Abstract:

The outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic caused an economic crisis on a global scale, and thus numerous and very serious problems related to enterprises development or even to the possibility of their survival. The financial situation of many enterprises deteriorated significantly, in many cases entrepreneurs faced the specter of bankruptcy as pandemic led to limitation of the possibility of running a business in the way, form and scale known from pre-pandemic times.

That is why the main aim of the article is to present the crowdsourcing mechanism as an alternative form of obtaining funds that allow to maintain, and sometimes develop, the functioning of the company in today's difficult times. Additionally, it was decided that the secondary goal of the article is to identify, present and characterize selected, leading (locally in Poland and globally in the world) virtual online platforms designed to support entrepreneurs in obtaining funds for the implementation of various business projects. The third goal is to present the results of a bibliographic analysis of the articles focused on the issue of the crowdsourcing. Research methods used in the work are primarily the analysis and critique of the literature and examination of source documents (mainly internet sources - crowdfunding platforms).

After reading the article, the reader should be convinced that crowdsourcing is an innovative, relatively easily accessible, and above all an effective method of obtaining funds for the implementation of various business projects, and also be able to justify and defend this position.