A new pilot program aims to encourage equity-crowdfunding — will it work?

“Applicants must think of their equity crowdfunding as a product just like the products or services they already sell to the community.”

Why It Matters

Non-profits and co-operatives could be leveraging community bonds and preferred shares to raise capital, but many don’t. A new pilot program in Quebec hopes to change that by matching every dollar invested.

The night of July 6, 2013 forever changed the small Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic. A train loaded with crude oil derailed, then exploded, in the centre of the community, claiming the lives of 47 people as the town burned and worlds crumbled.

 The community pulled together in the aftermath, finding new ways to support its nearly 6,000 residents. Quartier Artisan, founded three years after the disaster, was one of the organizations that rose from the ashes. 

Its mission is two-fold: repopulate the Fatima neighbourhood — which lost residents to the disaster and has an aging population —  by building a community of artisan-entrepreneurs who contribute socially and economically, while also enabling Quebec artisans to make a good living from their craft through an eight

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