Financing for Society: Case Studies

In our main report, we provide a landmark assessment of the suitability of crowdfunding as a new model of finance that could offer better value to the public sector. Our assessment is based upon research with six public sector case studies – three UK local authorities and three NHS bodies – who each explored the potential of investment-based crowdfunding in their local context.

Through working with these case studies, the report: helps to overcome existing knowledge barriers with respect to crowdfunding; provides a decision-making tool to demystify the process of utilising crowdfunding as a public body; shows how crowdfunding can be utilised to create new forms of civic engagement with local residents and service users; presents a new Community Municipal Bond structure co-created as an output of the project; and, offers a series of recommendations for what should happen next for public sector crowdfunding.

The report concludes that the public sector is yet to make the most of crowdfunding and to realise the financial and non-financial benefits it has been shown to generate. We hope our report will be a helpful guide to encourage public sector bodies to unlock the potential of crowdfunding.