Crowdfunding - where next, how far, and what are the limits?

To mark the RSA's launch into the world of crowdfunding, an expert panel gathers to consider the current and future challenges and opportunities for the sector.

Crowdfunding is still growing massively, with breakthrough innovations and products happening all the time, as well as bigger and bigger campaigns. Nesta recently estimated that within five years crowdfunding will grow to £14.5bn of finance annually in the UK and account for 50% of charitable donations. Equity crowdfunding allows people to own shares in exciting start-ups for the first time without all of the friction normally associated with doing so.

As crowdfunding becomes more and more mainstream, commentators envisage a near future where citizens who use crowdfunding to get their latest consumer fix, or to support projects they feel passionate about, demand that similar models are used to help local communities decide where public money should be spent.

So, while the sector offers genuine excitement and the promise of new era of entrepreneurialism, engagement and growth, there are challenges ahead, and tough questions to be asked around the limits to crowdfunding. Is there anything that can’t - or shouldn’t - be funded by the crowd?

The RSA brings together an expert panel to consider the current and future challenges and opportunities for the sector, at a moment when the RSA launches itself into the world of crowdfunding.

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