PerspectiveFeatureWhat will the crowd fund? Preferences of prospective donors for drug development fundraising campaigns

- Donors prefer projects that focus on common and pediatric diseases.
- Donors strongly prefer technologies that are potentially curative.
- Non-profit research organizations are strongly preferred over for-profit companies.
- Projects with existing funding are preferred over those that depend on donations.

Biomedical researchers are increasingly turning to project-based online fundraising (i.e., crowdfunding) as a complementary source of research funding. To help inform the fundraising strategies adopted by researchers who take this approach, we conducted an online survey of prospective donors in North America. Respondents indicated not only an overwhelming preference for donating to projects conducted by nonprofit research organizations, but also an openness to donating to companies that have a 'for-benefit' corporate structure. They also showed a strong preference for projects that have alternate sources of funding, that have the potential to yield a curative therapy, and that focus on common and pediatric diseases.