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Engagement Leads to Crowdfunded Science
Jarrett Byrnes and Jai Ranganathan
University of Massachusetts Boston &National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis
Data from: http://dellweb.bfa.nsf.gov/awdfr3/default.asphttp://report.nih.gov/success_rates/Success_ByActivity.cfm
Science Funding Rates Declining stimulus
#SciQuester = 1000 NSF grants not funded this year
Public Science Literacy Needs Work
Ecklund et al. 2012 PLoS One
Scientist's Attitudes Towards Outreach Not So Good
In scientists’ own words, science outreach is a bleak prospect with limited room for improvement. Seventy-four percent of respondents list one or more significant impediments to their ability to do science outreach, yet less than half have concrete ideas for how science outreach could be improved.
Ecklund et al. 2012 PLoS One
Little Reward Structure for Outreach
Scientists also perceive that they are rewarded little for science outreach work, especially in the tenure process.
Science Communication Exploding Online
scienceseeker.org blogs.scientificamerican.com
Science Communication Exploding Online
sciencepond.com twitter.com/jebyrnes/eemb
135% of goal!!
#SciFund & Engagement•What is Crowdfunding?
•Engagement & Outreach: The Keys to the Crowdfunding Kingdom
•The #SciFund Challenge
•Lessons and Benefits of Engaging via Crowdfunding
What is Crowdfunding?
The solicitation of small donations from a large number of people for specific targeted projects.
Anatomy of a Crowdfunding Proposal1. Goal
• accomplishment
2. Time Limit• urgency
3. Proposal• clarity is key
4. Video• accessibility
5. Rewards• engagement
Huge Universe of Crowdfunding Site
A Few Dominant Platforms
>
Arts Crowdfunding Exceeds Government
Funding
Many Crowdfunding sites JUST for Science
#SciFund & Engagement•What is Crowdfunding?
•Engagement & Outreach: The Keys to the Crowdfunding Kingdom
•The #SciFund Challenge
•Lessons and Benefits of Engaging via Crowdfunding
The future?
doctorzen.net
How did Palmer Do it?
Wikipedia.org
twitter.com/amandaplamer
http://www.ted.com/talks/amanda_palmer_the_art_of_asking.html
It Takes Time to Crowdfund a
Discipline
Waananen 2012 NY Times
Millions of Dollars Are Possible…
Waananen 2012 NY Times
Built-in Audiences are Crucial
Waananen 2012 NY Times
The future?
doctorzen.net
NGOs can Crowdfund Science at High Levels
Organization with a long history of Outreach
Is it the Project or the Audience?
How can Science Make Crowdfunding
Work?
Engagement is key If you build it, they will come.
#SciFund & Engagement•What is Crowdfunding?
•Engagement & Outreach: The Keys to the Crowdfunding Kingdom
•The #SciFund Challenge
•Lessons and Benefits of Engaging via Crowdfunding
An experiment: can scientists use crowdfunding to communicate their science and to raise money for their
research?
The point is not just cash, but engagement.
How did #SciFund work?
Training via scifundchallenge.org
Community Helps Shape Proposals
Twitter: #SciFund
Facebook Page
SciFund Google group
Online Engagement & Community Building
Round Days Projects
Projects funded at
100%
Percent funded at
100%Total raised
1 45 49 10 20.40% $76,230 2 31 75 33 44.00% $100,345 3 33 35 16 45.70% $75,978
Overall 159 59 37.10% $252,811
Post-#SciFund Data
1.Rockethub server logs
2. Public web statistics (e.g. Youtube hits)
3. Survey of participants (80 questions)
• Covered by CNN, Forbes, Scientific American, New Scientist, MSNBC, and many other news outlets in US and internationally
• $76,230 raised
• ~1200 donors
• 10 projects fully funded
• average project yield: $1556
• max project yield: $10,171(170% of original goal)
#SciFund Round 1 by the Numbers
Round 1: $76,230 over 45 Days
Small Donations Drive #SciFund
The #SciFund Numbers Game: Contributors
R2=0.86
Two Roads to Success
1. Friends & Family
2. Eyeballs• Pre-goal (size)• Post-Goal (color)
R2=0.85
Your Scientific Fanbase and Project Views
R2=0.78
Creating Content Fanbase
R2=0.34
Onlinepresence
1 blog post / month ≈53 Twitter followers
Scientificfanbase1 Twitter
follower ≈1 project
view
Projectviews110
project views ≈
1 contributor
Money forresearchAverage raised ≈$1,600
Friends and
family50
Facebook friends ≈
1 contributor
Donorcontribution
sAverage
contribution ≈
$55
Funding target met20 project views ≈
1 contributor
The Secret to #SciFund: Engagement
You need to build a scientific fanbase!It is not possible to be an overnight success!
#SciFund & Engagement•What is Crowdfunding?
•Engagement & Outreach: The Keys to the Crowdfunding Kingdom
•The #SciFund Challenge
•Lessons and Benefits of Engaging via Crowdfunding
If you build it, they will come
If you build it, they will come
How Can I Crowdfund my Science?•Build an audience for your work
- Crowdfunding, Blog, Tweet, Science Cafes, etc.
•Get trained in outreach
- Media & social network training
•Work to change academic culture & policy
- Hiring & promotion practices
- Collaboration with media & arts departments
Number of fans
Inte
rest
in y
ou
r re
searc
h
Super-engaged fans that contribute $ to your research
Larger number of fans that don’t contribute, butare still impacted by your message
A version of the 1000 True Fans Model
Science Projects with Community Engagement
Bring in $$$
http://www.indiegogo.com/ubiome
Scientists Improving!
Larger Benefits to Crowdfunding•Build bridges between science &
society
•Build investment in an NGO's science program
•Enhanced science literacy
•Science incubator for new projects
•Look at it as funded outreach
ScientistsBroaderpublic
reaching out with sciencemessage for its own sake
research cashvia crowdfunding
Collaborators: Barbara Walker, Zen Faulkes
Participants in Round 1: Aditya Rao, Ali Swanson, Andi Wolfe, Andrea Lucky, Barbara Walker, Breanna Putman, Chip Cochran, Daniel Karp, Daniel Mietchen, Debi Kilb, Diane Kelly, Eric Abelson, Eric Basham, Holly Menninger, Jarrett Byrnes, Jeffrey Bodwin, Jennifer Schmitt, Jessica Carilli, John Gust, Jorge Mederos, Kalani Kirk Hausman, Katelyn Cavanaugh, Kelly Lyons, Kelly Weinersmith, Kevin Fomalont, Kristina Killgrove, Lee Worden, Levi Lewis, Lindsey Peavey, Luis Valledor, Luke Frishkoff, Marisa Alonso Nuñez, Marisa Tellez , Matthew Hutchins, Matthew S. Leslie, Melia Nafus, Rebecca Rashid Achterman, Robin Freeman, Ross Whippo, Scott Chamberlain, Shermin de Silva, Steve Herbert, Susan Tsang, Timothy Bonebrake, Walter Weare, Yoav Ram, Zen Faulkes
Round 2&3 now complete
Blog: scifundchallenge.org
Twitter: #SciFund
Wheat, R.E., Wang, Y., Byrnes, J.E.K. & Ranganathan, J. (2012). Raising money for scientific research through crowdfunding. Trends Ecol. Evol., 28, 71–72.