2023-05-10 16:45:14
By promoting a debate on the topic of crowdfunding, theCitizen Association presented this morning the eBook “Creating shared value. Crowdfunding and co-planning in social innovation ecosystems”, edited by Alfredo Valeri of the G. Imperatori Study Center (Marsilio Editori). The publication is divided into three sections and makes use of the contribution of some of the leading experts in the field and the promoters of the most significant crowdfunding experiences implemented in our country in both the public and private sectors. The first part is dedicated to the evolutionary trends of the donation and reward crowdfunding phenomenon in Italy, where in 2021 alone over 52 million euros were collected through the platforms, with the identification of possible fields of application, of the actors from the crowd- economy and the impacts generated on territories and communities by the most significant co-planning practices enabled through the crowdfunding mechanism.
The second part presents, through the testimonies of the direct protagonists, a selection of cases and application experiences by the various categories of subjects active in Italy on these fronts: Municipalities, companies, Universities, Banks, Third sector bodies, etc. Finally, the third part offers a collection of practical guidelines to guide the designer in planning and implementing successful crowdfunding campaigns.
“Creating shared value, noting the win-win nature of co-design processes that use crowdfunding, very clearly demonstrates the potential for applying this tool by companies oriented towards sustainability, who want to develop or encourage impact and demonstrate their commitment to local stakeholders”, underlined Simonetta Giordani, Secretary General of the Civita Association.
On the occasion of the event, the same also launched an important announcement: “The Civita Association has addressed the issue of crowdfunding not only as an object of analysis, but also as a foundation for a concrete initiative designed together with a large associated company: the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane Group, which has always been sensitive to the development – not just infrastructural – of the territories. This partnership gave birth to the project ‘regeneration of the future. Your projects for the territory’ which we will officially launch at the end of May, with a Call on the Produzioni dal Basso platform dedicated to the realities of the Third sector active in Calabria and Sicily in the fields of culture, tourism and sustainability. Through this initiative, Ferrovie dello Stato and the Civita Association will select and reward with a financial contribution the best projects validated by the community, capable of contributing in a concrete way to animating the local offer and responding to the needs expressed by the territories in the two Southern Regions”.
Then the Secretary General concluded by hoping “that this innovative initiative, together with the publication presented today, can contribute to the dissemination of knowledge on crowdfunding, so that an ever-increasing number of public and private actors find inspiration to promote initiatives capable of general shared value both on the socially and economically”.
This was followed by the speech by Alfredo Valeri, Research Manager and editor of the publication, who highlighted the role of crowdfunding in facing contemporary challenges, enabling processes of social innovation through platforms, which from simple “showcases” for projects looking for funding they become real generative hubs of collaborative networks that increasingly involve individuals, non-profit organizations, businesses and public bodies towards a common development goal.
From the subsequent intervention by Nazzareno Gabrielli, general manager of Banca Etica, it emerged the Institute’s commitment to support innovative organizations and projects with an environmental and social impact, both through the 11 editions of the Impatto+ Call for Proposals, and through a direct award outside the Call for Proposals. “For a bank like ours, a cooperative and strongly rooted in a large community of people and organisations, partners and customers, who take part in the project anchored in ethical finance, crowdfunding is not only an effective financing tool for individual initiatives and companies . In fact, it represents – underlines Gabrielli – a method of shared and bottom-up participation, in support of a network formed by the realities that contribute to sustainable development. Over the years, thanks to crowdfunding and more than 30 thousand donations, the Banca Etica Group has raised over 3.5 million euros aimed at supporting the implementation of over 350 projects with a positive social and environmental impact for the community”.
Angelo Rindone, founder and CEO of Produzioni dal Basso, highlighted during his speech that “the experiences and case studies recounted in this publication by the Civita Association are a very precise snapshot of the opportunities that platforms such as Produzioni dal Basso can offer the corporate world, the third sector, foundations and public administrations. It’s not just a matter of activating online fundraising tools but of building real co-planning paths, to generate a positive impact starting from the territories and communities.”
The pioneering experience of civic crowdfunding in Milan represented the fulcrum of the speeches by Alessia Cappello, Councilor for Economic Development and Labor Policies, who produced a video contribution, and by Davide Bazzini, Senior Project Manager of the Municipality of Milan, who the implementation methods of this innovative policy, with the tenders carried out between 2014 and 2022 and the contribution of resources from the “PON Metro”.
With Mara Moschini and Marco Cortesi the concrete testimony of how the match-funding of Infinity Lab – the permanent laboratory created by Infinity+ to be the incubator of new stories, ideas and skills for directors, video makers, authors and screenwriters – integrated with funds collected through the contribution of the fan base, has allowed the creation and distribution of the seasons of the well-known “Green Storytellers” series.
Luigi Di Pace, Head of the Bicocca University Crowdfunding project, illustrated how the best innovative projects conceived within the community of students and researchers are selected and co-financed by the University after the crowdfunding campaign. This virtuous practice will also be adopted by other Italian universities in the coming months.
Francesca Passeri, Deputy Director European Crowdfunding Network concluded the meeting, arguing that “the added value of crowdfunding rests on its ability to unite different subjects and channel everyone’s resources towards specific objectives. Precisely for this reason the future of the instrument is linked to double thread to an increase in collaborations, partnerships and synergies with other actors, institutional and otherwise.Crowdfunding has all the potential to inaugurate new paradigms of interaction and governance between the subjects at the center of society, and it is a collective responsibility to exploit maximize the opportunities that the tool can and will offer in the future”.
#Associazione #Civita #presents #crowdfunding #eBooks #create #shared