Crowdfunding for Innovative Medical Research: the HORAO Crowdfunding Campaign

Abstract

Background: The rise of the internet and of social media has boosted online crowdfunding as a novel strategy to raise funds for kick-starting projects, but as yet it is rarely used in science. Objective: We report on an online crowdfunding campaign launched in the context of the neuroscience project HORAO. HORAO’s aim is to develop a non-invasive real-time method to visualize neuronal fiber tracts during brain surgery in order to better delineate tumors and to identify crucial cerebral landmarks. The revenue from the crowdfunding campaign was to be used to sponsor a crowdsourcing campaign for the HORAO project. Methods: We ran a 7-week reward-based crowdfunding campaign on a national crowdfunding platform, offering optional material and experiential rewards in return for a contribution toward raising our target of CHF 50,000 in financial support (Swiss francs; roughly equivalent to 50,000 United States dollars at the time of the campaign). We used various owned media (websites and social media) as well as earned media (press releases and news articles) to raise awareness about our project. Results: The production of an explanatory video took 60 hours, and 31 posts were published on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). The campaign raised a total of CHF 69,109. Approximately half of all donations came from donors who forwent a reward (49%); the other half came from donors who chose experiential and material rewards in similar proportions (26% and 25%, respectively). Of those with an identifiable relationship to the crowdfunding team, patients and their relatives contributed the largest sum (30%), followed by friends and family (16%) and work colleagues (10%), while 44% of funds came from donors who were either anonymous or had an unknown relationship to the crowdfunding team. Patients and their relatives made the largest donations, with a median value of CHF 200 (interquartile range [IQR] = 90). Conclusions: Crowdfunding proved to be a successful strategy to fund a neuroscience project and to raise awareness of a specific clinical problem. Focusing on potential donors with a personal interest in the issue, such as patients and their relatives in our project, is likely to increase funding success. Compared to traditional grant applications, new skills are needed to explain medical challenges to the crowd through video messages and social media