Świadomość funkcjonowania crowdfundingu

Equity crowdfunding is a new and quickly growing form of raising funds. It has developed dynamically in Poland in recent years. Despite its increasing popularity, however, this fundraising method has yet to be sufficiently studied. The aim of this article is to offer a general analysis of how equity crowdfunding is perceived and how its development prospects are assessed by undergraduate studies at the SGH Warsaw School of Economics. The article contains two hypotheses. The first one assumes that the higher the year of study, the more knowledge students have about crowdfunding. The second hypothesis assumes that the higher the year of study, the more likely the students are to increase their interest in crowdfunding in the future and the higher the level of their declared financial involvement. To validate these hypotheses, a questionnaire method using survey tools was chosen. The German Crowdfunding Barometer was taken as a reference. Additionally, it was decided to conduct in-depth interviews with selected students to learn in particular about the impact of non-economic factors on investment decisions. This paper marks the beginning of research on crowdfunding. An analysis of the obtained results reveals an incomplete understanding of the concept of crowdinvesting. Therefore, educational activities are recommended.