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HawksNest hatches new way to crowdfund

By Abbey Gingras, News Editor

Miami University's office for the advancement of research and scholarship introduced a new crowdfunding platform called HawksNest in coordination with university advancement.

HawksNest, which debuted in early February, allows students, faculty and staff members to have their projects considered for funding. If the projects are approved by an internal review team, they will be posted on HawksNest for a maximum of 45 days. From there, alumni, family and friends can directly support ongoing projects at the university.

The HawksNest platform is also designed to provide funding for research, scholarship and service projects.

Heather Johnston, associate director and information coordinator for the graduate school and research office, said HawksNest was a creative solution to find funding for student and faculty projects.

"The research funding environment is very competitive these days, so in order to do some of these projects that are really important for the faculty and the students, we have to start to think outside the box for how these can get funded," Johnston said. "Crowdfunding for research is something that's being done at other institutions, so we thought it would be best to develop our own platform to fund these projects."

Tom Herbert, vice president for university advancement, said that creativity aligned perfectly with university goals for this year with the theme of creativity and innovation.

But HawksNest didn't come about overnight. It began last year, when Tricia Callahan, director of proposal development, sought out seniors to help create a unique crowdfunding platform exclusively for the Miami community.

"When our office decided to pursue the idea of creating a crowdfunding site for Miami, I got in contact with people in computer science to have a capstone start the project a little over a year ago," Callahan said.

The decision to make a unique platform, rather than use traditional crowdfunding sites, was done in order to create an easier way for alumni to donate directly to university projects, Herbert said.

"If we do the platform, we can direct the donors on how to make the gifts to the projects," Herbert said. "It means we are able to accurately count their gifts."

Callahan is excited to see where the project will go in the next few years once it really takes off.

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"I think it's going to be a really great platform for student projects that fall outside traditional funding mechanisms," Callahan said. "Oftentimes, there are things that make a local impact and that makes them really right for this funding."

Johnston said the new program hasn't seen many submissions yet, but the positive buzz on campus makes her think this will be a great resource for the university.

"We've had one project submitted so far, but we've had a lot of feedback and excitement about [HawksNest]," Johnston said. "But it's really early, so we're not surprised that we haven't seen a lot of proposals yet."

Although the site is just now taking off, Callahan is already looking to the future.

"We're trying to add more flexibility for reviewers and some additional communication tools for donors," Callahan said. "We don't want them to have to go to the site to see updates, we want them to get emails updating them about projects."

For now, Herbert is eager to see what HawksNest can do for the university.

"I'm excited to see students and faculty projects get highlighted in front of our alumni and potential donors," Herbert said. "I think that's a terrific thing for them to get that type of exposure."

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