Funding for nursing and nursing education research is scarce and difficult to obtain. Approximately 11% of new applicants are funded at the National Institutes of Nursing Research (NINR), and less than 20% are funded overall at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).1 Applying for research grants is time intensive and can be daunting, particularly at non-research-intensive universities. Being competitive in obtaining external funding at small, non-research-intensive universities is particularly challenging. However, conducting research is often an expectation of achieving tenure and promotion, and external sources of funding are highly regarded.
Alternate means of funding for nursing/nursing education research should be considered, with one such mechanism being crowdfunding.2 Crowdfunding is a general term for obtaining monetary donations from many people for a variety of reasons.3 The concept of crowdfunding has been examined.4 There are 4 primary types of crowdfunding organizations: donation, reward, lending, and equity based. Of these, donation-based crowdfunding is the least risky because donors have no expectations of anything in return. In the other types of crowdfunding, something is exchanged with the donor, whether a product, monies, or interest on monies given.
While funding sources for life sciences research and entrepreneurial projects are readily available, nursing education research supported through crowdfunding is rare. The purpose of this article is to describe crowdfunding as an alternate source of revenue for nursing education research. The authors engaged in a successful, donation-based crowdfunding project and describe the benefits, ethical considerations, and barriers of the experience.
Background
New access to funding sources has become widely available through social media outlets.5,6 There are many crowdfunding Web sites, some more popular than others. These Web sites commonly offer funding for a myriad of purposes including education, medical needs, emergencies, creative projects, and business startups.7 Different crowdfunding sites have their own rules and requirements to participate and receive funds.
New sites have emerged to help fund scientific research, such as Experiment (https://experiment.com/start#case-studies). The authors' experience relates to Experiment, so a basic understanding of this funding source is necessary. To date, Experiment has received $7 893 962 in pledges; funded 799 projects from a variety of disciplines, with the average project monetary goal of $4103; and has a 44.92% success rate.8 Donors (backers) directly fund project scientists, so there are no indirect costs as in traditional grants funneled through a university. However, Experiment charges each successfully funded research project an 8% fee on monies raised.
In general, crowdfunding is most often successful when the funds sought are small scale and for nonprofit projects.9 In addition, results indicate women and junior faculty have higher chances of being successfully funded.10 Experiment is an all-or-nothing funding platform only using electronic payment. The project must reach the funding target, or pledges are not charged to the backers' credit card. All submitted projects are rigorously reviewed, provided with feedback, and approved by the interdisciplinary scientific researchers on the Experiment team. Project criteria, used by the team, are listed on Experiment's Web site. The team does not judge the proposal on scientific merit, but they examine feasibility, budget, accuracy, and clarity. Projects involving animals or humans require an internal review board approval.
At their own discretion, funded researchers share progress, data, and/or results directly with backers. Updates are shared so people understand the importance of funding research, are excited at how their funding is making a difference, and are encouraged to fund other research in the future. Although Experiment encourages open-access publishing, it is not required. More than 65 peer-reviewed articles have been published through its funded research (https://experiment.com/results). This article is the first nursing publication that resulted directly from involvement in Experiment crowdfunding for scientific research (electronic communication with C. Wu, April 3, 2018).
Project Experience
In 2015, Experiment conducted an initial project phase at a small, private liberal arts institution to determine the viability of crowdfunding in this type of setting. After the initial phase, an offer to participate in a second pilot phase was extended to an existing closed consortium of 40 universities, including the university at which the authors are employed. The universities within the consortium were able to develop 1 to 4 faculty-sponsored projects per university for the second pilot phase. Each faculty team was required to develop a Web page connected with Experiment describing the background, purpose, and methodology of proposed research, along with a budget specifying expenses for each step of the research process prior to the "go live" date.11
Our university sponsored a total of 4 projects, from each of the following disciplines-biology, physics, psychology, and nursing. This created a multilayered competitive component to the process. Researchers competed against 10 other universities for funding, but they also were competing within their own university against colleagues from other disciplines.
In the second phase of the consortium pilot, the first 10 universities who agreed were invited to participate in a challenge. In the challenge, which our university participated in, the project that had the most backers would receive an additional $2000 grant. The most backers challenge did not take into account dollars contributed, only the number of backers. Such a challenge encouraged small donations from many people.
The application process for funding was not inherently time intensive, compared with an NIH/NINR grant; however, the requirements to participate were quite involved. As the word "crowdfunding" suggests, people must try and reach a large body of potential funders in a designated, often short, amount of time. Extensive social media presence was required to make initial and follow-up contact with potential funders, which required detailed familiarity with technology and multiple social media platforms, some of which faculty had not previously used. Applicants had to be comfortable soliciting social media contacts, friends, and family for contributions. Backers were allowed to donate monies to Experiment projects over a 30-day period.
Project participants were encouraged to back other researchers' projects to increase internal support of others' research projects. Experiment issued a Give $20 Get $20 program where project researchers received $20 toward their campaign upon donating $20 to a project on Experiment that was not their own (electronic communication with C. Wu, April 3, 2018). Over 20 days, 10 550 people visited all projects involved in the second pilot phase, and 595 people pledged monies to a project, resulting in more than $18 170 pledged to liberal arts college projects.
