WithYouWeDo: Corporate Social Responsibility

and Crowdfunding

2 | Case study WithYouWeDo

Name of platform WithYouWeDo

Geographical focus Italy

Active since December 2014

Crowdfunding model Reward based and Donation based

Type of crowdfunding Take it all and All or nothing

Private partner TIM

Platform partner Starteed

Platform website http://withyouwedo.telecomitalia.com/

Executive summary

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TIM WithYouWeDo (WYWD) is areward- and donation-basedcrowdfunding platform, initiated byTIM, the leading telecommunicationsand ICT group in Italy, and technicallydeveloped by Starteed, an Italian SMEthat offers white- label solutions in thecrowdfunding and co-creation market. Itwas launched in December 2014 andoffers matchfunding possibilitiesprovided by TIM. The platform isoriented towards projects thatincorporate digital technology in one ofthe following areas:

Spreading Digital Culture: schools,art and literature, from protectingheritage to innovation in theexpression of creativity.

Social Innovation: from innovativeprojects for solidarity to buildingnew models for integration.

Environmental Protection:everything which relates toenvironmental sustainability.

Since its launch in December 2014, atotal of €1,524,402 has been raised onWYWD through the support of 4,167backers. €157,835 has beenmatchfunded by TIM to WYWDprojects. In total, 71 projects have beenposted on WYWD. Out of 26 projectsposted on WYWD in the area of digitalculture, 46% (12 projects) weresuccessful.

The most important impact of WYWDon CCS crowdfunding, is that it hasopened up crowdfunding and hasprovided additional matchfunding by aprivate actor, TIM, for digital culture inItaly. Moreover, the support provided byTIM in promoting the WYWD projectsand in reaching out to its communitiesof followers, has given a boost toWYWD projects. The individual andfree-of-charge crowdfundingconsultancy offered by Starteed furtherstrengthens the WYWD projects.

Besides the partnership between TIMand Starteed, additional partnershipsbetween WYWD and media partners orfoundations, accelerate the impact ofWYWD on the crowdfunding projects:each partnership allows to reach out toand to engage a wider or newcommunity of backers.

TIM WithYouWeDo

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TIMWithYouWeDo (WYWD) is a reward-and donation-based crowdfundingplatform. It was launched in December2014 and offers possibilities formatchfunding provided by TIM. Theplatform is oriented towards projectsthat incorporate digital technology inone of the following areas:

Spreading Digital Culture: schools,art and literature, from protectingheritage to innovation in theexpression of creativity.

Social Innovation: from innovativeprojects for solidarity to buildingnew models for integration.

Environmental Protection:everything which relates toenvironmental sustainability.

The WYWD platform was initiated byTIM and technically developed byStarteed:

TIM is the leadingtelecommunications and ICT groupin Italy, with operations also in Brazilthrough TIM Brazil. The Groupgenerated revenues of 19 billioneuros in 2016.

Starteed is an Italian “crowdcompany” offering white labelsolutions in the crowdfunding andco-creation market, that integratemanagement, marketing andbusiness functions for professionalsand companies, which plan to createDo-it-Yourself campaigns or multi-project platforms. The companysupports crowdfunding in all itsdifferent models - from donation toequity. At this moment, thecompany works with a team of 12people.

As a technical partner, Starteedmaintains and manages the WYWDcrowdfunding platform.

WYWD in numbers

Since its launch, a total of €1,524,402 has been raised on WYWD through the supportof 4,167 backers; €157,835 of matchfunding has been provided by TIM to WYWDprojects. 71 projects have been posted on WYWD up till now, of which 18 projects inthe area of environmental protection, 27 projects in the area of social innovation and26 projects in the area of digital culture. Of the 71 projects, 33 projects reached theirgoal (46%), of which 8 in the area of environmental protection (44% of the 18 projectsin this area), 13 in the area of social innovation (48%) and 12 in the area of digitalculture (46%). There are no numbers available on the amounts raised per priorityarea.

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Project selection

At the onset of the WYWD platform,projects were initiated and selected byTIM via a call for projects, where only 10to 15 projects were posted every 6months.

Since 2016, the platform does not workvia calls for projects anymore and is openall year round to all reward- and donation-based crowdfunding projects that fit oneof the three priority areas describedabove. In order to get posted on theWYWD platform, projects have to gothrough a selection procedure. Projectsare screened on their degree of“innovation, creativity, talent andpassion”. In addition to thesecharacteristics, projects are evaluated, bya special committee within the TIMWYWD team, according to the followingcriteria:

their level of adherence to one of thethree above-mentioned priorityareas,

their clarity and completeness,

the quality of the presentation(images and video),

the degree to which digitaltechnologies are valorised in theprojects,

the credibility and references of theproject holders,

the adequacy of the budget (withrespect to the crowdfunding target)and

the justification of the use of thefunds that are raised throughcrowdfunding.

