Civic technology is notoriously unruly, constantly disrupting the status quo in government institutions: from Presidential Innovation Fellows in the White House to the Mayor’s Office of New Urban Mechanics in Boston to Code for America’s Brigades growing in cities around the world, civic tech brings innovative approaches to old problems.
Perhaps no government problem is as old – or as fundamental to civic life – as budgeting. So it makes sense that civic tech has found a way to disrupt governmental budget processes, via crowdfunding. Of course, taxes themselves are a form of crowdfunding: everyone (more or less) kicks in his or her share (more or less), and governments use those collected funds to create and support programs for the public good. But the newest generation of crowdfunding platforms goes a step further and creates online spaces for private citizens to invest more directly in the specific civic programs they choose. Civic crowdfunding sites like Citizinvestor, neighborly, and Spacehive are a little like Kickstarter, but they don’t raise money for your cousin’s best friend’s lousy band. Instead, these sites seek donations for public projects like community gardens, bike racks, and improvements to public parks.
So, in theory, everyone wins: citizens get to support the civic causes they care about most, and there’s more money overall going to civic projects. And who doesn’t love a nice garden, bike rack, or park?
Here’s the thing, though: civic crowdfunding raises all kinds of complicated ethical, legal, and philosophical questions about the role of government, the duty of citizens, and the increasing economic polarity in America. In May, the Digital Civil Society Lab at Stanford University’s Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society convened a group of international scholars and practitioners to discuss the implications of civic crowdfunding. Microsoft’s Technology and Civic Engagement team was proud to sponsor the event, and we’re proud to share the findings.
The group addressed questions like:
- Does crowdfunding democratize funding? If so, for whom?
- In what ways should crowdfunding platforms be transparent?
- Does civic crowdfunding lead to an abdication of public responsibility, by either government agencies or citizens?
Heavy, disruptive stuff. Read more about it here.
