There are lots of different routes now. Crowdfunding is an interesting one, because it enables people to place their money with the developer in effect, which means that they do not take on the responsibility that they might do in a community project.
When you talk about level playing fields, this is one area in which I can see that there is not quite the same balance of experience and expertise available to a community. Crowdfunding helps to get around that. In Scotland, such schemes have been quite popular in the wave sector and, in particular, the tidal sector, where there have been two crowdfunding rounds.
There are lots of different ways of doing things, and different balances of risk and return are offered, depending on the models that you use. To go back to the beginning of this discussion, crowdfunding works for an individual investor, because it allows them to be a stakeholder in something that they believe in and which they know aligns with their values, and it also works in relation to schemes such as the project in Fintry, where people are trying to draw in money to help their local community.
Ultimately, it comes down to the question of finding the funding that, in the past, has been the carrot that has brought a lot of community and local projects to the fore. Crowdfunding offers a slightly different outcome in that regard.
It is always good to have a different balance of ways in which people can engage with projects, but you have to be aware that you will get a different outcome depending on what your input and engagement is in the first instance.