Social Impact Investing Beyond the SIB pp 141-175 | Cite as
The Evolution of a Social Service Crowdfunding Platform Towards an Investing Logic: The Meridonare Case Study
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Abstract
This study aims to configure an innovative financial structure for social impact investments. Framing on the Theory of Change, we apply an exploratory analysis to the Meridonare case study, a donation/reward crowdfunding platform led by the Banco di Napoli Foundation and engaging in philanthropy in the social sector. Over the years, the platform has changed the Foundation’s resource allocation procedures through the adoption of an “impact model” evaluation process. Accordingly, for each financing request, Meridonare defines a social evaluation report allowing the Foundation to establish which projects are worthy of additional funds as rewards. However, in its current state, the Meridonare crowdfunding platform lacks the investing perspective, thus we propose an innovative instrument of Social Finance: the Social Bond Crowdfunding based (SBCb), arising from the “pay-for-performance” rewarding mechanism. Therefore, the role of the Foundation shifts from impact facilitator to impact generator.
Keywords
Crowdfunding Crowdfunding platforms Foundation Pay-for-performance mechanismReferences
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