Research question
In this project, we wanted to understand how the number of beneficiaries affects the fundraising success of crowdfunding campaigns. The number of beneficiaries is measured by the number of people featured in the profile picture of a campaign.

Role of AI
Since we analyzed data from around 30,000 crowdfunding campaigns, we had to automate the recognition of people. We did this with a machine learning-based object recognition algorithm. These algorithms are x times faster and almost or just as accurate as if humans were doing it. To avoid comparing apples with oranges, we also had to measure what the campaigns were raising money for. Here too, AI was used in the form of natural language processing. This text analysis method allowed us to measure the similarity of the project descriptions.

Results
The effect of the number of beneficiaries on fundraising success has been tested many times before, but never with data collected outside the lab. Our results show an inverted U-shaped effect of the number of beneficiaries on donation success. The donation yield increases until a number of six to eight people is reached and then decreases again.

Publication

• Meier, D. S. (2024). Compassion for All: Real-World Online Donations Contradict Compassion Fade. Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, 0 (0): doi.org/10.1177/08997640241255707.