As part of the Crowdfund North of Tyne programme, there are two funding rounds a year, in the Spring and in the Autumn. The Spring funding round is now closed - stay tuned for an update on the next round. 

In response to the ongoing cost of living crisis, the North East Combined Authority can now pledge up to 90% or up to £30,000 towards your crowdfunding project if you are an organisation and £1,000 if you are an individual. 

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Read below to understand how the programme works and how to get involved.

1.    EXPRESSION OF INTEREST/ ATTEND A WORKSHOP

Complete our Expression of Interest Form as soon as possible to inform us of your project idea and knowledge of crowdfunding. A member of the team will be in touch to provide you with the necessary information about future events and any support you may need to help get your project started. 

2.    PROJECT PAGE AND PITCH

Create your project page on Spacehive which will match you the relevant Crowdfund North of Tyne fund. Here the North East CA will ask you some additional questions about your project. Follow this handy step-by-step guide when setting up your project.

3.    VERIFICATION

The project costs and necessary permissions will be checked and verified. This involves checking quotes for all the major items and if you have land owner permission for your project.

4.    CROWDFUNDING

Run your crowdfunding campaign. Start by getting lots of small pledges from the community to show local support for your project. This will help unlock bigger pledges.

5.    PLEDGE

The Combined Authority will review all project campaigns and successful projects can expect to receive a pledge from the combined authority. 

6. HIT YOUR TARGET AND DELIVER YOUR PROJECT

Projects which hit their target early can continue to raise money until their original deadline thorugh 'Overfunding'. Pledges will be collected and transferred to the project normally within 10 working days of the campaign ending. 

Please note that the Combined Authority will not be the first organisation to pledge to your project and will want to see community support and backing, in the form of smaller pledges from local people, before they pledge to your campaign. 

Bringing together people and opportunities to create vibrant communities.

Who can apply for this fund

Charities, social enterprises, constituted community groups and community interest companies (CICs) in Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland can potentially receive a pledge of up to £30,000 and as much as 90% of total project costs.

Individuals can receieve up to £1,000 towards their project. 

Crowdfund North of Tyne aims to fund projects which are strongly community -led and at neighbourhood level.  The type of activity is generally more important to us that the type of group, but priority is usually given to organisations with an annual income of less than £500k. 

Well-established charities and organisations with ambitious targets are welcome to apply but will need a plan for funding the rest of their project goal. Our team may be able to advise on other funding streams which could be available to you.

We understand that businesses are often at the heart of our communities and that they are an important part of a strong and vibrant social tapestry. We welcome applications from private companies, providing they meet the following additional guiding principles.

• The business must not make any financial gain or economic advantage from the grant.
• Projects should not be for commercial advantage, represent an extension or scale up of existing business activity, pay for running costs or constitute business support.
• The business should act as an intermediary, with any benefit from the grant flowing directly through to the local community. Checks will be made to ensure the support does not constitute a subsidy, and if it does, it will not be awarded. (Subsidy control guidance can be found here).
• Businesses must be able to demonstrate that the initiative they are proposing is strongly community-led. They should have a minimum of 40 community backers before receiving funding from North East CA.
• The business should already have a strong connection with their local community and ideally already be working with the community. The business must have demonstrable community reach and influence.
• Businesses must be small, local and independent with a head office in either Newcastle, North Tyneside or Northumberland.
• If the fund is oversubscribed in a given round, priority will be given to eligible applications from community organisations.

Headline criteria:

Project groups will need to meet one or more of the following criteria to pitch to the main fund:

• bring people together in new ways 

• support people’s wellbeing and mental health - especially outdoors

• inspire creativity and opportunity for all – including promoting lifelong learning

Additional Criteria:

You’ll also need to:

• Show us that the idea comes from, and is for, your local community

• Tell us how you’ve considered the needs of everyone in your community – particularly people from different backgrounds, across different ages and with experience of disability

• Demonstrate the support of your community through pledges, likes, and comments on the campaign page.

 

*Investment from the Crowdfund North of Tyne’s Main Fund is part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus

We have included some of the most common quesitons below. If your question is not included here, please visit the Spacehive help centre at https://help.spacehive.com/ or email Spacehive on [email protected]. 

What is Spacehive?

Spacehive is a crowdfunding platform for ideas that bring local places to life, support and empower communities: everything from sprucing up an allotment, investing in equipment to run a befriending service, to putting on a street party. The council have partnered with Spacehive for this programme because they are experts in civic crowdfunding. 

When will we get the money we raise?

Spacehive operates an all-or-nothing model, which means that if you don’t hit your target, none of the pledges are collected. Once you hit your target funds will take up to 2 weeks to arrive in your bank account.

How do people pledge to my project?

People can pledge by visiting your project page on Spacehive.com and clicking the “Back this project” button. They will then authorise a payment to you using Stripe. If your project is not successful all pledges will be refunded to backers. For more information click here - How-do-I-pledge-to-a-campaign-

If people give me cash does this count towards my target?

Only funds raised online count towards your target as we have no visibility of any other funds collected. Ask your supporters to donate online via your Spacehive page rather than sending the money directly to the organisation’s bank account. If this is not possible you can pledge cash to your campaign using the following steps - Can-I-pledge-to-a-campaign-with-a-cheque-or-cash-

We live in an area where people are already struggling, what if we can’t raise much money?

We understand that people are struggling, and we are particularly interested in funding projects in deprived areas. It’s more important that you can demonstrate community backing for your project, so the number of backers is much more important than the amount of money raised.

Are there fees?

Yes - there are Spacehive fees of 5% (+1% VAT) on funds raised if, and only if, you hit your target. These fees are automatically added to your campaign target once you enter your costs.

It is important to note that there are transaction fees for accepting electronic pledges which again we calculate for you once you've input your project costs. These are set by external payment providers. Read our dedicated article on these to find out more.