EUROCROWD, the leading European advocate for online capital formation, has published a report entitled Scaling Up Partnerships: A Blueprint For the Implementation Of Match-Funding Schemes Between Public Authorities and Crowdfunding Platforms. The report explains how to manage the use of European Structural and Investment Funds in combination with crowdfunded offerings.
EUROCROWD states that over the last three years, match-funding practices in Europe have increased significantly, proving that public authorities can create measurable impact when co-investing public resources alongside individuals.
According to the report:
“Crowdfunding has become increasingly interesting for public authorities as a further option to be included in the existing mix of financial instruments. Especially with regard to the framework of cohesion policy. Transparency, [the] democratization of finance, easier access to funds, as well as accountability and control over funded actions are only some of the benefits that this relatively young instrument can offer. Connecting regional and local authorities with crowdfunding might help tackle some of the most important barriers that the industry is currently facing at the European level, such as the uncertainty about the legal framework under which crowdfunding is regulated in different Member States, the lack of trust towards internet-based transactions, the lack of financial literacy and knowledge about the functioning mechanisms of crowdfunding, and the risk of short-term focus of crowdfunding projects.”
The report provides examples from 8 European countries along with 22 best practices that seeks to offer insight into how such partnerships can work, especially when including the use of public – such as European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) – resources. The goal is to highlight and provide a blueprint for crowdfunding partnerships.
In 2018, EUROCROWD first analyzed the use of European Structural and Investment Funds in combination with crowdfunding. This new study strives to demonstrate that match-funding schemes can not only work, but can also be scaled up and used as a road-map for replication by other public authorities.
The report states that:
“… experiences between crowdfunding platforms and public authorities have proven to be successful and have been extended in those areas where they had already been implemented and replicated by different organizations in other Member States and regions.”
The report advocates creating a “match-funding initiative” where public authorities and platforms collaborate on securities offerings.
The report may be downloaded here.
