‘Art lovers of the world unite to aid Florence’: techniques to motivate the crowd in post-disaster heritage crowdfunding

Crowdfunding relies heavily on public participation and public participation is subject to certain conditions, such as the motivation to participate and the effectiveness of the call to participate. Using the case of the 1966 Florence Flood, this article explores the techniques to motivate the crowd adopted by the Committee to Rescue Italian Art, a committee formed in the USA to help protect the heritage of Florence, and newspaper reports published in the USA between 1966 and 1968. Seven overlapping frames were evident in the news reports and the CRIA’s call: damage, fundraising, people, rescue, restoration, the committee and its actions, and the value of Florence. In essence, the techniques adopted to motivate people to participate in the post-disaster crowdfunding included: (1) the dependency on mainstream media; (2) frequent use of all available communication channels; (3) multiple types of calls for support; (4) emphasis on the value of Florence; (5) highlighting a shared sense of ownership; (6) giving a sense of urgency; and (7) evoking the memory of past disasters. While the news media worked to inform the public, CRIA worked to encourage them to participate. The media reports analysed did not leverage emotive content to attract crowd participation whereas the calls initiated by CRIA used some emotive content. The article concludes with a discussion on the implications for managing crowdfunding campaigns to utilise the power of decentralised collective action.