DIYfunding: Crowdfunding Independent Research
Crowdfunding offers new opportunities to scientific researchers. To make these more accessible I sat down with crowdfunding founders Cindy Wu and Natalie Jonk to gain insight on the successful campaigns each of their platforms has hosted.
For academics the process of obtaining grant funding can be both bewildering and time-consuming. Even exceptionally strong applications from seasoned researchers are turned down. To those working within the industry, finding investment for projects that have little data backing them can be nearly impossible. Whatever the goal of the research, these rejections represent a lost opportunity for lesser known scientists to prove their skills. Generating the additional data needed to strengthen proposals takes time and money that many workplaces cannot provide.
Such situations have led some researchers to seek out public interest in their work. These early adopters have found the public’s enthusiasm can translate into tangible experimentation. The platforms these scientists use may initially evoke images of Reading Rainbows and Exploding Kittens, but crowdfunding has the potential to change how researchers achieve scientific independence.
Many researchers begin their careers as junior scientists with little in the way of reputation and funding opportunities. To grow their reputation these junior scientists join more senior teams of researchers as post-docs and base-level research associates. This allows the junior scientist to expand their number of publications and establish a track record of excellence over the course of several years. To many this can turn into a holding pattern that has earned the nickname of “Postdocalypse” in academic spheres.
To break this pattern, scientists are using crowdfunding as a way to get traction on the projects that interest them.
What is Crowdfunding?
I’ll hand the reigns off to Google here:
“The practice of funding a project or venture by raising many small amounts of money from a large number of people, typically via the Internet.”
When it comes to crowdfunding scientific research, it helps to understand why your backers are contributing. Many people are excited by the discovery that comes with the research environment. They contribute to your research initially because they want to be a part of that. If you let them engage with the whole process of discovery you can build a community that recognizes you as a researcher, rather than your affiliation with a single project.
Setting Expectations
Before we go any further, we should acknowledge that there are practical limitations to crowdfunding. The obvious concern is understanding the amount of funding researchers can expect (hint: it pays to invest early). This information can help with selecting the proper platform and funding model for your campaign. Experiment.com, a crowdfunding website dedicated to funding the next wave of research, can help us align expectations appropriately:
Unless you already have some public relations experience and a network of backers to help you, most successful campaigns fall below the $10K range, a trend that is reflected on other platforms. While it is true that fundraising this amount of money isn’t enough to replace a salary or fund a lengthy study, Experiment co-founder Cindy Wu is optimistic for the future. In our interview we discussed how Experiment acknowledges these limits and seeks to move past them:
BK: The FAQ page addresses how academic researchers typically use Experiment for early-stage exploratory projects or as supplements to larger grants. Do you feel Experiment could grow as a primary funding source for advanced research?
CW: We run a lot of experiments at Experiment meaning we are constantly building things that support scientists as their ideas develop… Yes, there will be a day where Experiment is the primary funding source for research projects.”
Before we arrive at that level of funding it’s important to recognize that what people are already doing is incredible. Examples range from studies of a changing microbiome, searching for improved TB therapeutics, and the establishment of a biobank to advance the study of alopecia.
A successful campaign starts with the proper mindset. This is an opportunity to have ownership of a project and build a community around your work. Many beginning campaigners use this as a chance to make their work accessible to their existing professional networks. No matter the result of the campaign, your communication and management skills will have grown from the experience.
Picking a Platform
So you’ve got a project that you want to crowdfund. Whether it’s an idea for a therapeutic, a product, or just pure research there are a few things you should do prior to submitting a proposal.
You should find the right platform to fund your campaign on. Listed below you can see a few options that allow or emphasize scientific crowdfunding campaigns.
The first important distinction is that Experiment and Walacea cater specifically to scientific campaigns. Rocket Hub is a more mainstream crowdfunding platform that also supports scientific campaigns. Other mainstream crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter have certain restrictions on such campaigns that you’ll need to check out before submitting an application.
