Crowdfunding for university projects based on gouep.pl

The development of crowdfunding widened the inventory of the available funding methods for scientific and extracurricular projects and boosted the interest of those entities that have not used this form of creative funding until now. American universities are both pioneers in this field and the most successful in this type of fundraising. At universities in Poland, crowdfunding is in the phase of initial development, therefore this paper is aimed at introducing and evaluating the first crowdfunding platform launched at Poznań University of Economics and Business — GOuep.pl. The experience gained and conclusions drawn from the first fundraisings organised for the implementation of selected projects provide interesting, practical implications for the parties potentially interested in this method of project funding. University fundraisings usually do not reach beyond a given university's community, making them rather small, local projects with moderate financial goals. Crowdfunding is still so fresh and unexplored at universities in Poland, that significant resources, both financial and in the form of expert knowledge, need to be spent in order to take full advantage of it. It is also a lesson for the entire academic community on how to use the potential of engagement in university projects, understood as events that integrate particular groups and affect the development of the potential and attractiveness of a university. The paper contributes towards recognising predictors of successful crowdfunding at Polish universities and indicates the possibility to use crowdfunding platforms as tools in building the university image and strengthening the integration of academic communities.