Hospital rescue, "Smart" projector top Netherlands best crowdfunding projects

With reporting by Zack Newmark. The crowdfunding campaigns to rescue the Admiraal de Ruyter Hospital in Zeeland and the for the Beam smart lightbulb projector are number one and two on Crowdfunding Hub's list of the top 12 crowdfunding campaigns in the Netherlands in 2015. The Admiraal de Ruyter hospital rescue is the largest ever Dutch crowdfunding project, according to Crowdfunding Hub, dubbed the "European Knowledge Center on Crowdfunding." Over 600 investors jointly put 10.6 million euros into this project to renovate the hospital. 70 percent of the investors are from Zeeland. "The special thing about this project is first, of course the size. Such a large project has never before been successfully funded in the Netherlands", the Crowdfunding Hub said about the project. "But what is striking is that most investors come from the region. This reinforces the image that investors find social returns important in addition to financial returns." The Beam Smart Projector, which you can use with any lightbulb, was by far the biggest Dutch project on Kickstarter this year. The original goal of 200 thousand dollars was quickly surpassed and the project finally raised almost 800 thousand dollars. Crowdfunding Hub calls it a "beautiful project that did everything right in its campaign."

The twelve projects on the CrowdfundingHub list include:

1. Zeeland's Admiraal de Ruyter medical center brought in over 10.5 million euros to fund urgent renovations when the hospital was faced with a shutdown;
2. Beam Smart Projector quadrupled its 200 thousand euro target for the lightbulb-socket projector that hooks up to any device;
3. WakaWaka raised 500 thousand euros in working capital this year. The solar light and charger manufacturer raised startup financing, growth funding, and loans in four previous successful crowdfunding endeavors;
4. Car-sharing platform SnappCar raised 630 thousand euros in its second crowdfunding effort in two years. A large portion of the money has come from its current customer base;
5. A citizen-initiated wind farm proposed along the A15 between Nijmegen and Betuwe, Gelderland, brought in two million euros from nearly 1,100 investors mainly living in the area, and also around Arnhem. The money will go towards four windmills to power 7,000 homes, with a bank financing the remaining 13 million;
6. Crowdfunding platform OnePlanetCrowd financed itself this year, with almost 400 investors combining to raise one million euros;
7. Amsterdam West residents and business owners banded together to start their own real estate cooperative to invest in the Jan Evertsenstraat shopping street area, and improve the area’s economy and diversity;
8. Alternative car lease financing website Mijndomein Auto leverages a crowdfunding model to give investors a three percent annual return on two-year loans of 1,000 euro put to the purchase of cars. Qualified car owners can use the platform instead of going to a bank;
9. Satrters4Communities uses crowdfunding to raise up to 25 thousand euros at a time to teach labor skills and social entrepreneurship in urban environments;
10. Princess Margriet launched an innovative Red Cross initiative to crowdfund efforts to prepare for, and prevent, both natural and man-made disasters. Called "Voorkomderamp," the Crowdfunding Hub says it is the first large charity organization to structurally use crowdfunding for their cause;
11. Brownies en downieS, a lunch business that gives to jobs to young people who are mentally challenged, uses crowdfunding to open their four locations as bank financing in the Netherlands is notoriously difficult for new restaurants;
12. Ruben de Sain from Nijmegen financed his own robotic exoskeleton to help him walk for the first time since a motorcycle accident ten years ago took took the use of his legs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZEzMyb-q58