In January 2018, ECN established a multi-stakeholder working group “Crowdfunding for European Structural and Investment Funds (CF4ESIF)” which aims at exploring the potential of crowdfunding as a blending and match-funding mechanism within the context of the European Cohesion Policy. The members of the working group are crowdfunding platforms, regional development agencies and regional authorities from Belgium, Germany, Italy, Malta, the Netherlands and Spain. Together, they have put the report “Triggering Participation: A Collection of Civic Crowdfunding and Match-funding Experiences in the EU” which was officially released during the 3rd ECN CrowdCamp “The European Dimension of Civic Crowdfunding” on June 28, 2018.

The report showcases seven existing best practices in the EU, highlighting the different roles that public authorities can play in supporting and amplifying the impact of crowdfunding campaigns for territorial and social development in their jurisdictions. Best practices have been reported in the form of fact-sheets, focusing specifically on providing insights in terms of impacts produced, cooperation with public authorities, and obstacles faced along the way.

The aim of the report is to provide policy-makers, public administration officials, and the crowdfunding industry at large with a collection of successful experiences of match-funding and civic crowdfunding options. The presented best practices should also be considered as benchmarks, in terms of procedures, indicators and outputs, for the replication of match-funding schemes in other European cities and regions.

Active engagement and dedication of crowdfunding platforms, regional development agencies and regional authorities resulted in such outcomes in less than half year. But the work has really just started and the working group has future goals to achieve. During the launch of the report at the 3rd ECN CrowdCamp in Bologna, Francesca Passeri, Head of Advocacy at ECN stated: “Today we are at our 3rd milestone, which is the publication of this report. For the coming months and years, we already have some activities planned. We will have one workshop during the European Week of Regions and Cities, to which, of course, you are all invited, and in 2019, after this first year of exploring, studying, mapping and drafting, we would really like to see some concrete output of this working group. We would like the members of this working group start implementing projects, combining crowdfunding with structural funds.”