On 25-26 April 2024 in Brussels, the partners of the project ‘GrowthFundMe – Supporting community-based entrepreneurship and solidarity through civic crowdfunding’ met for a training of trainers combined with a summary of the project phases implemented so far and planning of the next phases.
The most important part of the meeting was a training course conducted by project consortium member Grwothfuning for trainers from partner institutions on civic crowdfunding in theory and practice. The basic concepts of civic crowdfunding versus commercial crowdfunding, their definitions and characteristics, the method itself as developed by Growfunding and the dynamics of a crowdfunding campaign, and the role of the trainer in this process were discussed. Good practices of crowdfunding campaigns were also analysed, and then the participants were able to tackle the preparation of a civic crowdfunding campaign in practice, starting with the idea and the history of the idea/project, the budget, through the drawing up oftime and financial and social goals or social network analysis.
The organisers also made sure to directly experience the results of successful crowdfnding campaigns – they invited participants, among other things, on a city walk to places that have been revived or redefined thanks to community support. The walk to ABATTOIR (LINK) was a fascinating excursion to a non-tourist part of Brussels, a place where the future of Cureghem (LINK) is being shaped, thanks to neighbourhood activity programmes, recycling and circular economy projects, investments in education and housing, and the dynamism of the young population. The finish of the walk was ‘den Abattoir’ which, thanks to a Growfunding project and the mutual help of residents, is reclaiming public space for greater social inclusion. One example of successful crowdfunding projects in this part of the city is also the change of use of the iconic, century-old brasserie Chapeau Blanc (LINK), which was supposed to disappear from the city map, but a group of 16 friends decided to breathe new life into it and, with the help of Growfunding, raised more than €20,000 to transform it into a pleasant new meeting place for Anderlecht residents.
On the second day, participants focused on further understanding civic crowdfunding in theory and practice – in particular creating engaging content, building a community around the project and creating a communication plan, and identifying the next steps for the GrowthFundMe project.
ARTeria was represented at the meeting by Wenancjusz Ochmann, Vice President of the Foundation, and Ewa Grynicka.
