Through this crowdfunding programme, Stroud District Council (SDC) has a fund of £100,000 available for the year 2024/2025. 

Eligible projects could receive a pledge from SDC of up to £10,000 (up to a maximum of 50% of the project’s target).

Criteria

• Your project must align to the council priorities which are:

  • a. Environment and Climate Change

  • b. Community Resilience and Wellbeing

  • c. Economy, Resilience and Regeneration

• It must benefit the people within the Stroud district

• Your project must be time bound with a clear delivery date (projects must have a contingency plan in case the project does not meet its delivery date)

Who can apply

• Public bodies such as town and parish councils

• Schools and educational facilities can apply but the project must be available to the wider community

• A registered charity with a board of trustees

• A registered community interest company, (you must provide copies of your community interest statement, details of the asset lock included in your memorandum and articles of association, and a copy of your latest annual community interest report.

• A constituted group of with a volunteer management committee with a minimum of three unrelated members that meets on a regular basis (at least three times a year)

• Social enterprise

• Community groups

• Sports clubs

To be eligible your organisation must have a bank account with 2 signatories.

If you are an individual who has a project idea, Stroud District Council can help link you to an eligible organisation who can partner with you to bring your project to life.

We will not fund

• Commercial activities, organisations, and individual practitioners

• Activities which are a statutory duty

• Party political promotion/activities

• Activities which promote religious worship

• Organisations which aim to distribute a profit

• Incomplete applications

Stroud District Council has the right to reject applications at its discretion.

 

Upcoming workshop

Join us at our next workshop on the 24th of September from 12noon to 1pm - register here. 

• Hear about funding available to help make your ideas happen
• Understand the process, key dates and next steps 
• Meet members of the team and discuss your project directly with them

Projects will then have until the 30th October 2024 to get their projects ready (ie ensure costs and permissions in place) before they start crowdfuding in November. 

See the steps below on how to get involved.

------------------------------------

1. Create a project page

Head to Spacehive to get started.

Spacehive will help you develop your project so you are set up for success and ready to crowdfund. If you need some feedback on your idea, tell us about it here and we’ll guide you on how to begin.

 

2. Submit your project for verification 

The deadline to submit to verification is Wednesday the 30th October 2024.  

Your project costs and necessary permissions will be verified by the Spacehive team. This involves checking quotes that you provide and whether you need to secure specific permissions to deliver your project. Gather this information in advance for speedy verification.

 

3. Share and collect pledges

Once your project is live, share news of your project via as many platforms as possible. Start raising funds and boost local support before your pitch for funding is assessed by Stroud District Council. Spacehive offers helpful tips, resources and direct user support on how to achieve your crowdfunding goals and the Spacehive team is on hand to share lots of advice as you need it.

It's really important to us that you are able to demonstrate community support for projects. This both demonstrates that there is a widespread demand for what you are proposing, and helps to ensure the long term sustainability of projects. 
 

4. Access the Stroud District Council funding

Work with Spacehive to develop your pitch on the platform and you could attract additional funding via a Stroud District Council pledge. 

This programme offers Project Creators the opportunity to receive a donation from Stroud District Council provided the project meets the criteria of the fund, as well as having received a sufficient amount of support from the community. There is £100,000 initially available to support projects across the district. You could receive a pledge from the council of up to £10,000 (capped at 50% of your crowdfunding target).

Read more about the fund eligibility and desired outcomes in the 'fund overview' section.     

                                           

5. Hit your target and deliver your project

If you receive a pledge from Stroud District Council, then you must hit your funding target in order to receive it. Our funding is tied to the specific outcomes of the project so if you don’t hit your target, our pledge will be removed and you will receive the remaining amount. Once you hit your target, funds will take up to two weeks to arrive in your bank account.

Once you have delivered your project, you can update your backers on your successes by completing an impact report on Spacehive. 

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

We have included some of the most common questions below.

If you have any other questions, please visit the Spacehive help centre at https://help.spacehive.com/ or email Spacehive on [email protected] or Stroud District Council 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. Stroud District Council has partnered with Spacehive for this programme because of its expertise in civic crowdfunding. 

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 be able to pledge to campaigns via debit/credit card, BACS or Direct Debit.

The smallest pledge which can be made is £2.00 and there is no maximum pledge. 

What happens if I have already raised funds towards my project?

If you’ve already begun fundraising for your project before coming to Spacehive, you can show any funds raised or items received as pledges on your project page, provided that they are for the same project. Showing that you have already raised funds will help get your campaign off to a good start, as it demonstrates that there’s support for the project and this will encourage others to get behind you. See our help centre article for more information. 

When will we get the money we raise?

All the pledges from your campaign will be transferred to you after your campaign ends. If you receive a pledge from Stroud District Council, then you must hit your funding target in order to receive it. Our funding is tied to the specific outcomes of the project so if you don’t hit your target, our pledge will be removed and you will receive the remaining amount. Once you hit your target funds will take up to 2 weeks to arrive in your bank account.

Are there any fees to use Spacehive?
Spacehive does charge a fee to register your project, however, Spacehive does charge a success fee if projects successfully reach their fundraising target. There are also transactions fees. All fees are included within the project budget and clearly displayed. These can be viewed here.

If you have any other questions, please visit the Spacehive help centre at https://help.spacehive.com/ or email Spacehive on [email protected] or Stroud District Council on [email protected]

This programme offers an excellent opportunity for external funders and business to contribute to local projects and connect with their communities alongside the council and other backers.

There are three main reasons why external funders and businesses pledge to projects on Spacehive:

• Spacehive verifies all projects (checks permissions and quotes) before a crowdfunding campaign goes live, which means funders and businesses can have the confidence that relevant due diligance has already been completed.
• By pledging alongside the council, who have their own thorough assessment process, funders and businesses can be confident that the project will make a real difference to the local community. 
• By supporting local projects which are also backed by members of the community, funding can stretch further, meaning that more projects and communities can be supported. 

Pledging to projects could also be an effective way of:

•  creating positive PR through campaign success stories
• delivering your corporate social responsibilities
• demonstrating Social Value
• enabling employee learning, community participation and volunteering

To find out more and discuss your needs, please email: [email protected].