Cotswold District Council

Do you have an idea that brings people together and tackles the barriers and challenges many of us experience? Do you want to start a project that protects and enhances our natural or built environment and community facilities?

Created by Cotswold District Council in partnership with crowdfunding platform Spacehive, Crowdfund Cotswold is a new crowdfunding initiative that provides local people with a platform to pitch their project ideas and raise funds to bring it to life.

Our residents know best what is needed and what works best in their communities. They have the skills, creativity and passion to shape their local area and therefore the future they want. 

The council has allocated a deciated Cotswold Community Fund to help support our communities to make their ideas a reality. The fund is open to individuals, charities and other local organisations to pitch to. 

Create your project on Spacehive and pitch to this fund by the 21st April, and you could recieve of a pledge of up to £10,000 (max 50% of target) towards your crowdfunding campaign. 

For more information, explore what outcomes we're looking for and how it works below. You can also register for an upcoming project creator workshop, where the Spacehive team will share their top tips for creating and funding a successful project: 

Register for 9th March 12 - 1 pm
Register for 18th March 6 - 7 pm 

A budget to support the Community Activity that makes our district special, this fund is set up to support community groups that:

• improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of your local community
• enhance our lives through events and activities
• support young people’s ideas and ambitions
• Help to tackle the barriers and challenges many of us experience in life, such as poverty, ill health, distance from services, social isolation/loneliness
• Cultivate food equity - projects that support building a fair food system for everyone
• Protect and enhance our natural and built environment
• Invest in and maintain the facilities we rely on for community activities to take place.

For feedback on the eligibility of your idea, share it via this simple form. 

In addition 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. 

1.    EXPRESSION OF INTEREST/ ATTEND A WORKSHOP
Complete our Project Idea Form as soon as possible to tell us about your project idea and knowledge of crowdfunding.
 
2.    PROJECT PAGE AND PITCH BY 21st APRIL
Create your project page on Spacehive which will match you to the Cotswold Community Fund. 

3.    VERIFICATION
The project costs and necessary permissions will be checked by independent verifiers, Locality. This involves checking quotes for all the major items and if you have landowner permission for your project.

4.    CROWDFUNDING
Run your crowdfunding campaign between April and July. 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 that the council 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 consider pledging to your campaign.

The Spacehive team is on hand to share lots of advice on how to run a brilliant crowdfunding campaign.

5.    PLEDGE
The council will review all project campaigns and successful projects can expect to receive a pledge of up to £10,000/50% of your target typically six weeks after the fund deadline.

6. HIT YOUR TARGET AND DELIVER YOUR PROJECT 

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

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

We cannot fund:

• Commercial activity – activity delivered for private profit.
• Commercial organisations and exempt charities.
• Activity that is more properly the responsibility of other statutory organisations (eg social care; bus subsidies). 
• Party political promotion or activities.  
• Activities related to religious worship. Religious groups may apply for non-religious activities but will need to demonstrate that the activity does not promote a religious view in any way and is inclusive to all faiths and religions.
  
  For feedback on the eligibility of your idea, share it via this simple form.