1. The Crowdfund Act
A History
Sustainable Economies Law Center, Summer 2010
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the
world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead
Presented by Jenny Kassan, Cutting Edge Capital

2. Where did it all begin?
Paul Spinrad from
Make Magazine
researched the issue
and found an article
in East Bay Express
that Jenny Kassan
had written.
Paul contacted Jenny
and proposed
working on a rule
making petition to
the SEC.

3. Federal Reserve Bank of S.F. – Community
Development Investment Review, Vol. 5, Issue 2, 2009
Local Stock Exchanges and National Stimulus by
Michael Shuman

4. Paul Spinrad of Make Magazine Launches a
Crowdfunding Campaign

6. Letter to the SEC requesting a rule change for investments of up to $100

7. Approx. 150 letters of
support!

8. Late 2010 – ASBC declares support for petition!
Frank Knapp interviews Jenny
about the petition on Oct. 29,
2010 on U Need 2 Know
1230 AM WOIC

9. November 18, 2010

10. Paul Spinrad:
On Wed eve Nov. 17th, a bunch of us got
together at the CommonWealthGastropub in
DC: me, Frank Knapp (South Carolina Small
Business Chamber of Commerce), Atlee
McFellin(ASBC), Stacy Passeri (KiteTale LLC),
Brian Parkinson (recent Law School grad with
community development experience), and Doug
Rand (White House Office of Science and
Technology Policy - OSTP).

11. Paul Spinrad:
Mary Schapiro noted in her presentation that
small businesses are responsible for 60% of all
domestic jobs in and 90% of all U.S. patents.
So that means six people at the SEC are in
charge of regulating securities for most of the
U.S. economy.
Presumably the SEC's other 3792 employees
somehow divide up the rest.

13. March 2011
WoodieNeiss creates
StartupExemption.com
Gets support from Whoopi Goldberg
Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council gets
involved

14. Letter from SEC Chair Mary Schapiro to Rep.
Darrell Issa, April 6, 2011
Footnote 77

15. September 2011
Congressional hearings and support from
President Obama!

16. Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act
Passes the House
Nov. 3,
2011

17. The CROWDFUND Act
Signed by the President on
April 5, 2012
Creates a new federal
exemption for offerings of
up to $1 million in which
 each investor invests no
more than 5% of his/her
annual income or net worth
 offerings are conducted
Not expected to go into
through a registered
effectuntil early 2013.
intermediary

18. Recommended Reading crowdfundinglaw.com