Blog post - 23. Oct 2025

Yesterday afternoon, the third workshop in the “Workshops for Volunteers” series took place in the impressive setting of the GGZ Arena Zwickau. The topic “Financing projects close to your heart with crowdfunding for associations” attracted interested and motivated participants from the Zwickau association landscape. Among others, the Touch, Scent and Experience Garden, the Ukraine Association, the Solidarity Social Ring and the Planitz Carving Association were among the workshop participants.

After a warm welcome, the workshop began with a general section devoted to defining and delimiting the principle of crowdfunding and the 3-pillar model. The invited speakers, Elisa Lange from Sparkasse Zwickau and Jennifer Böhm from Zwickauer Energieversorgung (ZEV), then presented their respective regional platforms.

Sparkasse Zwickau presented its proven crowdfunding platform “99 Funken,” through which numerous projects have already been successfully realized. This was followed by a presentation of “zwickauCROWD” by Zwickauer Energieversorgung, which is also an important point of contact for local associations and non-profit initiatives.

A particular focus was placed on the concluding practical section. Here, participants had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the ZwickauCROWD interface using the fictional project “A new stage for our festival.” Many of the points discussed were immediately put into practice, and new questions arose regarding project structure, costs, and the necessary documentation. The speakers answered all questions in a charming and engaging manner, and the opportunity to test the functionalities of the crowdfunding tool was received with very positive feedback from those present.

The workshop offered a valuable combination of theoretical knowledge and practical application, equipping the region’s associations with the necessary know-how to successfully finance future projects through crowdfunding.

A big thank you also goes to the GGZ Arena team, who made the workshop possible in the first place.

Curious? Our workshop series ends on November 26, 2025, with the topic of communication. We look forward to Matthias Myska, who will give a presentation on “Appreciative and transparent – communicative change in clubs” at the tram depot at Schlachthofstrasse 12.