an alternative way for money - (Sep/04/2011 )

Writing proposals, outlines for grants and projects is a tiresome duty if you want to stay in research and have no permanent position or need additional money for a project....
as an alternative way to get money crowd funding becomes more and more important, and next to websites where this is offered for all types of projects, also sites that are only for funding science projects are created.
Here is a short paper about this in Nature Neuroscience.

A few examples:

Kickstarter is a website for all kinds of projects and ideas that need money (arts projects, start up companies, etc)

Fundscience (non-profit, USA-based, only for science projects)

MyProjects (UK, only for cancer research projects)

Open Genius (non-profit, science only, still in development I think)

Because of the not that high amounts of money you can get, it's perhaps a good idea for pilot projects, feasibility studies or funding gaps. Have a look.

Interesting. Would university research management office policies would allow this funding source? I would be curious to know what oversight is in place to report fund allocation back to the investors. Some investors may stop contributing if they learned more about the indirects, etc., that universities take from some awards.

The article brings up a good point about duplicated or poorly-conceived work being presented for a popular vote.

source of funding..looks interesting...are there any criteria?