Because extensive time and familiarity were needed on social media to raise funds, nursing faculty members recruited a nursing student to participate in the Experiment project. The student created a social media page to advertise the project and solicit funding. The social media Web page led to international awareness of the project. The nursing education research project proposed, creating culturally competent health care environments for Muslim health care providers (including students), was successfully funded. Funds were used to hire a student to help with a literature review to identify an instrument for use in next steps of the research project.
Barriers to Crowdfunding for Nursing Research
The barriers encountered in this process were unexpected. Barriers included the change of administrative rights to the social media project pages once the student no longer served on the project. An additional barrier was the extensive amount of time required for presence on multiple social media platforms for the duration of the project funding campaign, which occurred during a semester with a full teaching load. For example, while only 2 social media platforms were used, the authors struggled to reply to questions and comments and to make daily posts specifically targeting particular groups with the purposes of solicitation.
For example, university colleagues were tagged in posts requesting financial support, and the next day, similar posts would be visible targeting other community groups, friends, and former colleagues. Further, most potential funders were not familiar with mechanisms such as crowdfunding for research; therefore, more time was required to explain and build a positive rapport and promote trust in the process, increasing the potential of donations. In addition, because the public has access to the nature of the research, responding to negative comments about the sensitive nature of the research topic (on creating culturally competent health care work environments for Muslim health care providers and students) was time consuming and sometimes sparked contentious conversations on social media.
Another potential barrier is the unique personality necessary to be a salesperson for research. Although in every submission for any kind of research funding, researchers are "selling" their project, it is different in the fast-paced and public environment of crowdfunding. In the currently funded project on Muslim health care providers, the researchers repeatedly requested money from people, including those with whom they may not have had a close relationship. In this case, the researchers struggled and never felt comfortable soliciting money in this more personal, less anonymous manner.
The nature of competing with colleagues in a public venue also lent itself to potentially uncomfortable situations, particularly when the nursing research reached successful funding and other disciplines were not successful. Although excited for the success, it was hard to celebrate when others had unsuccessful endeavors.
Lastly, once the student who worked on the social media sites to promote the project no longer worked with the project, it was difficult to get administrative rights for that site transferred back to the researchers. This is a caveat for researchers using social media Web sites: indicate administrative rights under your name from the beginning.
Ethical Considerations in Crowdfunding for Nursing Research
Because crowdfunding is a new option for funding nursing research, there are some ethical considerations. Little is published on ethical concerns of crowdfunding and nothing specific to nursing. Most ethical criticisms of crowdfunding are directed toward funds raised to pay people's medical bills. Although there is a myriad of concerns about this, it is beyond the scope of this article to discuss those concerns.
Specific to ethical concerns expressed about crowdfunding for research, one consideration is whether crowdfunding creates a conflict of interest between funders and the researcher. Donation-based funding, such as Experiment, presents the least ethically challenging type of funding for donors and researchers because nothing is promised to donors in return for their donation. However, Klugman10 wondered whether conflict of interest intensified when there were 200 donors versus 1 donor.
Fundamental changes in academia may occur related to crowdfunding. For example, does actively and publicly selling one's research change scholarly work or the way academics think about their research? Will crowdfunding become a requirement when academics cannot or do not get larger grants?10 If research funds are raised through crowdfunding, will state or local government feel compelled to increase or continue their funding of research?10 If no, what does this mean in the larger picture for researchers?
Others have likened the unknowns of crowdfunding to privatizing Medicare or Social Security.12 The risks are not fully understood, and there is a lot to lose if we get it wrong. Because there is little to no legislation regarding crowdfunding, risks exist. At the very least, crowdfunding sites need algorithms that give early warning for ethical violations in research.4
Lastly, concerns about the public nature of crowdfunding for sensitive or vulnerable groups must be considered. deWinter13 outlines some of the risks that may occur when people can publicly comment on researchers' work. In the case of our funded research, there were some negative or uneducated comments that ethically compelled the researchers to respond.
Benefits of Crowdfunding for Nursing Research
Benefits of crowdfunding for research included a relatively simple, straightforward application process with assistance from Experiment's team. Publicity for the research is excellent; donors are excited, see the need for the research, and are financially supportive.
As with any funded grant for research, there is a feeling of success at attracting funds and, in this case, being overfunded. The participation in such an innovative fundraising strategy gained much attention and resulted in being contacted by several other nurse educators and researchers interested in pursuing this avenue of funding. Crowdfunding is a useful alternative to traditional extramural funding.
Faculty and students who seek financial support for academic research projects requiring small amounts of money may want to consider crowdfunding. Traditional grants are difficult to obtain, especially outside research intensive universities.14 Based on the authors' experience, crowdfunding is ideally suited for nursing faculty at small, private, liberal arts universities and nursing faculty for research not typically funded as priorities (Table).
Conclusion
Crowdfunding platforms are innovative, alternate sources of revenue for nursing education and other areas of research. Nurses have great potential for becoming successfully funded through public awareness of and contributions to research topics. Knowledge of the benefits, ethical considerations, and barriers of crowdfunding better prepares nurse educators and researchers who may consider engaging in crowdfunding to support their research.
References