Which sustainable development goals favor crowdfunding success?

• We examine the impact of a sustainability orientation on crowdfunding outcomes. • Campaigns focusing on sustainability in the description are more successful. • We then differentiate between the 17 sustainable development goals of the UN. • Focusing on environmental aspects leads to stronger crowd support. • More distant goals such as ending poverty reduce fundraising success. This study examines the impact of the framing of sustainable development goals (SDGs) in crowdfunding campaign descriptions on fundraising success. We compile a dataset of 25,799 Indiegogo campaigns and quantify their relative focus on the 17 United Nation's SDGs. We find that the amount raised and the number of backers increase by 17.3 % and 8.3 %, respectively, if the number of SDG-related sentences in the campaign description increases by one standard deviation. Additionally, focusing more on issues related to climate, energy, sustainable societies, and responsible consumption promotes whereas focusing on ending poverty or innovation, industry, and infrastructure reduces fundraising success.