Funding the future? Ethical considerations for the use of research-focused crowdfunding platforms

Abstract

Crowdfunding is an online fundraising tool that allows individuals or groups to collect donations from individuals both in and beyond their immediate networks, usually facilitated by social media. While many crowdfunding platforms support a panoply of projects, there are others that cater specifically to researchers. In this thesis, I evaluate a number of ethical and social issues related to the growth in popularity of these platforms. I discuss the issues of governance, accountability and trust, and transparency. I argue that currently, these platforms cannot be said to operate in a manner that indicates strong governance, and add that crowdfunding lacks the built-in accountability mechanisms of more traditional funding avenues such as grant-based funding. As a result, crowdfunding requires the building of trust between researchers, donors, and the platforms themselves. I conclude this section by arguing that better transparency may provide a way for crowdfunding to become a more trustworthy style of funding. I also critique the claims that crowdfunding can resolve a number of social inequalities related to income, experience, and global development. I dedicate a chapter to this critique and argue that despite claims that crowdfunding is currently democratizing research, there are still a number of issues that demonstrate that crowdfunding is not currently the “great equalizer” many claim it to be. This project marks one of the first long-form efforts to critically evaluate the conduct of crowdfunding platforms that specialize in funding for research, and I present and defend the view that while potentially beneficial for individuals and institutions, crowdfunding for research cannot continue to exist as a “Wild West”.