JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

In today’s temperamental funding climate alternatives for research funding outside of traditional government based models has not only become necessary, but essential for survival. This is especially true for those scientists who study historically and intentionally excluded communities, particularly, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or other sexual and/or gender expansive (LGBTQ+) communities, which have been a notable target for scrutiny under the Trump Administration. As it happens, since 2012, crowdfunding has grown, within the scientific community, including the utilization of crowdfunding in over 3,000 research projects to raise over $12 million. While often crowdfunding has been preserved for for-profit business ventures, non-profit social entrepreneurships projects, and even to offset medical expenses the expansion of crowdfunding into the scientific sector is rising. Through this commentary we present a mixed method dissertation study solely funded by crowdfunding efforts. We summarize overall monetary, and engagement results derived from the crowdfunding campaign. As well as learned benefits and costs to the utilization of crowdfunding as a method for funding an empirical study. Ultimately, while crowdfunding presents certain challenges, with careful planning, strong branding, effective marketing, and adequate support, we determined that crowdfunding serves as a viable and innovative strategy for funding research particularly research aimed at dismantling health disparities for historically and intentionally excluded communities.