Kickstart Interest From VC Firms". NJBIZ 27.14 (2014): 20. Web. 3
June 2016.
8
Blackman, Andrew. "Tuition Due? Time To Hit Up Everyone You Know". The Wall Street Journal 2015. Web. 3 June
2016.
9 Sharma, Ritu. "Stop Pouring Ice On Clicktivism". The Huffington Post 2014. Web. 3 June 2016.
10 Stern, Caryl. "In Praise Of Clicktivism". The Huffington Post 2015. Web. 3 June 2016.
11
Omand, Geordon. "Charity Crowdfunding Success Linked To Self-Expression Through Social Media". The Canadian
Press 2015. Web. 3 June 2016.
12 Messina, Judith. "Charities Turn To Web To Get Cash". Crain's New York Business 30.42 (2014): 15. Web. 3 June 2016.
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