This week Crowdfunder announced an ambitious project called the “Crowdfund Cornwall Campaign”. The principle behind the scheme is to run 100 crowdfunding projects all based in Cornwall, each helping a business, event, festival, or social enterprise find funding that they would otherwise not have to expand or to execute a project.
The result of this activity should be a considerable boost for the region and is founded very much in the principle of harnessing the irresistible groundswell of a mass of small contributions that underpins the notion of crowdfunding itself. This is the long tail of crowd powered regional development.
The bonds and communal activities should also galvanise and focus the area on its ability to work collectively for a greater goal, and demonstrate how these projects are linked and are mutually beneficial.
Phil Geraghty is the MD of Crowdfunder and spoke to me about the project and explained that, to him, this might be the start of a new movement for crowdfunded regional development and regeneration.
At twintangibles we think it is a really interesting idea. We often hear about how crowdfunding can’t sit in isolation and that to forge real development it needs to be seen as part of an “ecosystem”. What is interesting here is the potentially complementary nature of many of the projects and the spillover benefits that might ensue. So a festival that might even be free but that otherwise would not have happened without funding can perhaps now take place and will offer local catering and accommodation businesses opportunities to create economic activity. This is something that is often forgotten by those that don’t see funding a creative or social project as being directly related to helping a local economy. In this case the sheer scale of the scheme will be an interesting example to watch and learn from.
Crowdfunder has a recently forged relationship with the Peoplefund.it platform and through that a strong link with Hugh Fearnley-Whitingstall and the River Cottage ventures like Landshare and Fishfight. These groups have enormous social and relationship capital which is a valuable asset to have in a crowdfunding campaign. We may see many of the projects in the scheme sharing similar values to the ethos of the River Cottage group, and why not. This would potentially sit well with Cornwall which has a strong food and drink sector.
We shall watch it with interest and wish them well and wonder…
- Shall Trelawny live?
- And shall Trelawny die?
- Here’s twenty thousand Cornish men (and women) crowdfunders
- Will know the reason why!
- :o)
- Good luck guys!
If you want to be part of the campaign email support@crowdfunder.co.uk or follow Crowdfunder on Twitter @crowdfunderuk
The projects are now live. You can see them here. http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/projects/search/category:Crowdfund%20Cornwall/