When people say "civic crowdfunding", they are normally talking about collecting donations from a large number of individuals in order to build a new sculpture in the local park, put on a community event or plant a new community garden. However, some groups are thinking bigger and using crowdfunding platforms to raise much larger amounts of money from their communities through debt and equity investments, allowing them to implement community projects on a grander scale.

Projects raising money in this way range from those seeking to save a local, pub, shop or football club to those looking to create a new shared workspace, arts centre or affordable homes .