Crowdfunding social innovation (Special Olympics 2014)
About
Crowdfunding has emerged in recent years an increasingly importance source of grants and investments for new ventures. Drawing on the concept of crowdsourcing, the idea is for large numbers of people to make a small donation to reach a target amount of funding.
Research has until now mainly focused on crowdfunding platforms for entrepreneurship, but crowdfunding may be a powerful engine for social innovation projects. Despite all positive forecasts, however, crowdfunding in Belgium is still in its infancy.
On the occasion of the Special Olympics, hosted by Antwerp in September 2014, the research project will address the opportunities for social innovation projects to entice sympathisers to make a small donation for charity organisations. Charity projects have been using donation-based funding for many years, but are now exploring technology platforms for raising money.
The goal of the project is to understand crowdfunding for social innovation, and gain insight in the attitudes, motivations and expectations of potential donators with regard to crowdfunding.
Methodology
- By means of an environmental scan, we will map the crowdfunding sector in Belgium and identify the different components of the different platforms.
- Using in-depth interviews, focus groups and workshops will allow to identify drivers and thresholds for donations
- Recommendations are made for raising donators’ engagement and hence optimising crowdfunding campaigns
Duration of the project
This project runs from 01/12/13 – 30/04/14
Staff involved
Financed by
- iMinds
Related content
- Website Special Olympics (in Dutch)