2020 sees crowdfunding soar in Italy and France

Crowdfunded donations soared to €218.5m in France in 2020 – a growth of nearly 273% in a year, while in Italy they reached €31m, up 38%, according to reports.

Overall, the crowdfunding sector in Italy has grown by 75% in the last year, raising over €399 million in total in 2020, while in France it raised over €1 billion for the first time. While all categories of crowdfunding are growing in France, with online fundraising skyrocketing during the pandemic, donations saw particularly high growth in the country, having sat at around €80 million annually since 2017.

The figures come from Mazars and Financement Participatif France’s Alternative Financing Barometer. Published for the second consecutive year, it reveals that €1.02 billion was raised overall in 2020, split between the categories of donations, loans, and investments. This is 62% more than 2019’s €629m, and equates to a growth of more than 600% since 2015.

In the donations category, while up until last year campaigns that offered rewards for giving were the most successful, in 2020 this switched and those without rewards saw the greatest increase. The French gave €146m to these campaigns, and €72.5m to those incentivised with a reward. For the non-incentivised campaigns, this is a growth of 550%.

In comparison, loans, which takes the biggest share of crowdfunding, accounted for €741m in 2020, a growth of 45%, with investments, which raised €59m, growing by nearly 43% compared to 2019.

The pandemic saw the social sector raise the most in donations, with and without rewards, reaching €82m last year compared to €21m in 2019. The cultural sector also saw strong growth. It collected €32m in donations in 2019 rising to more than €71m in 2020. However, the economic sector also performed well, raising more than €65m in 2020 compared to nearly €26m in 2019, which the report suggests was probably driven by support campaigns for traders and businesses affected by the restrictions on opening during the pandemic or the economic crisis.

In terms of who gives to crowdfunding campaigns, donors to campaigns offering a reward were, on average, 40 years old, while those donating without this incentive were a little older, at an average of 46 years. The average contribution also rose in 2020, at €249 for the donation without reward category (versus €93 in 2019), and €76 for the donation with reward category (versus €58 in 2019).

Crowdfunding in Italy

In Italy, the Crowdfunding in Italy Report 2020 from Starteed also splits crowdfunding into three types: donation & reward, equity, and lending. Out of last year’s €399m total, crowdfunding in the donation and reward category accounted for €31 million, which is equal to one third of all funds raised in this category between 2015-2019. It’s also an increase of 38% compared to 2019.

The figures in the report are based on the best performing Italian platforms. Overall, the top five for crowdfunding performance in 2020 were Forfunding, Rete del Dono, Kendoo, Produzioni dal Basso, and Eppela. Specifically in the donation and reward category, Forfunding saw the most raised in 2020, at almost €9.8m, while Rete del Dono raised just over €4m, and Kendoo, Produzioni dal Basso and Eppela each raised around €3.5m.

While some of 2020’s growth came in response to the pandemic, the report points out that other campaigns also did well:

“It’s important to emphasise that growth in 2020 linked to the pandemic hasn’t stopped other campaigns from reaching interesting results.”

Overall, since Starteed’s first report in 2015, crowdfunding in Italy has raised more than €778 million.

Photo by Mica Asato from Pexels