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Crowdfunding on WYWD

Projects posted on WYWD can be both donation- and reward-based campaigns, andboth the “Take-it-all” or “All-or-nothing” models can be chosen by project holders.WYWD does not charge any platform fees, the only fees that apply are paymenttransaction fees:

For payment via Stripe (in agreement with TIM):

1.1% + €0.16 per successful transaction in Italy and Europe (Visa/MasterCard)+0.25€ per transfer from the project holder account, to his SEPA bankaccount.

2.9% + €0.25 per successful transaction outside Europe or with AmericanExpress +0.25€ per transfer from the project holder account, to his SEPA bankaccount.

For payment via PayPal (in agreement with TIM): 1.8% of the total + €0.08 pertransaction.

Crowdfunding campaigns last on average 120 days and the maximum target is€250,000 (which can be exceeded in special cases).

Matchfunding by TIM

TIM provides matchfunding of up to 40%of the crowdfunding target to projects inthe above-mentioned areas that areinitiated by non-profit organizations, ororganizations who pursue their goals inone or more of the following sectors:social welfare, social innovation andintegration, education and training,scientific research, promotion andprotection of historic and artisticheritage, promotion of culture in itsmany forms of expression or protectionand safeguarding of the environment(For more information, please checkhttps://withyouwedo.telecomitalia.com/section/withyouwedo). Only projectsthat reach their target within the timeforeseen, can receive matchfunding. Thematchfunding is limited to a maximum of€ 10,000. In order to convince otherbackers to donate to the projects,

the matchfunding of 40% of thecrowdfunding target, is already displayedat the start of the crowdfundingcampaign.

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TIM Crowdfunding Tours to stimulate the uptake of crowdfunding in Italy

TIM has organized three “Crowdfunding Tours” across Italy to presentcrowdfunding in general and the WYWD platform. In these workshops, thefollowing topics were presented:

Crowdfunding in general (how it works, when to use it and why to use it),

The position of crowdfunding in the social sphere and the possibilities ofcrowdfunding for non-profit companies, exploring how digital crowdfundingcan become a complementary solution to traditional ways of fundraising,

Tips and tricks on how to create an effective crowdfunding campaign, includingthe definition of a crowdfunding target, the creation of a video presentation,the choice of a reward and the technique(s) to communicate about andpromote a crowdfunding project. This part of the workshop also includes ananalysis of the history of successful and non-successful cases, with an overviewof the most common errors.

The WithYouWeDo crowdfunding platform, with a presentation of theadvantages and incentives put in place by TIM for potential project holders.

In total, the Crowdfunding Tours have visited 20 Italian cities and were able toattract more than 1,500 participants.

Both TIM and Starteed support projectholders in different ways:

Besides matchfunding, TIM alsoprovides communication support toproject holders in order to fosterdonations. TIM offers supportthrough several channels, such astheir own social media or through apartnership with a radio programmewhere project holders can promotetheir projects. Moreover, TIM sharesWYWD projects with its owncommunities to reach out to a largenumber of potential backers, such asthe community of Fondazione TIM.

The WYWD website offers collectiveguidelines on how to set up acrowdfunding campaign(https://withyouwedo.telecomitalia.com/section/how-it-works/tips-for-organising-a-project) and eachproject holder is also provided withmore individual advice on how tocreate a crowdfunding campaign,how to promote it, how to follow upthe campaign,… This consultancyservice is available to every projectthat is published on the WYWDplatform and is offered by both TIMand Starteed.

Communication and other crowdfunding support

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WYWD Partnerships

At the onset

In 2013, Starteed was selected underthe TIM accelerator programme forstart-ups, TIM #WCAP. Within theaccelerator program, Starteed receiveda working capital grant of €25,000 andan acceleration and mentoring course inMilan. It is in those three months ofintense work alongside professionals,start-ups, investment funds andcompanies that Starteed developed itswhite-label solutions for both thedevelopment of other crowdfundingplatforms and for the creation ofcustomized crowdfunding campaigns.Following their participation to theaccelerator programme, Starteedbecame TIM’s technology infrastructureprovider for the WYWD platform due toits specific expertise in crowdfundingplatforms. The partnership betweenTIM and Starteed was set up in 2014with a long-term perspective.

