Crowdfunding for the Public Sector
Many projects undertaken by community energy groups require substantial capital, so that business models and fund raising methods can be of interest. Following their declarations of climate emergencies, some local authorities are discussing cooperative action with community energy groups, making project funding an issue of joint concern. The authors of a report on crowdfunding for the public sector [1] refer to the development of a strong UK alternative finance sector since the 2008 banking crisis, with a significant contribution from regulated investment-based crowdfunding. They note that at the time of writing their report the only local authority to use this form of financing has been Swindon Borough Council, and ask whether the public sector more generally could benefit from it. Grant funding “enabled a cross-sector research team to work with six public sector organizations to assess the suitability of crowdfunding for socially and/or environmentally beneficial inf