Residents use crowd-funding to help towns

Saint-Brieuc was first in the world to use crowd-funding when it started a project on the Collecticity (collecticity.fr) website to fund solar panels on its job centre roof.
The €8,400 needed was raised in 20 days from 22 investors who will be repaid over five years at an interest rate of 2.25% – better than the banks are offering savers.
It was followed by Langouët, also in Brittany, which was planning a study on “user-friendly habitats for the benefit of the environment and the inhabitants”. It had most of the finance in place but was €40,000 short – and found it within days through the site. Lenders will receive 2% interest over six years – and two-thirds of the 37 investors were residents in the commune.
In Haute-Garonne, Empeaux sought donors not investors to fund €3,000 for repairs on the church roof and they can write off 66% against tax.