Does Rural Crowdfunding Work?

I remain a huge fan of crowdfunding, especially in rural regions, where it can offer a financial lifeline to business owners and help to build more supportive community networks.  However, the data on crowdfunding impacts are somewhat mixed, finding that crowdfunding sites can be effective but may not have significant long-term economic impacts. 

The jury is still out, but I remain encouraged by new research, in an interesting paper entitled “Does Crowdfunding Foster Rural Entrepreneurship?, which taps into a new database that assesses crowdfunding’s wider community impacts.  The report, by Utrecht University’s Nicola Cortinovis, finds positive impacts from rural crowdfunding.  She finds that locations with crowdfunding campaigns show subsequently higher numbers of local ventures when compared to similar locations without such support.  In addition, these impacts are greater in places where strong community networks and ecosystems are in place. These types of nurturing support can often be found in rural locales.  This promising research offers further evidence that crowdfunding can not only help build new businesses, but it can also help nurture rural entrepreneur ecosystems as well.