Crowdfund Lancashire to welcome new applications as new funding round kicks off
Individuals, businesses and community groups are being invited to bring their sport and culture ideas to life though an exciting funding initiative that puts communities in the driving seat.
Crowdfund Lancashire is developed by Lancashire County Council, working in partnership with Spacehive, the UK’s leading community fundraising platform.
Through the £500,000 Lancashire Culture & Sport Fund, Crowdfund Lancashire allows the county council to support grassroot projects through crowdfunding.
Organisations can apply for up to £20,000 towards their funding target, while individuals and businesses can apply for up to £1,500 towards their live crowdfunding campaigns. Parish and Town Councils can also apply for up to £5,000.
To date, 74 projects have been successfully funded through Crowdfund Lancashire. The latest funding round opens on Thursday 16th November.
Anyone who is thinking about launching a new crowdfunding campaign is invited to our free online launch event on November 16th at 12pm.
Creating a crowdfunding campaign is simple and we can support you through the process. Once launched, it's your job to spread the word and promote the project. Once you hit 50% of your funding target, we'll make a funding pledge that we'll honour if the full funding target is met.
Gemma Allen was the first person to successfully fund a project through Crowdfund Lancashire, raising £744 for her 'To Grow a Sewing Group in Barnoldswick' campaign.
Gemma said: "I had recently been turned down for a Parish grant as I am an individual and thought this could be an opportunity to get support for my community project.
"Spacehive is such a brilliant platform. Once I created my project, I was matched to Crowdfunding Lancashire, and I had the option whether I wanted to pitch my project to them. The questions again were really clear, and these helped me explain the benefits of my project in the community."
Since then, the group has continued to thrive and has now formed a constitution, changing its name to ‘The Pendle Stitches’.
The group has 16 members and they have taught more than 50 people from their community how to sew and how to be confident on a machine.
"Friendships have formed, and people have said how much our group is helping them for their mental health," Gemma said.
For this latest funding round, we're keen for more individuals like Gemma to come forward.
Martyn Rawlinson, a local arts organiser who runs the Preston Ukulele Strummers Society, raised £2,147 during the previous round for his Best of Preston project. The money raised will fund four live performance arts events, the promotion and support for the music/writing community in the wider Preston area and free arts and culture events.
"It’s incredible how the local music community rallied around the project, very eager to be involved and associated with the project and appreciated the investment in their talent," Martyn said.
The Best of Preston project raised £2,147 during the previous round
Blaze, a youth-led arts organisation based in Burnley, was able to raise £36,358 for its 'Stand Out: Youth led LGBT+ heritage' project during the previous funding round. Blaze pledged to use the money to support more young people in Burnley, Rossendale, Accrington and Pendle to document and celebrate East Lancashire's diverse histories and promote inclusivity.
Braille IT, a community and volunteer project that offers free accredited tuition in Braille skills in learning at centres in Accrington, Blackburn, Burnley and Clitheroe, raised £10,250 for its 'Visually Impaired and Blind Touch Tours' project. The money raised will help towards the charity's ongoing mission of supporting and encouraging independence, positive outlook on life and general wellbeing of the blind and visually impaired.
County Councillor Peter Buckley, Lancashire County Council's cabinet member for Community and Cultural Services, said: "When I first launched Crowdfund Lancashire, I was really looking forward to seeing the innovative and diverse array of ideas residents came up with as I knew local people are best placed to understand the challenges and opportunities in their area.
"We've been so impressed by the way our communities have supported the array of projects that have come forward over these past 12 months.
"This has enabled us to support the grassroots projects we know matter to you and that's what we will continue to do this throughout this latest funding round."
The deadline to launch crowdfunding campaign on Spacehive for this round of funding is 14th February 2024.
To book your place on the launch event visit: Crowdfund Lancashire Winter Round 23-24 – Launch Tickets, Thu 16 Nov 2023 at 12:00 | Eventbrite