Using crowdfunding as a source of research funding is becoming a more and more important part of the landscape of higher education institutions. The relevant literature indicates that the success of the entire initiative mainly depends on the initiator. Despite this, it is not clear what challenges are related to crowdfunding in research and what competences are required for the organization of crowdfunding in research. The aim of this article is to identify the challenges of crowdfunding in research and the necessary competences required to meet such challenges from the perspective of scholars who have little or no experience with crowdfunding in research. Our results show that the initiator of crowdfunding in research needs to deal with the preparation of an invitation, activities performed on the crowdfunding platform, the promotion of the initiative, the low involvement of backers, insufficient formal and legal regulations, and verifying backers. The competences include curiosity, openness to novelties, social, digital and marketing skills, and the ability to verify the correctness of the work performed by the crowd. The proposed crowdfunding in research competence framework may be helpful in developing a training process for scholars interested in organizing crowdfunding in research.