Definition: The practice of securing funding for a project or business venture by a dispersed group of people: the crowd. It takes places via online platforms that connect the investor or the donor with the project owner without the intermediation of a financial organization. Different platforms coexist: reward-based where individuals support campaigns and receive some kind of reward in return; donation-based where there is no expectation to receive a tangible benefit; equity-based where individuals invest and receive equity-like shares in return; and lending-based where individuals lend money and expect the repayment of a principal with or without interest.
Welcome to the Conservation Finance Guide. The overall goal is to provide practical tools to support the rapid expansion of sustainable finance mechanisms that generate long-term funding for biodiversity conservation.