Crowdfunding, or micro-donations via the internet is becoming more prevalent in economic and social environments, but what does a social crowdfunding platform consist of?  What are the funding options? And the key to success? In order to provide a response to all this, on 30 November the Faculty of Economic and Social Sciences organised a session focusing on the Goteo social platform. 

Goteo team member, Mauricio O’Brien, was the person who participated in the series of lectures on social entrepreneurship organised by the Faculty in order to talk to students in person about the various funding opportunities offered by these types of platforms to social entrepreneurs. 

O’Brien also shared with students one of the keys to the success of the crowdfunding model: allowing the community to ratify entrepreneur’s projects before putting them into practice based on the contributions provided. 

Goteo is pioneering in terms of the creation of a new service called matchfunding, which consists of involving public administration in funding for projects that have been ratified by the community.  Along these lines, O’Brien explained that one of the most significant challenges of crowdfunding platforms is being able to measure the social impact of the funded projects. 

This civic engagement crowdfunding platform focuses on initiatives from members of the public, social, cultural, technological and educational projects.  In 2017 the platform brought in more than 1.1 million euros and since 2012, it has achieved more than 5.4 million.