An interesting perspective from Dutch writers who compare systems in the UK and the Netherlands:
Turnhout E., Lawrence A. & Turnhout S. 2016. Citizen science networks in natural history and the collective validation of biodiversity data: Data Validation in Natural History. Conserv. Biol. 30: 532–539.
You should be able to find a free pdf download from the DOI: 10.1111/cobi.12696
An intriguing note concerns the "Dutch Network of Ecological Monitoring (NEM). This network consists of a number of government-funded monitoring schemes executed by several natural history organizations that provide the governmentwith relevant data about specific policy-relevant species and species groups", so they get paid for it!
Another insight for those trying to fathom GBIF: "Validation in GBIF is primarily procedural because the records are checked not for their correspondence with reality but rather for their compliance with the standard."