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Homepage > Training > Innovative Entrepreneurial Experiences at Schools

This module focuses on initiatives and training to stimulate entrepreneurship among students, suggesting ideas to train entrepreneurial teachers, presenting entrepreneurial projects carried out in schools and proposing methods to create a network and to find funds.

Innovative Entrepreneurial Experiences at Schools

Table of Content

Chapter 4: creation of a network
Crowdfunding and education
In the education area, crowdfunding practices are still marginal in Europe.

In Belgium for instance, the first platforms allowing the general audience to invest in companies appeared in 2012. Currently, there are still few of them and they are little used for projects with an educational aspect.

In Italy, there are few initiatives in the education area and they tend to concern the funding of underprivileged students’ studies or school infrastructures.

In France, crowdfunding is sometimes used by school teams to fund their mini-companies but they are one-off initiatives and there is no study or research on the subject.

In Spain, collective microfinance initiatives or crowdfunding are used almost only in the area of cultural productions: edition and publication of magazines and books, demo recording for albums of young bands, music videos and films.

Yet, some platforms are entirely dedicated to education, as it is mentioned in the French magazine “Sydologie” (educational innovation magazine):
Online Resources
  • Cinq plateformes de crowdfunding en faveur de l’éducationFrench article presenting the five following crowdfunding platforms dedicated to education.
  • EduklabThis platform (France) helps students collect the necessary money to fund their project or studies, soliciting their social network or internet users’ generosity. Like on other crowdfunding platforms, students who need funding present their project and set compensations to thank contributors. They set a fundraising objective and a campaign deadline. If the objective is not achieved, the contributors are reimbursed. Since its launch in 2013, the platform has received 1,056 project requests and funded projects for a total amount of € 128,825.
  • PigLtThis platform (USA) is open to everybody, in particular those who want to fund their own studies, organisations or associations with an education related-project. To be referenced on PigLt, you need first to create a video describing the fundraising campaign. The website works using the “dreamers” principle (who submit a project) and “believers” (who agree to fund it). The platform has been active since 2012.
  • IncitEDThis platform (USA) is dedicated to funding educational projects, which can concern: Extracurricular activities; School support; Developing education-related technologies; School supplies purchase; Educational; humanitarian programmes. The platform has been active since 2013.
  • Adopt a Classroom USAThis platform (USA) is addressed to parents. It helps them fun their children’s school supplies. The projects are presented by teachers or headteachers. The website has two benefits: • It cooperates with many stores to propose the best price and a varied array of products, from a mere pen to a digital tablet • Donations are 100 % deductible This platform created in 1998 has a huge success in the United States. So far, 24 million dollars have been collected, for more than 5,200,000 students.
  • WishboneWishbone teams identify and contact students who are “incredible, with limited income but passionate about their studies”. Donators choose the student they want to support. They then receive a regular feedback about how the studies are going on! Created in 2012, this platform has already helped 235 students and collected over 545,000 dollars.

Table of Content

Comments on this section

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Date: 2016.08.03

Posted by S. Cabrerizo - Spain

The e-learning guide is very useful. Module 4, Innovative Entrepreneurial Experiences at Schools, provides easy examples for teachers.
The negative side is is that there is a lot of information in English, and sometimes it is difficult to follow it if you have an intermediate level of English. Moreover, as a suggestion, I think it could be a good idea to have it in a download version to print the most interesting parts.

Date: 2016.07.07

Posted by Didier Cahour - France

This module is a little bit complex and theoretical. Good practices at the end are relevant.

Date: 2016.07.06

Posted by Gabriela Vrabie - Romania

This module highlights a very important aspect of education: entrepreneurship education in schools, vocational schools and universities, which will definitely have a positive impact on entrepreneurial dynamism in our economies, on young people’s employability.
To this end it not only raises teachers and counsellors’ awareness about the benefits of enterprise projects but also provides them with invaluable tips on how to implement such enterprise projects at their own school. Teachers and counsellors will find practical advice on the necessary steps in creating an enterprise project at school, how an enterprise works or how to search for funds such as crowdfunding. The module also proposes teachers, educators or guidance counsellors a series of best practices to get inspired from.

Date: 2016.07.05

Posted by Martine Prignon (AEDE-EL) - Belgium

The choice of topics and the study of them provide a valuable source of information to teachers, trainers, counselors...
The best practices and online resources add a useful complement to theory, by presenting concrete examples of experiences, projects, exchanges between peers...

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This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This web site reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.