Strengthening accountability and governance of crowdfunding: enhancing funding of higher educational institutions

Background and Purpose: The reduction in government funding requires public universities to seek different forms of funding for their activities, and crowdfunding has become an essential enhancement to public university funding sources. This research aims to evaluate the strength of accountability and governance of crowdfunding for public universities Methodology: The study has adopted factual data based on relevant literature reviews and documents on crowdfunding. Findings: This study explored the aspects that will strengthen the accountability and governance framework of crowdfunding, especially for public universities. To increase public confidence in crowdfunding, it must be well-governed with strict criteria to ensure proper accountability and transparency to reduce the possibility of corruption and prevent fraud. From the strengthening of the crowdfunding mechanism, it can be concluded that the governance system developed will include methodologies and standards for evaluating the sources of funds, protecting the donors, evaluating projects qualified for funding, and reinvestment of contributions, where applicable Contributions: The significance of this study is that it makes a new contribution by investigating perspectives on improving accountability and governance of crowdfunding. Moreover, the current study suggests that Malaysia may determine the level of adaptation of crowdfunding mechanisms and the sustainability of crowdfunding as an alternative platform to fund Malaysian public universities in the future.