Through several parliamentary questions and its own initiative report on Reindustrialising Europe, the European Parliament has repeatedly urged the European Commission to take action in relation to the growing use of crowdfunding in the EU.
The European Commission, after consultation with stakeholders, published the 27 of March 2014 the Communication on unleashing the potential of crowdfunding in the European Union / COM(2014) 172 final.
This communication presents a first appraisal of the crowdfunding situation in the EU. It is intended to serve as a starting point for discussion and possible future actions. In this document, the Commission draws on the risks and challenges identified by stakeholders during the consultation process to come up with several proposals such as the creation of a European Crowdfunding Stakeholder Forum and the engagement to further assess, through a dedicated study, the increasing importance of crowdfunding activities in the EU.
The Frequently Asked Questions‘ document briefly lists the additional actions proposed by the Commission.
This Keysource presents a selection of recent articles and studies to complement the analysis done by the Commission on this communication.
Overviews
What is crowdfunding? / European Crowdfunding Network; October 2012
An introduction to crowdfunding / NESTA, July 2012
Analysis
Crowdfunding: Innovative access to finance and regulatory challenges / Liam Collins, World Bank Policy Brief, The Innovation Policy Platform, 2014 This report provides a definition and clear explanation of the different crowdfunding models, together with a visual representation of the crowdfunding process.
Some simple economics of crowdfunding / Ajay Agrawal, Christian Catalini, Avi Goldfarb, NBER, 1 June 2013 This study concludes that it is still too early to predict how crowdfunding activities will evolve.
Crowd-funding: An infant industry growing fast / Eleanor Kirby; Shane Worner; 2014 This IOSCO Staff Working Paper presents an overview of the crowdfunding industry worldwide.
Crowdfunding: a sustainable alternative to traditional banking? / Economic Outlook BBVA Research; 2013 In this study, the authors highlight the potential disruptive effects that crowdfunding could have for the traditional banking industry.
Crowdfunding: An alternative source of funding with potential / Thomas F. Dapp; Deutsche Bank AG; 18 March 2013 According to this report, the demand for crowdfunding, as well as the number of crowdfunding platforms, is increasing rapidly.
Will crowdfunding kickstart an investment revolution? Policy and political implications of Peer-to-Peer financing / Roosevelt Institute, Policy Note, 5 September 2013 Institutions and governments will have to develop new legislative approaches to cope with growing crowdfunding activities.
The dynamics of crowdfunding: An exploratory study / Ethan R. Mollick; University of Pennsylvania – Wharton School; 26 June 2013
Crowdfunding: The new frontier for financing entrepreneurship? / Giancarlo Giudici, Ricardo Nava, Cristina Rossi Lamastra, Chiara Verecondo; October 2012 This study explores the role that crowdfunding will play in financing large and small business enterprises and projects.
The geography of crowdfunding / A. Agarwal, C. Catalini, A. Goldfarb; Working Paper No. w16820; NBER, 2011
Stakeholder views
Livre Blanc finance participative. Plaidoyer et propositions pour un nouveau cadre réglementaire / FinPart; Edition 2013
A framework for European crowdfunding / Kristof De Buysere; Oliver Gajda; Ronald Kleverlaan; Dan Marom; Crowdfunding Framework; 2012
The FCA’s regulatory approach to crowdfunding (and similar activities) / Financial Conduct Authority, October 2013
EuroFinUse response to the European Commission consultation / EuroFinUse, 20 December 2013
The wisdom of crowd-funders: What motivates cross-border private development Aid? / Raj M. Desai; Homi Kharas; 2013
Legislation
Review of crowdfunding regulation 2013. Interpretations of existing regulation concerning crowdfunding in Europe, North America and Israel / European Crowdfunding Network, October 2013
Respective scopes of EU and national laws concerning crowdfunding operations: How to change legal framework at both levels / Crowdfunding for Europe, September 2013
Regulation of crowdfunding in Germany, the UK, Spain and Italy and the impact of the European Single Market / European Crowdfunding Network, 13 June 2013
Evolutions-droit-europeen-droit-national / FinPart (Finance Participative wiki); July 2013
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The last april 26th, I launched a campaign named Plus Europe through the platform Indiegogo to promote the political integration of the EU trough small social, cultural and educative programes. It can be seen here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/plus-europe#home
It’s a mixed political/philantropical campaign.
After reading the article posted there are some matters that I’d like to prompt based on my own experience:
– We have non European platforms operating in the EU market. It’s not strange but I haven’t seen this aspect on the documents linked to the article.
– It’s important that the platform provides an effective system of contact. I’ve sent several messages to the staff of Indiegogo without replay.
– To use the euro as currency for the campaign is being an additional difficulty. Because of that, Indiegogo required as method for collecting the contributions the PayPal platform which seems to be specialized on payments for sell and buy goods which is not my case.
– In web hosted campaigns is important to enjoy technical capabilities enough for being able of adjusting the design with the tools provided by the platform.
– It’s the only platform that I’ve found offering a flexible scheme for raised funds not needing to reach the whole amount for getting funded.
Thanks