How much do social connections matter in fundraising outcomes?

Financial Innovation

Table 1 Sample statistics of crowdfunding project categories on Kickstarter

Category	No. of projects	Percentage (%)	Goal ($)	Pledge amount ($)	Funding duration (days)	Funding success (%)	External connections (%)	No. of online followers
Art	8637	7.96	19,532.67	4348.41	33.02	62.61	61.65	503
Comics	4055	3.74	8058.28	10,124.01	35.85	63.95	70.33	544
Crafts	978	0.90	4476.06	3573.21	30.30	57.06	63.19	283
Dance	1435	1.32	4624.93	4003.78	32.82	80.07	61.67	726
Design	7403	6.83	23,578.59	33,767.12	34.76	52.45	59.27	318
Fashion	3967	3.66	11,717.49	10,573.54	32.80	45.98	67.15	492
Film & Video	24,708	22.78	25,838.10	9697.94	35.67	56.66	60.30	551
Food	4743	4.37	16,220.68	10,100.16	33.85	52.52	67.53	383
Games	9620	8.87	31,313.80	37,066.99	33.41	55.14	61.37	320
Journalism	653	0.60	12,532.24	6362.10	36.92	51.76	53.91	522
Music	19,005	17.52	8000.35	5252.60	35.71	71.56	61.61	803
Photography	3235	2.98	7490.50	4438.80	35.06	51.38	62.84	485
Publishing	11,629	10.72	8561.05	5039.99	34.44	49.74	66.02	478
Technology	4044	3.73	53,906.90	49,445.84	34.97	47.97	55.12	271
Theater	4351	4.01	8947.40	4919.98	33.97	76.10	57.55	588
Sum	108,463		18,356.11	13,112.26	34.70	58.86	62.00	526