For five years, a large Christmas tree stood in the centre of Rotterdam Central square, sponsored by Coolblue. This year, they withdrew their sponsorship and the tree was in danger of being lost. Hennie van Schaik, a member of the Dijkzit-Oude Westen district council on behalf of 50PLUS, campaigned the well-loved tree and found an ally in Rijnmond; reporter Maikel Coomans. He subsequently started a crowdfunding campaign and, within a day, enough money was raised to get an enormous tree from Norway to Rotterdam.
As a company that crowdfunds real estate, Max Crowdfund thought it would be appropriate to contribute to a crowdfund campaign for the Christmas tree in the center of Rotterdam. Our head office is also located in this beautiful city and we are happy to support the campaign.
An official from the municipality of Rotterdam stated that he had the opportunity to acquire the 18 meter tree from a trader in Norway, where the city hall Christmas tree also comes from. That option was given until 12 noon on Monday and if Rotterdam didn't come up with the money, the tree would go to another city. That left Coomans with the challenge of raising the required 35,000 euros within just one day.
By Sunday afternoon, Coomans had already received half of the money, largely thanks to Club 25, a group of enterprising Rotterdammers from the Rotterdam Promotion Prize Foundation. It was a good start, but 17,500 euros were still needed.
Coomans made call after call until Monday morning when he calculated that the amount was in sight. In addition to significant donations from Rotterdam Ahoy, Rotterdam Make It Happen, Port of Rotterdam Authority, Rotterdam Central District, Breman Housing Management, port entrepreneur Hans Vervat and Max Crowdfund contributed a sizeable donation. Amsterdam city also contributed with a donation of 5 euros. In fact, so many donations came in that the tree was overfunded and a significant amount of money will go to the Sophia Children's Hospital.
The Christmas tree was be unveiled on Saturday 10 December at the Stationsplein. As a crowdfunding company in real estate, it was great to contribute to a crowdfunding campaign for a Christmas tree in the city. We wish everyone a Merry Christmas in advance!
