An Experimental Evaluation of Gender Differences in Responses to Major-Donor Funding Schemes for Crowdfunded Social Ventures

Social ventures (organizations that seek to address social or societal problems) fundraising through crowdfunding compete for contributions. Thus, they often involve major donors to influence the contributions of smaller donors. We examine what type of major-donor contribution scheme is most likely to attract smaller donors. In particular, we examine whether and to what degree male and female donors differ in their response to alternative major-donor contribution schemes that are commonly used in practice. When informed that a major donor has kicked off a crowdfunding campaign with an initial contribution, women are 50% more interested in contributing relative to when no major donor was mentioned and 35% more interested in contributing relative to when they were informed that the major donor’s contribution is conditional on the combined donations from others reaching a certain threshold. The initial contribution or seed money from the major donor leads to perceptions, among women, that the organization conducting the project is of high quality, is likely to reach its funding goal, and is likely to achieve its implementation goals. Unlike females, males appear to be agnostic to major donor involvement. Our study suggests that social ventures will be more successful at attracting contributions from female donors if a major donor kicks off the campaign with an initial contribution.