Impact Crowdfunding Leader Backs $20 Million Crowdfunding Cap—and Urges SEC to Make Small Raises Easier Too
Devin Thorpe of The Super Crowd tells the SEC a higher limit should be paired with simpler financial reporting for
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STOCKTON, Calif. — October 29, 2026 —(KOREWIRE) — Devin Thorpe, founder and CEO of The Super Crowd, Inc., a public benefit corporation focused on impact crowdfunding, has submitted a comment letter to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission supporting a petition to raise the Regulation Crowdfunding offering limit from $5 million to $20 million. In the letter, dated October 26, 2026, Thorpe urges the Commission to pair that increase with reforms that make crowdfunding more practical for businesses raising far smaller amounts.
The petition, filed by Sherwood “Woodie” Neiss of Crowdfund Capital Advisors and docketed by the SEC as File No. 4-914 on July 13, 2026, asks the Commission to raise the Regulation Crowdfunding limit to $20 million in a 12-month period, with inflation adjustments.
Thorpe supports the increase and recommends that the Commission pair it with two reforms aimed at the smallest offerings:
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Raise the threshold for financial statements certified by the issuer’s principal executive officer, rather than reviewed by an independent accountant, from $124,000 to $500,000, with future inflation adjustments.
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Allow issuers in that tier to present financial statements on a clearly disclosed cash or simplified accrual basis, without full compliance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP).
A higher cap would let growing companies keep more of a financing round inside Regulation Crowdfunding’s disclosure framework, where everyday investors can participate. But for a business seeking $500,000 or less, Thorpe notes, the cap offers little immediate help. The bigger obstacle is the cost of preparing GAAP financial statements and paying for an accountant’s review before the company knows whether its offering will succeed. Those costs fall hardest on founders with limited personal wealth and businesses without access to institutional capital.
The SEC has tried a version of this relief before. In 2020, it temporarily allowed eligible issuers raising more than $107,000 and up to $250,000 to provide officer-certified financial statements. Thorpe points to that experience as a starting point for a permanent $500,000 threshold.
His proposal keeps key protections in place. The principal executive officer would still certify that the statements are true and complete in all material respects. Issuers would have to disclose their accounting basis prominently and apply it consistently. Prior crowdfunding sales would still count toward the threshold, so companies could not qualify by setting an artificially low target.
“Raising the limit to $20 million is a great step for companies ready to raise millions,” said Thorpe. “But most of the entrepreneurs I work with are trying to raise their first few hundred thousand dollars. For them, the barrier isn’t the cap. It’s the cost of professional financial statements before they know whether their raise will succeed. Crowdfunding should work as well for a neighborhood bakery as it does for a tech startup.”
The letter arrives as the SEC turns its attention to crowdfunding. In remarks to the SEC’s Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee on October 27, 2026, Chairman Paul S. Atkins said he has asked Commission staff to evaluate which parts of Regulation Crowdfunding can be amended to reduce compliance burdens and make the rules more attractive to issuers and investors.
“The Chairman’s review is exactly the right moment for these ideas,” Thorpe said. “A higher ceiling and a lower floor together would grow the whole market.”
Thorpe submitted the letter in his individual capacity. He encourages founders, investors, and platforms who have raised or invested through Regulation Crowdfunding to add their own comments to the public file.
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Read Thorpe’s letter: sec.gov/comments/4-914/4914-1109120-3927486.pdf
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View the petition and public comments, File No. 4-914: sec.gov/rules-regulations/public-comments/4-914
About The Super Crowd, Inc.
The Super Crowd, Inc. is a public benefit corporation focused on impact crowdfunding. It helps investors and entrepreneurs use investment crowdfunding to support businesses that benefit their communities. The Super Crowd runs the PurposeBuilt100™, a national ranking of fast-growing purpose-driven companies, and hosts SuperCrowdHour sessions. Founder Devin Thorpe hosts the interview show Superpowers for Good, is the author of Crowdfunding Made Simple: A Step-by-Step Guide to Raising Capital Using AI Tools, and serves on the Board of the Crowdfunding Professional Association.
Media contact
Devin D. Thorpe
The Super Crowd, Inc., a PBC
https://TheSuperCrowd.com
801-747-9575
