Results from the Assessment of the "Social Crowdfunding" pilot // ZSI

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Results from the Assessment of the "Social Crowdfunding" pilot

Section: Work and Equal Opportunities

The final report of this evaluation project present results regarding the pilot "Social Crowdfunding", in the context of the funding scheme "Impact Innovation" by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). In "Social Crowdfunding", innovative social enterprises were given the opportunity to provide the co-payment of their funding by implementing a crowdfunding campagne. Project teams recieved support such as learning materials, coachings, networking, and a professional video shooting.

The evaluation of "Social Crowdfunding" investigated the impact of the pilot on the projects and the self-assessment of their crowdfunding success; captures inputs from the project teams and experts for innovation on the future design of funding schemes; and aims to determine how innovative enterprises without experience in FFG-funding assess the potential of crowdfunding. The evaluation design is based on a triangulation of methods to capture different perspectives. Hard data drawn from the FFG's project and programme database allows to compare "Social Crowdfunding" projects with projects that applied to different funding schemes. Qualitative interviews capture experiences and perspectives of funded projects, experts for social enterprises and crowdfunding, and of projects funded by a different scheme. Finally, a quantitative survey among the social enterprise and startup community provide valuable insights into the appeal and potential of crowdfunding for funding innovative ideas.