Crowdfunding websites like Kickstarter.com can be valuable tools for small businesses and startups trying to raise funds online. President Obama recently signed an act that will make it easier for small businesses to raise money via crowdfunding websites. However, many skeptics claim that this change might attract scammers and make it easier for them to take advantage of potential well-intentioned investors. How many Americans have taken advantage of crowdfunding sites? And how many of them are worried about fraud?
Donating
In Ask Your Target Market’s latest survey, just 7% of respondents said they’ve donated to a project or company using a crowdfunding site like kickstarter.com. Of those investors, 54% said they learned about the project they donated to via social media. 39% said they learned about it from family, friends, or someone they know personally. 27% found their project on other websites. 12% learned about it from an article. 4% found it via an advertisement. And 15% learned about it in other ways.
Funding
Only 3% of respondents said they’ve attempted to fund a project or startup using a crowdfunding site. And it seems that those who have asked for funding are more willing to donate to others in the same way. Of those who have raised funds via crowdfunding, 90% have also donated to projects via crowdfunding sites. Men and respondents under 24 were more likely to fund projects and donate using crowdfunding sites. Students were more likely to donate, but less likely to utilize crowdfunding for their own projects.
Fraud
10% of consumers in the panel said they worry about crowdfunding fraud enough to not ever consider using crowdfunding sites. Another 9% said they are very worried about fraud. 17% are a little bit worried. 10% are not worried at all about fraud. And 54% said they don’t know enough about crowdfunding to make a judgment.
You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options.
Photo Credit: Day 2 – Kickstarter.com from Flickr
What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.
Results were collected on May 7 via AYTM’s online survey panel.
