The Lancashire Culture & Sport Fund (LCSF) has been developed to support culture and sport projects in the community with the aim of improving people's health, well-being and cultural experience.

Community organisations could get a pledge of up to £20,000 (max 50% of target) towards a crowdfunding campaign. Town and Parish Councils are also encouraged to apply for a pledge of up to £5,000, while businesses and individuals with ideas to boost the culture and sports offering in their area could get up to £1,500 to make it happen. 

The fund is open to new projects between 16th May and 18th July 2023. To get started, create your project on Spacehive and get your project verified. You will then submit your pitch to the LCSF 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 
2. Showcase local support for your project in the form of backers.

Pitches to the fund will be considered at the end of the funding window, in late July. 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.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the fund criteria.

Read on for more information on how to apply. 

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 by visiting News & Events.

2.    CREATE YOUR PROJECT ON SPACEHIVE

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

You can download our guidance notes for step by step instructions and advice on completing your application and pitch. 

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 here.
• 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

Once verified, launch your crowdfunding campaign. Ensure you have submitted your pitch to the LCSF by the deadline too, to be considered for a pledge from the council.

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, and you can choose your campaign dates based on when you need to raise the funds by. 
 

5.    PLEDGE

The council will review all projects on a monthly basis during the funding window (final assessment in mid-March) and successful projects can expect to receive a pledge of up to £20,000 (max 50% of target) during their live campaign. For example, a £10,000 campaign could get up to £5,000. Please note: individuals and businesses could receive a pledge up to £1,500 while town and parish councils could access up to £5,000 towards their target. 

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.

Click here to download a PDF copy of the fund criteria.

Is my project eligible for Spacehive?

Projects need to be locally-rooted, tangible, and serve a community purpose.

If you have an idea for a project that, in its own way, will transform your local area, then Spacehive is the place to raise funds for it.

It may be something simple and creative such as a street mural, or more ambitious such as repurposing a disused building for community use. 

What's important is that your project is tangible. People who will back your campaign will want to see where their money has gone. 

While it's impossible to cater to all, your project should have local benefit and not just be for a select few to enjoy. Obviously the more people your project appeals to, the more chance you stand of running a successful crowdfunding campaign.

Projects must be in the UK, and can be led by any type of organisation or individual. 

Looking for inspiration? Our project archive will give you a flavour of the types of projects that crowdfund with us.

How does the all-or-nothing crowdfunding model work?

You need to hit your target in order to receive the funds you raise. Otherwise you will not receive any.

Spacehive operates an all-or-nothing model, which means that if you don’t hit your target, backers are refunded and you receive no funds. This can seem daunting at first, however we believe that it is to the advantage of project creators.

• It helps you raise more money as backers know you have to hit your target. On platforms where this isn't mandated, there's no urgency and it's common to raise less than the target amount. 

• It’s less risk for everyone. If you need £5,000, it’s not much good having £1,000 and crowd of people expecting you to complete a £5,000 project.

• It encourages people to back you. They know their money will only go towards the project as described on your page, not a half-funded version of it.

• It works. 66% of Spacehive campaigns are successful, which is much higher than the crowdfunding industry standard.

Once the initial funding target has been reached, projects can continue to raise additional funds to make the project even bigger and better. If the project has overfunding enabled, details of how the extra funds will be spent are explained on the project page and backers can choose whether to keep pledging towards those cost items too. Find out more about overfunding.

What are the fees? Is there a charge?

Anyone can set up a project page for free, and start crowdfunding. We add a 5% success fee to campaigns which is only payable if you reach your funding target.

Anyone can start using Spacehive and create a project for free. To ensure the continuing development and maintenance of our technology platform, the process of verifying projects, and the support that we provide, we apply a 5% success fee to projects* which hit their target with us. 

When you input your project costs, our system will still calculate this fee and it will appear as a cost item in your budget.

For example, if your project costs £100, we will add 5% +VAT to your target, which works out as £106. This will be your crowdfunding target. 

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 Stripe, the external payment provider that you will connect with when you create your project with us. Read our dedicated article on these to find out more. 

What advice do other project creators have for running a successful campaign?

Project creators who have been successful are a rich source of knowledge. Most advise being prepared to sell your idea, having a clear plan to deliver it, going the extra mile to woo big funders, and having a crowd before you crowdfund.

We went out and canvassed project creators who have run successful campaigns, asking them a simple question: what tips would you give to someone who wants to crowdfund a community project on Spacehive? Read their answers.

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Want inspiration? Take a look at all the successful projects on Spacehive.

Through Crowdfund Lancashire, local projects have extra support from the Spacehive team to get ready to run a brilliant crowdfunding campaign. Get started by sharing your idea via this short form

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

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

Crowdfund Lancashire gives residents with project ideas the ability to attract funding from their communities, the council, local businesses and foundations - all through one portal.

The programme brings people across the district together through locally-led ideas that our communities want to help make happen. You can pledge as little as £2 towards a project you want to bring to life. 

Check out projects fundraising now as part of Crowdfund Lancashire. You can pledge to projects and help project creators promote their campaigns by sharing their project page with your networks. 

To keep updated on new projects, upcoming events and funding opportunities, please contact info@spacehive.com or click the yellow 'Follow' star at the top right of the page.

Companies, foundations and public bodies interested in supporting projects alongside Lancashire County Council should also get in touch so we can help get you started.

#CrowdfundLancashire

An exciting opportunity to fund inspirational projects in your local community 

Created by Lancashire County Council in partnership with Spacehive, Crowdfund Lancashire empowers people to create culture and sports projects that will make a positive difference in their community. 

By running a crowdfunding campaign, projects can attract funds to bring their ideas to life. This new platform offers businesses the opportunity to contribute to these local projects and connect with their communities alongside the council and other backers. 

We understand that it has been a challenging time for many businesses. For those that can, we ask you to consider joining Crowdfund Lancashire which offers a creative and collaborative way to support the region.  

Pledging to local projects could be a low-resource route to: 

• deliver your corporate social responsibilities 

• demonstrate Social Value impact 

• deepen employee engagement and boost volunteering 

• develop positive PR through campaign success stories. 

Another option to consider is having your very own Supporter profile page. This requires a commitment to put forward a pot of funding per round - in return you are formally recognised on the platform, promoted at events, and can support projects that meet your CSR objectives.  

If you are interested in championing Crowdfund Lancashire, we would be delighted to chat with you about the available options. Please get in touch.