Background: The rise of the internet and social media has boosted online crowdfunding as a novel strategy to raise funds for kick-starting projects, but it is rarely used in science. Objective: We report on an online crowdfunding campaign launched in the context of the neuroscience project HORAO. The aim of HORAO was to develop a noninvasive real-time method to visualize neuronal fiber tracts during brain surgery in order to better delineate tumors and to identify crucial cerebral landmarks. The revenue from the crowdfunding campaign was to be used to sponsor a crowdsourcing campaign for the HORAO project. Methods: We ran a 7-week reward-based crowdfunding campaign on a national crowdfunding platform, offering optional material and experiential rewards in return for a contribution toward raising our target of Swiss francs (CHF) 50,000 in financial support (roughly equivalent to US $50,000 at the time of the campaign). We used various owned media (websites and social media), as well as earned media (press releases and news articles) to raise awareness about our project. Results: The production of an explanatory video took 60 hours, and 31 posts were published on social media (Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter). The campaign raised a total of CHF 69,109. Approximately half of all donations came from donors who forwent a reward (CHF 28,786, 48.74%); the other half came from donors who chose experiential and material rewards in similar proportions (CHF 14,958, 25.33% and CHF 15,315.69, 25.93%, respectively). Of those with an identifiable relationship to the crowdfunding team, patients and their relatives contributed the largest sum (CHF 17,820, 30.17%), followed by friends and family (CHF 9288, 15.73%) and work colleagues (CHF 6028, 10.21%), while 43.89% of funds came from donors who were either anonymous or had an unknown relationship to the crowdfunding team. Patients and their relatives made the largest donations, with a median value of CHF 200 (IQR 90). Conclusions: Crowdfunding proved to be a successful strategy to fund a neuroscience project and to raise awareness of a specific clinical problem. Focusing on potential donors with a personal interest in the issue, such as patients and their relatives in our project, is likely to increase funding success. Compared with traditional grant applications, new skills are needed to explain medical challenges to the crowd through video messages and social media.

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中文翻译：

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探索创新医学研究的新型资助策略：HORAO众筹活动

背景：互联网和社交媒体的兴起促进了在线众筹，这是一种为启动项目筹集资金的新颖策略，但很少在科学中使用。目标：我们报告了在神经科学项目HORAO的背景下发起的在线众筹活动。HORAO的目的是开发一种非侵入性的实时方法，以在脑部手术中可视化神经元纤维束，以便更好地描绘肿瘤并确定关键的脑标志。众筹活动的收入将用于赞助HORAO项目的众包活动。方法：我们在国家级众筹平台上进行了为期7周的基于奖励的众筹活动，提供了可选的材料和体验性奖励，作为对提高我们的瑞士法郎（CHF）50，000的财政支持（在竞选时大致相当于50,000美元）。我们使用了各种拥有的媒体（网站和社交媒体）以及获得的媒体（新闻稿和新闻报道）来提高对我们项目的认识。结果：制作说明性视频花费了60个小时，并且在社交媒体（Facebook，Instagram和Twitter）上发布了31条帖子。该活动共筹集了69,109瑞士法郎。在所有捐赠中，大约有一半来自获得奖励的捐赠者（28,786瑞士法郎，48.74％）；另一半来自捐助者，他们选择了相似比例的体验和物质奖励（分别为14,958瑞士法郎，25.33％和15,315.69瑞士法郎，25.93％）。在与众筹团队有可辨认关系的人中，患者及其亲属贡献的金额最大（17,820瑞士法郎，30.17％），其次是朋友和家人（瑞士法郎9288，占15.73％）和同事（瑞士法郎6028，占10.21％），而43.89％的资金来自匿名或与众筹团队关系不明的捐赠人。患者及其家属的捐款最大，中位数为200瑞士法郎（IQR 90）。结论：众筹被证明是资助神经科学项目和提高对特定临床问题的认识的成功策略。专注于对问题有个人兴趣的潜在捐助者，例如我们项目中的患者及其亲属，可能会增加资金的成功率。与传统的赠款申请相比，需要新的技能来通过视频消息和社交媒体向人群解释医疗挑战。89％的资金来自匿名或与众筹团队关系不明的捐赠人。患者及其家属的捐款最大，中位数为200瑞士法郎（IQR 90）。结论：众筹被证明是资助神经科学项目和提高对特定临床问题的认识的成功策略。专注于对问题有个人兴趣的潜在捐助者，例如我们项目中的患者及其亲属，可能会增加资金的成功率。与传统的赠款申请相比，需要新的技能来通过视频消息和社交媒体向人群解释医疗挑战。89％的资金来自匿名或与众筹团队关系不明的捐赠人。患者及其家属的捐款最大，中位数为200瑞士法郎（IQR 90）。结论：众筹被证明是资助神经科学项目和提高对特定临床问题的认识的成功策略。专注于对问题有个人兴趣的潜在捐助者，例如我们项目中的患者及其亲属，可能会增加资金的成功率。与传统的赠款申请相比，需要新的技能来通过视频消息和社交媒体向人群解释医疗挑战。中位数为CHF 200（IQR 90）。结论：众筹被证明是资助神经科学项目和提高对特定临床问题的认识的成功策略。专注于对问题有个人兴趣的潜在捐助者，例如我们项目中的患者及其亲属，可能会增加资金的成功率。与传统的赠款申请相比，需要新的技能来通过视频消息和社交媒体向人群解释医疗挑战。中位数为CHF 200（IQR 90）。结论：众筹被证明是资助神经科学项目和提高对特定临床问题的认识的成功策略。专注于对问题有个人兴趣的潜在捐助者，例如我们项目中的患者及其亲属，可能会增加资金的成功率。与传统的赠款申请相比，需要新的技能来通过视频消息和社交媒体向人群解释医疗挑战。

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