The Barnet Council partnership with Spacehive has been extended to provide a crowdfunding platform for the borough for two more years.
Bob Burstow, Organiser of the Barnet Teenage Market; Councillor Reuben Thompstone, Chair of the Community Leadership and Libraries Committee; George Lamb, TV and radio personality and Founder of GROW.
This initiative gives residents with project ideas the ability to attract funding from the community, council, businesses and foundations through one portal. The partnership raised more than £500,000 for good causes during its first two years, with more than 1,000 people getting involved and pledging money.
Projects to benefit have included GROW, founded by TV and radio personality George Lamb, which raised more than £161,000 from 342 funders for an outdoor classroom at the Totteridge Academy. GROW is an educational programme that teaches children to look after themselves and the planet through a variety of techniques including healthy eating, mindfulness and yoga.
Bob Burstow, meanwhile, raised more than £55,000 for a teenage market – giving young entrepreneurs a place to trade, musicians a place to perform, and drawing shoppers into Chipping Barnet.
Councillor Reuben Thompstone, Chair of the Community Leadership and Libraries Committee, said: “We hope to raise even more in the next two years! We have so many organisations who are very eager and excited to be part of Crowdfund Barnet. We can put some seed money in – but really, we want to shine a spotlight on residents to celebrate and promote their great work in our borough.”
Barnet Council has a pot of £50,000 for crowdfunding projects – with up to £5,000 available for each of them. The council will also help link individuals and groups to other sources of funding. The only condition is that applicants must demonstrate that they have wider support from the community and that their project supports the priorities of the council’s Corporate Plan.
The first funding round is now open, and the deadline to pitch projects to Crowdfund Barnet is Monday 11 November. For more information, or to create a crowdfunding project that will benefit the borough, visit: spacehive.com/movement/crowdfundbarnet