Innovative crowdfunding model, promoted by Natura Cidades in partnership with Benfeitoria, will double the fundraising for projects that make the city of Rio de Janeiro more beautiful and welcoming.
Projects seeking resources to transform the relationship of residents with the capital of Rio de Janeiro, through care, the appreciation of public spaces, and the encouragement of community living, in any region or neighborhood, can register on the funding channel that Natura opens on Benfeitoria, on September 10 (Thursday). The proposals that are selected will have the funds raised via crowdfunding matched by Natura in a partnership practice between the company and society known as matchfunding. The goal of the initiative is to create, in collaboration with citizens, activists, and government agencies, solutions that contribute to re-signifying urban spaces, one of the pillars of Natura Cidades, the company's sponsorship platform currently in a pilot implementation phase. Interested parties have until October 10 to register and participate in the selection.
Projects from individuals or legal entities in the area of Urban Intervention will be accepted. The regulations and the registration form will be available on the website www.benfeitoria.com/naturacidades. The proponent must describe the project, including as a goal the minimum amount in reais necessary to make the initiative viable, and its implementation must occur by July 2016.
All registered projects will be submitted to an analysis by a curatorial team, formed by professionals from Benfeitoria, and the selected initiatives will be launched on the Natura Cidades channel for fundraising via crowdfunding. The proposals will be evaluated according to criteria such as potential for impact generation, innovation, feasibility of execution, reach (number of people impacted and users), cost-benefit ratio, inclusion attributes (such as accessibility), and sustainability.
The pre-selected projects will receive support from Benfeitoria for the development of their fundraising campaigns, which will go live between November and December of this year. For every R$ 1.00 (one real) that the projects receive from supporters, the so-called benefactors, Natura will invest an additional R$1 (matchfunding), doubling the amount raised until the goal is reached. In Brazil, this practice by the private sector is a novelty, and in this pilot, Natura will distribute R$ 100,000 among the projects that successfully complete their fundraising campaigns. The idea is to select between 3 to 10 proposals for the fundraising campaign with a total amount between R$ 10,000 and R$ 100,000 each, including the amount contributed by Natura. This range of values, according to Tati Leite, co-founder of Benfeitoria, encompasses the majority of crowdfunding projects, as over 90% of the campaigns on the platform are below R$50,000.
See: Matchfunding Natura Cidades from benfeitoria
The partnership with Benfeitoria is one of the first actions of the Natura Cidades program, a sponsorship platform of Natura that aims to bring the company closer to initiatives that seek to transform people's relationship with cities, through urban interventions that awaken care and appreciation of public spaces and community living in this environment. According to Fernanda Paiva, Institutional Marketing Manager at Natura, this new endorsement aims to “care for the environment in which we live and reconnect people with public space, acting in cities through interventions that make spaces more pleasant and conducive to encounters.”
