Guildford Borough Council is committed to empowering communities and supporting people who need help.

This fund is set up to support projects and initiatives that:

•    Help vulnerable people, those that are hard-to-reach and ethnic minorities.
•    Deliver rural initiatives including crime reduction and environmental, cultural and leisure projects.
•    Improve existing and create new parks and open spaces and provision of suitable alternative natural greenspace.
•    Improve residents’ access to nature and wildlife.
•    Deliver projects that help implement the play, sports development and arts ambitions of the Council.

We are looking forward to receiving pitches from projects ideas that deliver the following outcomes:

•    Help to tackle inequalities in our borough.
•    Work with communities to support those in need.
•    Support the unemployed back into the workplace and facilitate opportunities for residents to enhance their skills.
•    Prevent homelessness and rough-sleeping in the borough.
•    Develop strong and safe communities.
•    Improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of local communities.
•    Set out to reduce carbon emissions, energy consumption and waste.
•    Revive Guildford town centre to unlock its full potential.
•    Protect and enhance our natural and built environment
•    Invest in and maintain the local facilities we rely on for these activities to take place
•    Promote the borough’s arts, heritage or culture

To get started, create your project on Spacehive and get your project verified. You will then submit your pitch to the Guildford Community Fund via the Spacehive platform and launch your campaign.

To be considered by the council for a pledge, you should:

1. Launch your crowdfunding campaign on Spacehive by the fund deadline: 29th March

2. Showcase local support for your project in the form of backers.

Pitches to the fund will be considered typically 6 weeks after the fund deadline. If successful, you will receive a pledge towards your live crowdfunding campaign. The Spacehive team is on hand to share lots of advice on how to run a brilliant crowdfunding campaign.

Join the Spacehive team at our upcoming workshop on 23rd February at 12:00 for more information (see News & Events page) and read the steps below to learn how to get involved.

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1.    SHARE YOUR IDEA + ATTEND A WORKSHOP

Complete our Project Idea Form ​​​​as soon as possible to tell us about your idea and register for a workshop (see News & Events tab for more information).

2.    CREATE YOUR PROJECT ON SPACEHIVE

Create your project page on Spacehive which will match you to the fund name. You are encouraged to create your project early, to unlock support from the Spacehive team. 

 3.    GET YOUR PROJECT VERIFIED

The project costs and necessary permissions will be checked by Spacehive's verifiers before you begin crowdfunding. Submit early to ensure you’re verified before the deadline. Verification takes an average of four days where project creators have the relevant documents to hand. 

Before you submit for verification, make sure that you have:

• Proof of permission (e.g. event license, council agreement, landowner consent). Read more about permissions.

• Evidence of costs (e.g. building work quotations, links to online shop listings)

• Relevant insurances, policies, or qualifications (e.g. organisation constitution, safeguarding policy, certifications)

• Evidence of any funds that you have received for this project that you would like to have shown on your campaign (e.g. grant agreement, scan of a cheque, bank statement).
   

4.    LAUNCH YOUR CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN AND PITCH TO THE FUND BY 29TH MARCH 

Once verified, launch your crowdfunding campaign, no later than 29th March. Ensure you have submitted your fund pitch by the deadline too, to be considered for a pledge from the council.

Please note: the council will not be the first organisation to pledge to your project and will first want to see community support and backing, in the form of pledges from local people towards your campaign.

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

Please note: a typical crowdfunding campaign should not exceed three months.

 5.    ASSESSMENT AND PLEDGE

The council will review all projects typically 6 weeks after the deadline and successful projects can expect to receive a pledge of up to £10,000 (max 50% of target) during their live campaign. For example, a £10,000 campaign could get up to £5,000. 

 6. HIT YOUR TARGET AND DELIVER YOUR PROJECT 

You need to hit your target in order to receive the funds you raise. Please allow up to three weeks to receive funds once your campaign ends. Once you deliver your project, you can update your backers by completing a colourful impact report on Spacehive. 

To learn more about crowdfunding on Spacehive, visit the Help Centre. 

For any additional questions, please contact Spacehive on support@spacehive.com.

All projects must be eligible to crowdfund on Spacehive - see Spacehive's eligibility here.

Eligibility for Guildford’s Community Fund depends on the status of the applicant and type of project. 

The following organisations are able to apply:

- Registered charities
- Community groups
- Social enterprises
- Non-profit organisations
- Community Interest Companies

The project must be a discrete, deliverable project that takes place in the borough of Guildford for the benefit of our residents.

Funding is designed to support projects and not solely for ongoing costs. New projects and those with an element of additionality will be looked upon favourably.

Projects contributing significantly to the Council’s priorities and desired outcomes will be looked upon favourably.

Project creators are able to apply more than once a year for funding if they wish, but the total pledges available will remain at £5,000 or 50% of the target across that year.

We cannot fund projects created by:

- Individuals
- Private companies
- Parish councils
- Public bodies

However, these groups may wish to support projects from eligible applicants. 

We encourage individuals with ideas to work with local groups to create their projects and pitch for funding.

For feedback on eligiblity and for support to get your idea ready for crowdfunding, share it with the Spacehive team via our Project Idea Form.