Evolution in the partnershipbetween TIM and Starteed

Where Starteed was first a puretechnology provider, the companyevolved to also offer consultancy andplatform management: Starteed nowcontributes in giving advice to projectholders on how to create and promote acrowdfunding campaign and it alsomoderates the community of users ofthe platform.

Furthermore, Starteed also conducts afirst screening of submittedcrowdfunding projects to see whetherthey are eligible for the WYWDplatform. After this first screening, thefinal selection is done by a specialcommittee within the TIM WYWD team.The consultancy services provided byStarteed to WYWD project holders arefree of charge for project holders andare paid for under the partnership withTIM.

Evolution in developing other typesof partnerships

Besides the partnership with thetechnology partner Starteed, TIM hasalso set up partnerships with otherpartners for specific projects, such as:

Partnership with media partners inthe #unaiutosubito campaign. The#unaiutosubito campaign refers tothe large national relief campaignwhich aims to raise funds for thepopulation living in the areasdevastated by the recent CentralItaly earthquake. In the context ofthis campaign, TIM set up apartnership with the Italiannewspaper Corriera della Sera andTV channel La7, to open up theWithYouWeDo platform to alsoraise funds for the #unaitosubitothrough crowdfunding.

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Partnership with the FoundationSodalitas to promote socialresponsibility programs. Sodalitas isa foundation grouping more than100 leading companies in Italy thatwant to invest in socialresponsability projects. Under the“Sodalitas Social InnovationProgramme” 3 projects that fit theWYWD areas are selected to set up acrowdfunding campaign on WYWDand are supported throughout theircrowdfunding campaigns. In theyears 2016-2017, Sodalitas has“curated” in total 4 projects onWYWD.

WYWD is planning to increase thenumber of project-driven partnershipswith companies and institutions –recently also by offering them thechance to get a fully personalizedservice/partnership: WYWD will alsooffer, through Starteed, a "Do-it-yourselfcrowdfunding" solution to companiesand institutions that want to host thecampaign on their own domain.

Impact of TIM’scrowdfunding initiative WithYouWeDo

Promoting the uptake of crowdfunding in Italy

The most important impact of WYWDon CCS crowdfunding, is that it hasopened up crowdfunding and hasprovided additional matchfunding by aprivate actor, TIM, for digital culture inItaly. Moreover, the support provided byTIM in promoting the WYWD projectsand in reaching out to its communitiesof followers, has given a boost toWYWD projects.

The individual and free-of-chargecrowdfunding consultancy offered byStarteed further strengthens the WYWDprojects.

Besides the partnership between TIMand Starteed, additional partnershipsbetween WYWD and media partners orFoundations, accelerate the impact ofWYWD on the crowdfunding projects:each partnership allows to reach out toand to engage a wider or newcommunity of backers.

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Impact of TIM’s crowdfundinginitiative WithYouWeDo

High crowdfunding targets –wide community outreach for projects

The crowdfunding targets on the WYWDare very high in comparison to the restof the Italian crowdfunding market. Thisis an effect of the rigorous selectionconducted by the TIM WYWD team.Project holders can also count on thecommunication and outreach efforts ofTIM to its different communities andwhen the WYWD teams up with otherpartners, this allows to open up andreach new communities of backers.

The individual and free-of-chargecrowdfunding consultancy offered byStarteed further strengthens the WYWDprojects.

Impact on start-up company Starteed

Valuable learning experience

For Starteed the collaboration with TIMprovided a valuable learningexperience: being a young start-upwhen the partnership with TIM was setup, the company was not used tonegotiating and dealing with largecompanies such as TIM. Also the legaland administrative procedures werenew to the company. Entering into thepartnership with TIM, allowed Starteedto gain lots of experience in thesedomains.

Visibility toward other potentialcustomers

The collaboration with TIM has givenStarteed a greater visibility towardsother potential customers (active inother sectors than TIM). In this sense,the partnerships that WYWD has builtunder the #unaitosubito campaign withmedia partners has also given Starteedthe possibility to the spread the wordabout their products and services.

Case study author: Eveline Durinck, IDEA Consult

Layout: Jessie Pieters, IDEA Consult

Photos: Shutterstock

This case study is part ofthe EU funded projectCrowdfunding4Culture

Do you have questions after reading this case study? Contact the Crowdfunding4Culture project coordinator: Isabelle De Voldere (IDEA Consult), isabelle.devoldere@ideaconsult.be

Project partners:

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