Vollpension: community funding for expansion · Nika van Olst

Problem

Finance the expansion of a social café business when conventional hospitality investment was difficult to secure.

Context

Vollpension employs retirees who need additional income and creates opportunities for contact across generations. The team wanted to expand from Vienna into Salzburg and Graz.

My approach

I developed the fundraising concept and communications strategy, advised the production team, and designed a voucher-based crowdfunding stage followed by crowdinvesting. Local pop-up cafés helped build support.

Results

More than 500 people in each city became regulars in under six weeks, demonstrating demand and supporting the next fundraising stage.