Crowdfunding for research

 I was not aware that researchers are turning to crowdfunding to fund their research. (This article provided the information that researchers are gathering donations from the general public to fund their research: https://www.nature.com/nature-index/news/how-to-crowdfund-your-research-science-experiment-grant). It is a great idea, but I know some people "look down" on those who ask friends and the general public for funds for a personal or professional reason. I am not certain I want to join in this funding trend. I will continue trying for grants.

Crowdfunding Research

 I found an interesting and informative article that presents research on the factors that cause the funding of technology projects using crowdfunding in Korea. It was good that the researchers decided to focus on appropriate technology projects only and to compare them to other types of projects. The researchers used a theory derived from the Theory of Reasoned Action (the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology) as well as prior research to come up with factors that might influence backers to fund technology projects. Factors included: expected performance gains from the project, the ease of investing in the project (the effort needed), the existence of appropriate infrastructure for the project, the influence exerted by others especially important people in their reference group (social influence), perceived trust, and perceived risk. The factors social influence and effort expectancy had the largest effect. Read the findings here: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/5/1456.

Crowdfunding

 In 2014, I used KickStarter.com to obtain funding for LifeLessonsForAll.com. It was a good/learning experience - the first time I used crowdfunding for a project. I learned a lot. 

Backers or investors can range from the small/average man to financial institutions. Crowdfunding can be used to finance not only small projects but large-scale projects and businesses online. I am not surprised that crowdfunding is touted as a financing model that has tons of potential for developing countries.

It appears that crowdfunding is not used a lot in Guyana just yet.