Crowdfunding for social goods: A behavioural finance study for campaign success factors for Indian SDG projects

Abstract

Crowdfunding for social goods has become a transformative force in India's development ecosystem, emerging as a crucial citizen-driven financing model for healthcare assistance, educational support, social welfare, environmental conservation, and community development projects.As India progresses toward achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the importance of innovative, decentralized, and participatory funding mechanisms has grown significantly.Traditional sources of funding-government schemes, philanthropic donations, CSR initiatives, and institutional grants-are often insufficient to meet the enormous financial needs of low-income and marginalized communities.In this context, digital crowdfunding platforms such as Ketto, Milaap, ImpactGuru, Donatekart, and GiveIndia offer flexible, inclusive, and accessible channels for mobilizing public contributions.Unlike commercial crowdfunding, donation-based crowdfunding provides no financial returns to donors.Therefore, donors' decisions are fundamentally shaped by behavioural finance factors rather than economic incentives.This research adopts a behavioural finance perspective to examine the psychological, emotional, cognitive, and social determinants that influence campaign success for SDG-aligned social crowdfunding projects in India.The study investigates how donor motivations-including altruism, empathy, moral obligation, warm-glow effect, identity-driven giving, and social influence-interact with campaign design elements, platform architecture, and trust signals to determine fundraising outcomes.Findings from prior research and platform-level data indicate that trust remains the strongest driver of donation intention.Indian donors tend to be risk-averse due to concerns about fraud, misrepresentation, and misuse of funds.As a result, trust-building mechanisms-such as verified fundraisers, authentic documentation, medical proof, transparent financial breakdowns, institutional endorsements, and frequent campaign updates-significantly increase credibility and donor confidence.Emotional storytelling is another powerful determinant; campaigns featuring identifiable beneficiaries, vivid visuals, personal narratives, and urgent medical needs evoke stronger empathy and are more likely to attract support.Social proof and herding behaviour also play a critical role.Donors frequently look to the actions of others to validate campaign legitimacy, especially when information is limited.High engagement metrics-number of donors, comments, shares, early contributions-signal popularity and urgency, triggering positive herding effects that accelerate the fundraising process.Campaigns that achieve early momentum typically experience higher visibility, stronger network effects, and higher conversion rates.In India, where community networks, family ties, religious identity, and regional affiliations are strong, such social cues significantly enhance campaign reach: