Swansea Council has announced a £60,000 fund to make it easier for residents to improve their local areas.
A new round of the Crowdfund Swansea programme will enable people across the city to access funding for community improvement initiatives.
The council and its community fundraising partners Spacehive are keen to hear from residents with innovative ideas to improve their areas.
No fundraising experience is necessary, with the majority of Spacehive creators putting together a community project for the first time.
Spacehive assists project creators with online workshops, one-to-one support and resources, providing advice on everything from project costs to campaign promotion.
A free Crowdfund Swansea hour-long online workshop is due to take place from noon on Wednesday, February 21. It’ll offer key details on how to get involved in the spring 2024 funding window. To register, visit http://www.bit.ly/CSfeb21.
Andrew Stevens, council cabinet member for environment and infrastructure, said: “In recent years, more than £350,000 has been raised through Crowdfund Swansea, every pound helping to improve local communities.
“We’re ready to support more projects that put local people at the heart of the efforts to help Swansea kick on. This is especially important during the country’s ongoing cost of living crisis.
“The more people involved in Crowdfund Swansea the more amazing places we can create together.
“This programme’s crowdfunding nature – and the possibility of council funding – maximises the amount campaigners can raise in order to deliver transformational locally-based projects.
“Companies and foundations can join us in offering support to ideas people post on Crowdfund Swansea. This could be in funding pledges or in-kind – anything that can help make projects a real success.”
Having worked with Spacehive over recent years, the council has supported a range of transformational community-led ideas including Sweet Pickings, a pick-up and distribution project delivering fresh fruit to food banks, and botanical art studio Gower Grow Space, repurposed from an abandoned greenhouse.
All project ideas in the spring round should be launched on the Spacehive platform and pitched to the available funds by March 20.
Crowdfund Swansea is part-funded by the UK Government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund – and more than eight in 10 Spacehive projects hit their funding goals.
Businesses interested in getting involved with pledging and supporting projects should email [email protected] for information.
If you have an idea for a project in your local area, please contact Spacehive – www.bit.ly/CScontactForm.
Crowdfund Swansea – www.bit.ly/SHcs2023