Experiment has seen great success in the United States with several hundred campaigns funded already. Campaigns hosted on the platform utilize the all-or-nothing funding model. This means that if a team doesn’t reach its set funding goal, none of the backers are charged and no funding is received. As such, setting your goal at the minimum you need to carry out the project is crucial. You’ll have to establish a realistic budget and understand your expenses prior to application. Transparency about your budget can also help increase backers’ confidence in your campaign and Experiment actually asks people to present this information in their campaigns as part of their extensive “Researcher Guide.”
Walacea has seen a surge in publicity and success as the result of several recent campaigns. During my conversation with founder Natalie Jonk, she shared how they are working with several new teams and expect an increase in the number of campaigns launching each month. The platform offers both all-or-nothing and flexible funding models. Flexible funding allows for scientists to keep whatever they raise, as long as they can provide any benefits promised. This type of model is typically employed when any amount of funding, not just above a certain amount, will make a recognizable difference in the project.
Though these platforms differ in several ways, each of their processes involves a review of proposals to ensure they meet the platform’s requirements. Each platform will also provide feedback on proposals to help them prepare for campaigns, prior to start. This feedback process should be part of the timeline you prepare for your campaign and project.
Creating a Timeline
The importance of preparing a timeline for both your crowdfunding campaign and the project itself can’t be understated. You want to keep your body of backers interested in your work by giving them regular updates that let them share in the scientific process. The need for communicating progress demonstrates professional commitment that is critical to building a loyal network of backers. The budgets that Experiment and Walacea ask you to submit can also be used to estimate how frequently you’ll be able to make these communications.
The average time from submitting a proposal to starting a campaign falls within the range of 1–3 weeks. In order to keep momentum, most campaigns will run for 1 or 2 months. Before writing a proposal though, you need to ask if its contents are tied directly to your workplace or colleagues.
Establishing Credibility
If your project was inspired by experiments in the workplace you should ensure you aren’t violating the terms of your employment or revealing sensitive information. You can find this out by having a friendly sit down with the head of your research group and/or supervisor to discuss what you want to do, as well as the details of the platform you want to use. Even if your project won’t explicitly involve their help, senior scientists can provide valuable endorsements that will increase your credibility.
If the work you want to do benefits the research group, these senior scientists may even invest their time and resources to help your campaign be a success. Once you’ve passed this hurdle you can begin actually preparing your proposal.
Preparing Campaign Materials
The first part of a campaign that any potential backer will see is the title. Accessibility is the key here. Make sure the title connects the research to something backers can understand. Care should be taken to avoid titles that are too broad or can be answered with a yes or no question.
Once a potential backer has stopped to read your title, the abstract is the next place to engage them. This means communicating the problem or question you’re working on and how your project aims to make a difference. Experiment and Walacea also encourage creating a short 1–3 minute video to help tell the story of your research. Since these videos can be both engaging and easy to share, don’t underestimate their importance! These actions kick start the learning experience that keeps backers interested and feeling the impact of their contribution.
Preparing campaign materials that are accessible to the general public is a priority, but at some point you will need to use higher level information in communications with the platform. This means explaining several specifics of the research and possibly providing references, however these requirements fluctuate depending on which platform you choose. Getting backers interested is the easy part; the trick is keeping them interested. To accomplish this, we want to provide them rewards that increase their emotional investment.
Sharing the Experience
Unlike the rewards offered by mainstream crowdfunding, many research projects may not be working toward the creation of a direct-to-consumer product. Offering a physical reward of some kind also means additional time and money that can’t go towards the project. What researchers do have to offer is the ability to share in the project’s development. One form of reward is to regularly post notes and updates about the project on the campaign’s site so that backers are alerted to progress from the project and allow them to see the difference their donation made. Experiment practices this method through its “Lab Notes.”
Walacea’s website actually uses a system that parallels other crowdfunders’ tiered rewards. Let’s examine the rewards for one of their successful campaigns
Pictured is the £5 reward-tier where the project affiliates would show their appreciation for a backer over social media, as well as access to an online seminar. Base-level backers can share a cause they care about and have something that tangibly expresses gratitude. They also receive access to an online seminar that will discuss the results of the project. Backers at higher levels could receive tickets to the physical seminar, limited edition prints of fMRI images from the study, or face time with the researchers themselves.
