Heterogeneous in their motivations, funders engage in crowdfunding for at least five distinct incentives. These incentives include:

Community participation: For many funders, investing on a crowdfunding platform is an inherently social activity, and they commit capital partly to obtain preferential access to the creator (e.g., updates, direct communication), which they value. They also derive consumption value from the feeling of being part of the entrepreneurial initiative (Schwienbacher and Larralde, 2010) and among a select group of early adopters. 14 Relatedly, some funders seem motivated to provide funding in return for recognition from the creator within the community