How much do social connections matter in fundraising outcomes?

This study examines the role of social connections and network centrality in attracting funders to crowdfunding campaigns.We classify social connections as either external(e.g.,Facebook)or internal(e.g.,investing in online platforms through resource exchange).Drawing from the 108,463 crowdfunding campaigns on the online platform Kickstarter from April 21,2009,to July 24,2019,we apply external linkages and online followers to estimate the effect of external social connections.We construct a digraph network for the internal social connections and use PageRank,HITS,and centrality to obtain the weights of the nodes.Next,we compare the performance change of several prediction algorithms by feeding social connection-related variables.This study has several findings.First,for external social connections,having more online followers improves the funding success rate of a campaign.Second,for internal social connections,only authority and degree in centrality positively affect the number of funders and the campaign’s financing progress among the weights of the nodes.Third,using social connection variables improves the prediction algorithms for funding outcomes.Fourth,external social connections exert greater funding outcomes than internal social connections.Fourth,entrepreneurs should extend their external social connections to their internal social connections,and network centrality expedites project financing.Fifth,the effect of social connections on fundraising outcomes varies among the campaign categories.Fundraisers who are online influencers should leverage their online social connections,notably for the project categories that matter.

Fundraising Capacity of HIV/AIDS Community-Based Organizations in 3 Years (2017-2019) in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

HIV/AIDS is still an important public health issue in Vietnam and other developing countries. In Vietnam, Community-based organizations (CBOs) were officially considered as the key partners to approach vulnerable groups at high risks of HIV infection since 2010. Funds for HIV/AIDS prevention and control are facing difficulties due to rapid reduction by international organizations, while domestic funding has not yet met the demand, especially funding for prevention and communication activities. Our study aimed to assess the fundraising capacity of several CBOs in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and analyze the challenges that they are facing now and in future in their work of HIV/AIDS management for community. The 03 typical and representative CBOs (G3VN, Smile and Strong Ladies) were chosen in our cross-sectional descriptive study. The electronic questionnaire was about fundraising reports over 3 years (2017-2019), organization structure (staff, mission, strategies) and the advantages and disadvantages in fundraising. Funds received over the year increased in total, but unstable in each projects. To have more funds, CBOs must invest time and money to have professional staff in fundraising and writing proposals. To meet requirement and survive, some CBO shifted to social enterprises and faced many difficulties in laws when being treated like profit companies. In Vietnam context, the key challenges which affect the role of funding are including: 1) Legal status;2) Small scale;3) Capacity of fundraising (finding calls, writing competence proposals);4) Fewer funds on HIV/AIDS. In future, we should pay attention in scaling up and building fundraising capacity for CBOs in order to help them in applying for international funds in community projects or even in HIV/AIDS research for CBOs, social enterprises in the context of funds for nation-level phased out of Vietnam.

Influence of Narrative Strategies on Fundraising Outcome:An Exploratory Study of Online Medical Crowdfunding

Online medical crowdfunding(OMC)has attracted massive attention and participation in China.Despite its goal to lift the financial burden caused by expensive medical expenditure,little has been done to evaluate its impact on healthcare inequality.We examine the social consequences of OMC based on a large random sample extracted from one of the most widely-used OMC platforms in China.Our analysis shows that a disproportionally high percentage of fundraising campaigns are launched for patients with low socioeconomic status suffering from various illnesses,including many rare diseases.These findings suggest that OMC plays a positive role in providing an alternative channel for disadvantaged patients under the current health insurance system.We further examine whether and the extent to which the narrative style of solicitation text—fundraising campaign description—influences fundraising outcomes using natural language processing(NLP).The results show that expressions conveying optimism tend to result in a higher completion ratio,whereas descriptions engaging in moral mobilization or focusing on financial burden tend to have a negative impact on fundraising outcomes.

How text sentiment moderates the impact of motivational cues on crowdfunding campaigns

Arousing funders’motives for crowdfunding participation is a challenge for every entrepreneur.According to self-determination theory,crowdfunding involvement is driven by two kinds of motivations:extrinsic and intrinsic motives.Campaign narratives with different sentimental orientations could act as cues triggering funders’motives of capital-giving differently.Thus,we focus on the moderating effect of text sentiment on the motivational cues in crowdfunding campaigns.We hypothesize that the sentiment of campaign narratives moderates the relationship between motivational cues and fundraising success.Data are selected from 270,000 campaigns of the crowdfunding website Indiegogo.Empirical analysis demonstrates that the sentiment strength positively moderates the effect of intrinsic motives on fundraising success but negatively moderates the impact of extrinsic motives on fundraising success.The findings provide managerial insights for practitioners to stimulate specified motives by using the narratives with proper sentiment strength.

Effects of attention and reliability on the performance of online medical crowdfunding projects: The moderating role of target amount

Medical crowdfunding platform helps numerous patients access enthusiastic donors and address financial difficulties,but many crowdfunding projects fail to reach their target amount.Thus,how a crowdfunding project can attract considerable donors is question-able.This study examines the effects of attention and reliability on the performance of online medical crowdfunding projects and how target amount changes such effects.Based on objective data of 1177 crowdfunding projects from 2016 to January 2018 in a large medical crowdfunding platform in China,we find that the project donor's attention(the number of forwards and comments)and reliability(the number of dynamic updates,empirical users,and pictures)positively affect the medical crowdfunding performance of the projects.However,target amount weakens the positive effects of the number of for-wards and comments in online medical crowdfunding projects.Therefore,project spon-sors should set reasonable target fundraising amounts while showing attention and reliability to donors.Compared with previous research that mainly explores the influence of external factors on crowdfunding outcomes from the perspective of donors,this paper focuses on the internal project factors and explores the concerns and trustworthiness of crowdfunding projects,enriching the literature related to fundraising ability in the project.