The French Confederation of Worker Co-operatives (CG Scop) has launched an online platform to help crowdfund co-operative projects. The website, called ‘I finance a co-operative project’ (www.jefinanceunprojetcooperatif.fr) includes information about this new type of financing and highlights the main benefits of investing in co-operative businesses. France has over 2,680 worker co-operatives that employ 51,000 people.
The platform enables those interested to invest, loan or donate to support various co-operative ventures. These can be co-ops starting up, enterprises looking to transition to co-operative ownership or existing co-ops looking to expand. To launch the website CG Scop has teamed up with two well-known crowdfunding actors, Wiseed and Spear. Projects that have already benefited from financial support via Wiseed and Spear or other crowdfunding platforms are also listed on the website. Read more on the project here (in French).
Photo: Library in Clermont Ferrand that has been converted into worker owenership after a successful crowdfunding capaign
