Crowdfunding for Sustainable Development Projects: Empirical Analysis of the Influence of Gender in a Portuguese Sustainability-oriented Platform

This study aims to examine the role of gender in lending operations and specific features performed in a loan-based crowdfunding (CF) platform oriented to funding sustainable projects. Using a quantitative approach, the research exploits a database of information on past CF campaigns carried out in a specific Portuguese platform—GoParity. The results of the study show that gender is able to influence the way CF is used to finance sustainable development projects. The characteristics of the CF operations are shaped by the presence of women in the shareholder structure, and especially by the gender composition of the project team. This specific characteristic affects the design of the CF campaign in terms of the amount of the pledging goal, the maturity of the loan and the guarantee offered.