Opportunities for landvestors After the discussion on Regionalpark Rhein-Main, about 30 experts in the area of landscape design, development and financing, both from governments and the private sector, joined three case-oriented breakout sessions. They assessed the opportunities of donations, crowdfunding and business models. Which of these options has the most potential for the Dutch landscape? In the breakout sessions, the 12 cases of landvestors, also present in the second half of this publication, were discussed, compared and put into context. New inspiring examples were gathered and experiences shared. The majority of the experts is trying to be a landvestor, sees landvestment as a good way to improve landscape quality, and regards a combination of donations, crowdfunding and business models as the best way to move forward. Donations and crowdfunding are nice and important, but solid public and private business models are necessary to get the job done.
Donations Donating is owning. This feeling of (shared) ownership is a crucial part, and the main motive for people to want to contribute, Mieke Span (City of Utrecht) explains. Therefore, donations should be explicit in the communication regarding the forms of ownership. Besides the great potential of donation, she also has the experience that, in the case of fundraising for landscape development and maintenance, the budget for the donation process is sometimes equal to the budget for the project itself. Donors, in other words, spend half of their money for their own fundraising. This is rarely taken into account, which explains why so many initiatives with small fundraising budgets fail.
A donation process also calls for a very precise selection of the target group. Arjen Simons (Brabants Landschap) is in doubt, wether donation is the right way to finance his type and scale of landscape developments, through the group of friends and users. Philantropy has an archaic image in the Netherlands, despite iconic examples of Philips in Eindhoven and the port tycoons of Rotterdam. Marijn Bos (Metropolitan Region Amsterdam) discovered that there are still some pure philantropics left in the country. For example that gentleman who bought 10 ha of land in the Waterland area North of Amsterdam, because he felt connected to it in a personal way.
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