Version 1
: Received: 3 July 2021 / Approved: 6 July 2021 / Online: 6 July 2021 (11:35:44 CEST)
How to cite:
Wang, J.; Zhang, X.; Luo, J. How COVID-19 Have Changed Crowdfunding: Evidence From GoFundMe. Preprints2021, 2021070136. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202107.0136.v1
Wang, J.; Zhang, X.; Luo, J. How COVID-19 Have Changed Crowdfunding: Evidence From GoFundMe. Preprints 2021, 2021070136. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202107.0136.v1
Wang, J.; Zhang, X.; Luo, J. How COVID-19 Have Changed Crowdfunding: Evidence From GoFundMe. Preprints2021, 2021070136. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202107.0136.v1
APA Style
Wang, J., Zhang, X., & Luo, J. (2021). How COVID-19 Have Changed Crowdfunding: Evidence From GoFundMe. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202107.0136.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Wang, J., Xupin Zhang and Jiebo Luo. 2021 "How COVID-19 Have Changed Crowdfunding: Evidence From GoFundMe" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202107.0136.v1
Abstract
While the long-term effects of COVID-19 are yet to be determined, its immediate impact on crowdfunding is nonetheless significant. This study takes a computational approach to more deeply comprehend this change. Using a unique data set of all the campaigns published over the past two years on GoFundMe, we explore the factors that have led to the successful funding of a crowdfunding project. In particular, we study a corpus of crowdfunded projects, analyzing cover images and other variables commonly present on crowdfunding sites. Furthermore, we construct a classifier and a regression model to assess the significance of features based on XGBoost. In addition, we employ counterfactual analysis to investigate the causality between features and the success of crowdfunding. More importantly, sentiment analysis and the paired sample t-test are performed to examine the differences in crowdfunding campaigns before and after the COVID-19 outbreak that started in March 2020. First, we note that there is significant racial disparity in crowdfunding success. Second, we find that sad emotion expressed through the campaign's description became significant after the COVID-19 outbreak. Considering all these factors, our findings shed light on the impact of COVID-19 on crowdfunding campaigns.
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