The common theme of these rewards is that they extend engagement beyond the donation itself. These rewards also respected that the research itself should be the primary expenditure.
The effort you’ve put into making this experience meaningful for your backers will create additional opportunities. Former backers will be more likely to donate the next time you run a campaign.
Protecting Their Investment
Before we move on to running a campaign let’s address the concern of getting “scooped.” Getting “scooped” happens when scientific teams are competing to see who can solve a question first. Whatever team publishes first, has gotten the scoop. The consequences are that other teams will have a much harder time publishing without offering novel insights. Experiment offers some choice words in their blog post on this topic:
“In fact, your backers will want what’s best for the project to ensure that the research results remains impactful. That means if by disclosing representative data or findings that you won’t be able to publish the results, then that’s not best way to show evidence of impact and complete the story. There are plenty of other ways to show evidence of the project’s impact, such as by sharing representative, deidentified, or even negative data.
As always, our advice for decisions like this is do what’s best for the science, because that’s also the goal of your backers.”
Running Your Campaign
Depending on the platform chosen, you’ll see a first response within a couple of days. Over the next 1–3 weeks you’ll coordinate with the crowdfunder’s team to refine your proposal, potentially record a video for the campaign, and begin talking with professional networks. When it comes to engaging networks their are several approaches you can take.
One of the first things you should determine is how many donations you’ll need to reach your goal. This helps identify the number of people you need to reach so you can plan a campaign accordingly. Experiment presents a straightforward formula:
For example, if your funding target is $3500, you would need 35 backers and approximately 1,750 page views. To adapt this formula outside of Experiment you can replace the $100 (the average donation on Experiment) with the average donation from your platform of choice. From here you know roughly how many page views you’ll need to reach your fundraising goal.
One method of outreach we’ve touched upon are senior scientists. Beyond providing valuable endorsements they could also help spread word of your campaign through their own professional networks. If they offer support, keep your requests to a minimum.
An additional option is to touch base with bloggers or scientific writers who can help give your campaign additional visibility. Utilizing social media accounts like Twitter, Facebook, or Reddit can be powerful boons for your campaign. These spaces help create an ongoing conversation about your research and allow your community of backers to identify each other and create bonds that will last beyond the campaign.
You’ll want endorsements to be prepared prior to the campaign’s start. Try to keep any media coverage distributed evenly over the course of the campaign. This means that you’ll want to donate at least a couple hours throughout the day to reaching out and responding to activity on social media. After the campaign ends, your focus will shift from outreach to executing your research. Congratulations! You’ve taken a step towards a career as an independent scientist. That being said, the work doesn’t end when the campaign does.
Maintaining Commitment
Once you begin actually doing the research, you’ll rely on the mechanisms you put in place to keep you on track. You must maintain commitment to scientific integrity in both the project and how you communicate about it. Negative results and setbacks are all part of the scientific process and may be the most vital information to share. It is in these moments of our journeys that we really invest ourselves in understanding the whole system.
Most importantly, don’t miss out on the opportunity to hone your scientific communication skills! A successful campaign can prove public interest that increases funding bodies’ confidence in future proposals. Projects that create passionate backers also facilitate future crowdfunding campaigns and demonstrate both leadership and dedication to making advances. Using these platforms we can change the way the public views research and the scientists who perform it.
For our next post on crowdfunding I’ll be speaking to Maureen Muldavin of the Open Insulin project. The Open Insulin project funded their campaign using Experiment’s platform and we’ll be exploring the group’s trials and successes, as well as several other projects she’s involved with. Do you have any questions for Maureen? Are you thinking of running your own crowdfunding project? Talk about it in the comments and I’ll select from questions submitted.
You can check out Experiment or Walacea’s Medium page at either This Is An Experiment or Walacea.
