The 6th edition of EUROCROWD’s CrowdCamp took place online on June 17th, with a focus on the potential of match-funding initiatives combining public resources with crowdfunding are having in Europe.

Building on the 3rd edition of EUROCROWD’s CrowdCamp held in Bologna in 2018, the event aimed at further spurring the debate on how public funds, both own resources and European Structural and Investment Funds, can and should be used to co-finance crowdfunding projects. To understand the potential of crowdfunding for public authorities and citizens, core insights from the forthcoming EUROCROWD report Scaling up Partnerships were presented, highlighting best practices of financial mechanisms set up between crowdfunding and public funds, and potential opportunities for replication at both the European and regional levels.

After two years of detailed research, the report presented in-depth case studies and insights on how policymakers can enable citizen engagement within regional policy priorities, and support economic and social development through crowdfunding. The participation of high-level speakers and guests, who reported their direct experience on how match-funding works, provided a practical overview of how such schemes can be set up, to fit the relevant policy framework. Participants had the opportunity to hear directly from EU institutions as well as regional public authorities and crowdfunding operators.

Christin Friedrich (Innovestment) opened the event by underlining the importance of crowdfunding as a new, innovative and democratic instrument to increase access to finance, which can create bridges and engage the public, allowing them to participate in the fundraising process.

Adam Abdulwahab (DG REGIO, European Commission) and Bruno Robino (European Investment Bank), provided clear insights on key functioning mechanisms of the European Structural and Investment Funds, stressing the existing exploratory actions conducted in different European regions via European Social Fund resources. According to both European Commission and European Investment Bank representatives, some challenges - such as the reporting and auditing of beneficiaries -  in structuring these partnerships are still to be taken into account, but the new regulatory framework for crowdfunding that will emerge from the entry into force of the ECSP Regulation on crowdfunding will definitely facilitate the design and implementation procedures. In order to start tackling existing challenges and provide evidence of successful best practices and support for their replication, EUROCROWD has published its latest report on the topic (“Scaling up Partnerships”), emerged from the activities of the Crowdfunding for European Structural and Investment Funds (CF4ESIF) Working Group.

Core objectives of the publication are to explore how match-funding mechanisms have evolved in combination with public resources, to identify standardised methodologies of cooperation between crowdfunding platforms and public authorities, and to encourage joint efforts between public authorities and crowdfunding platforms towards the design and implementation of innovative funding schemes. The panel discussion substantiated the broad overview provided via the report, highlighting four best practices. Here, Elenora Cozzi (Comune di Milano); Audrius Griskevicius (FinBee); Yoann Nesme (PPL) and Megan Leonard-Kane(Seedrs) presented their experiences in how to structure an efficient collaboration between public authorities and platforms, as well as some suggestions on how to approach crowdfunding and match-funding activities.

The relevance of more and diverse partnerships between different stakeholders was also stressed by Rosa D’Amato, Greens/EFA, who underlined the importance of the growth of innovative synergies and the need to build a new channel of interaction between the public sector and citizens

• Further info about CF4ESIF Working Group

Contacts: Francesca Passeri, Deputy Director, francesca.passeri@eurocrowd.org