The proposed research studies the conditions that enhance the potential of crowdfunding as a source of income for the cultural heritage sector. This is important because crowdfunding, the raising of external funding from a large audience approached via social networks or social media, is an emerging phenomenon that is hardly studied by scientists. Our research is also highly practical relevant for the cultural heritage sector as it is facing voluminous reductions of subsidies and requires alternative sources of income. The research proposal answers two questions: 1. What characteristics are typical for successful crowdfunding projects? A postdoc project will look into this in a comparative analysis of previous Dutch crowdfunding projects. The challenge for crowdfunding is to move beyond an initial financing by family and friends (first tier crowdfunders) to people at a larger social and geographical distance (second tier crowdfunders). Demonstrating the mechanisms that successfully extend crowdfunding projects from first tier to second tier crowdfunders forms the focus of this analysis. 2. How do characteristics of individual crowdfunders and project characteristics influence donation behavior in crowdfunding projects? After conducting a literature review a PhD researcher will execute multiple field experiments in which we control for project characteristics (e.g. rewards, control and participation). The research will be conducted by researchers from Organization Sciences and Philanthropic Studies at VU University Amsterdam. The research team also includes experts of four crowdfunding firms: Voordekunst, Seeds, Flintwave and Douw&Koren. The field experiments exclusively involve cultural heritage organizations. Key words: 1. Crowdfunding 2. Online volunteers 3. Donation behavior 4. Rewards 5. Motivation 6. Cultural heritage