Changes in crowdfunding supporters before and during the period of COVID-19 pandemic and their implications

Abstract

Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the crowdfunding supporters was examined based on online a survey conducted in 2022. The author compared data of supporters from three periods, in ‘2019 and before’, ‘2020’, and ‘2021 and after’. In ‘2020’, 20.2% of supported projects were related to COVID-19. The proportion declined rapidly in ‘2021 and after’, even though impact of COVID-19 on soceity was still serious. It was pointed out that crowdfunding has the potential as a prompt tool for social support in the crisis such as COVID-19 pandemic. On the other hand, it is difficult to utilize crowdfunding for continuous support.