When wondering how to help a country to pay back the International Monetary Fund, one may not automatically think of crowdfunding. Yet this is Thom Finney’s ambitious bet. On Tuesday May 30, the British citizen living in London launched a campaign to raise €1,600,000,000 EUR in 7 days on the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. By the second day, € 1,408,336 EUR was raised by 81,744 people.
To help an economy recover we need investment and stimulus, not cuts and austerity.” --Thom Finney
Thom Finney promises rewards to people in return for their donations. The rewards are 100% Greek products like:
For € 3, a postcard picture of the Prime Minister, sent from Greece
For € 6, a Greek Feta and Olive salad
For € 10, a small bottle of Ouzo
And for € 25, a bottle of Greek wine
If at the end of the 7 days the total amount of €1,600,000,000 EUR is not reached, people will get their donations back.
Crowdfunding is usually used to raise small amounts of capital from a large number of people to create a business. According to a New York Times article, Thom Finney’s project is the first that uses crowdfunding to bail out a country.
Interacting with people to save the country that gave birth to democracy is a novel idea, and an innovative use of crowdfunding. But is paying the International Monetary Fund debt the best solution? Or would it be better to find other investment solutions via crowdfunding to support the Greek people?
Sources:
https://www.indiegogo.com/greek-bailout-fund.html#/story
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/crowdfunding.asp
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/world/europe/a-crowdfunding-campaign-tries-to-save-greece.html?_r=1
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/ancient-greece-democracy
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-06-30/there-one-small-problem-greek-crowdfunded-bailout-campaign
Photo credit : EME via Pixabay, CC0 Public Domain License
