Dear colleagues, I have recently been exploring different crowdfunding platforms to help cover fieldwork expenses for my dissertation research and was wondering if any of you might have experience or insights into this process. Experiment.com is specifically geared toward funding scientific research projects, but there are also other more general sites such as Fundly or Crowdrise (a subsidiary of GoFundMe) that fund individuals and nonprofits. If you have used crowdfunding for your research, how did you choose a platform to use and what were the benefits/drawbacks you considered?
Also, a relatively new development appears to be universities hosting their own crowdfunding platforms, which presumably lets them easily tap into their alumni bases. The drawback, as far as I can tell, is that it might be harder to reach as wide an audience as the more well-established commercial sites (particularly if one's institution is on the small side.) Any thoughts on the pros/cons of various platforms (experiment.com, another site, or a university in-house platform?) Thanks in advance for your time! - Claire ------ Claire Nemes Ph.D. Student University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory
