Created by Worcestershire County Council in partnership with crowdfunding platform Spacehive, Crowdfund Worcestershire is a new crowdfunding initiative that provides groups countywide with a platform to pitch their project ideas and raise funds to bring it to life.

This programme will become a springboard for locally-led ideas to attract funding more easily, while enabling everyone who cares about their community to contribute - chipping in as little as £2 can help a project on its way to success. 

For this first round, a dedicated fund of £85,000 is now open for charities and local organisations to pitch to, with pledges of up to £20,000 (max 50% of campaign target) available per project. If you have a project that will help your community recover from Covid-19, share your idea via this short form to get started. 

The first round looks to support organisations in their bid to help the county’s recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The County Council is keen to hear from organisations that have project ideas which need financial backing around the following five key areas:

• Food Poverty – predominately focused on families
• Social isolation/befriending – looking at virtual community connections / or adapted schemes that comply with social distancing.
• Return to work – helping people prepare for a return to work or helping them into work.
• Maintaining our volunteering offer – helping to create a legacy of community and volunteer action post Covid-19.
• Healthy Communities – activities to improve the health and wellbeing of your local community

In additon to the above fund criteria, projects should showcase community support for the idea, in the form of pledges from local people, prior to project assessment. The Spacehive team is on hand to share lots of advice on how to run a brilliant crowdfunding campaign. See 'How It Works' below for more information.

SHARE YOUR IDEA

To get started, complete our short form to tell us more about your project ideas. The Spacehive team are on hand to help get your project ready for crowdfunding.

PROJECT PAGE & PITCH

Create your online project page which will match you to the Crowdfund Worcestershire Fund. Here the council will ask you some additional questions about your project. You must pitch your project to the fund by the 30th September.

VERIFICATION

The project costs and necessary permissions will then be checked by independent verifiers, Locality. Learn more here.

CROWDFUNDING

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

ASSESSMENT & PLEDGE

The council will review all project campaigns based on local support demonstrated through number of backers and other assessment criteria w/c 9th November. If your pitch is successful, your project will receive a pledge towards its target.

HIT YOUR TARGET AND DELIVER YOUR PROJECT!