Spacehive Sign Up Information

Turner Prize winners to design new school farm

• It turns out 60% of our project creators are first time local change-makers
• 60% of successful project creators are women (who have often been less represented in the regeneration and place-making space)
• 55% of our projects come from the UK's most deprived communities
• In areas where local authorities run programmes on Spacehive 8x as many projects are being created (and 85% of their campaigns are successful vs 54% elsewhere)

We find ourselves in an extraordinary situation - one which is placing huge strain on communities across the UK. And yet despite this, people are pulling together with ideas for helping their community get through the Coronavirus crisis and bounce back on the other side. It's humbling and wonderful to see.

At the same time we are seeing companies, foundations and local government step up - by offering urgent, flexible funding for local projects that make a difference. 

We know we have a role to play because Spacehive's model is able to combine funds from across society to get grassroots projects funded fast.

And here's what we're doing to help:

• We're waiving our 5% fee for all projects created during the lockdown (please bear with us while we adapt our systems at speed - you may still see references to our fee on the site but we guarantee you won't pay it)
• We're relaxing our criteria so you can raise money purely for running costs as well as tangible projects. 
• For campaigns already live we're offering an extension of up to 2 months to give people more breathing space. 
• For companies, councils and foundations that want to set up urgent, flexible funds to help communities cope with the crisis we're waiving our fee for the specialist technology we provide.

This is just the beginning.  We will take a collaborative approach to responding to this situation, encouraging others to share their ideas for how we can pull together to make a difference. And we'll be keeping you up to date as things develop. 

But we're clear on one thing: we can get through this if we pull together. As a country we have the ideas, resources and community spirit to make things better both during the lockdown and afterwards, when the spaces that bring us together will be more important than ever.

Thank you and stay safe.

Chris Gourlay

Founder & CEO, Spacehive

We mentioned a few weeks ago that campaigns were receiving more backers than usual, and this has resulted in some of our quickest and most-backed campaigns since we launched in 2012. 

In just a week, the Giving for Gedling foodbank has raised over ?25,000 from 400 backers. A similar initiative in Waltham Forest has raised over ?32,000 from 325 backers, and another in Bow in East London raising almost ?12,000 from 165 backers. 

It''s been an amazing response. We know that it doesn''t stop at just emergency response projects too. People are coming up with unique and creative ways to bring people together and express thanks to those who are supporting others at this time. We''re very excited about this Nurses Garden and Barnet General Hospital which will launch its campaign soon. 

Spacehive combines funds from across society to get grassroots projects funded fast.

This matters more now than ever before. To assist this, we''ve committed to:

• Waive our 5% fee for all projects created during this period.
• Relax our criteria so you can raise money purely for running costs as well as tangible projects. 
• Offer our technology free of charge to any company, council or foundation that wants to set up urgent, flexible funds to help communities cope with the crisis. 

Lockdown has sparked a yearning for stronger communities and a deeper connection to our local area. As we emerge, we should seize the opportunity to channel that spirit - by empowering communities to decide what their area needs to thrive.

There's no doubting the enormous challenges this period has created. For some, lockdown has been very tough indeed. For others simply surreal. 

Yet the crisis has also created the opportunity to do things differently. 

The team and I have been incredibly inspired by the surge of local organising, the entrepreneurial response by councils, and the wider spirit of society pulling together to get through a tough period. 

And like millions of others we glimpsed how things could be different in our own communities. Between handling user support queries from the kitchen table or coding new features in the backyard we got to know our neighbours better, spent more time in our corner of the city, enjoyed streets without traffic and air without pollution, and felt a new solidarity with struggling local businesses and key workers delivering services on our behalf. 

In an increasingly globalised world, this new community spirit and localism feels powerful. I hope it can be harnessed over the long term.

Polling shows very few of us want things to go back to the way they were. So there's a unique opportunity to take stock, re-think, and set a new and better course:

• To build on people's stronger sense of connectedness to their neighbours, local area and local economy.
• To boldly reimagine the way we use civic space (in response to immediate restrictions around social distancing and beyond).
• To rethink the local economy (particularly in light of the threat posed to the high street from the accelerated uptake of online shopping and social distancing).
• To embed a new collaborative way of working - where communities, businesses, government and foundations pull together to deliver what local places need.
• To strengthen the resilience of communities by making it easier to access funding and deliver change.

In short we should seize the chance not just to recover - but to #BuildBackBetter so that communities, local economies and the natural environment emerge more vibrant and resilient than ever.

We believe civic crowdfunding can help to channel this new energy because it empowers local people to decide what their area needs, whilst allowing everyone to come together to get things funded and delivered. 

So to help communities #BuildBackBetter we are:

• Working with our partners funders to focus support on projects that help places recover and thrive - everything from creating a neighbourhood book swap to launching a socially-distanced street market.
• Aligning programmes with relevant policy actions like pedestrianising streets, transferring land and property to the community and repurposing business growth hubs, to support social economic growth and community ownership.
• Bringing new funders on board to help.
• Launching a series of online events where change-makers across the UK can share ideas about how to #BuildBackBetter in their area.
• Creating a library of inspiring project ideas and "recipes" for how to achieve them.
• Continuing to offer free use of our platform for projects helping people who remain in voluntary or enforced self-isolation (e.g. food banks) for the rest of the year.

They say you should never let a crisis go to waste. This one could have a bright silver lining if we are decisive and ambitious about the change we want to to see.

Chris Gourlay, 

Founder & CEO, Spacehive

Every day we''re seeing more and more projects that are related to supporting communities through this pandemic. We''ve got full admiration for the heroes up and down the country who are doing everything they can to help those in need. We''ve written a blog covering the different local response projects using Spacehive to raise funds, which we''ll keep updated as new ones go live. 

As more of you come to us with projects, our mission will continue to be supporting your fundraising efforts. The crowd are responding - this last week has seen campaigns raise funds 60% faster than they normally would. 

Spacehive combines funds from across society to get grassroots projects funded fast.

This matters more now than ever before. To assist this, we''ve committed to:

• Waive our 5% fee for all projects created during this period.
• Relax our criteria so you can raise money purely for running costs as well as tangible projects. 
• Offer our technology free of charge to any company, council or foundation that wants to set up urgent, flexible funds to help communities cope with the crisis. 

• This plan to turn Liverpool''s streets into spaces to meet, play and relax
• This shipping container-turned-coffee-shop, which taps into a trend to improve local amenities for the home-working population
• And this community workshop space - which shows the opportunity being created for changemakers to breathe new life into vacant high street units as struggling retailers move out.

Since launching in 2011, 61% of campaigns have hit their funding target. That''s the highest success rate of any crowdfunding platform and triple that of the average grant application.

What''s the secret? Our platform is designed specifically for projects that improve local places. It combines tools that match local campaigns to integrated funds, a tailored diligence process that gives backers confidence that ideas are deliverable, and loving support to help creators from the kernel of an idea to cash in the bank.

If you have an idea for a project that can help your area and needs funds to get off the ground, scale it up, or meet new demand, go to spacehive.com/create and start telling us about it. 

It has been a busy week as communities continue to seek funding to support initiatives in their area, and noticable over the week has been the uptick in projects which clearly have one eye on the period beyond the measures currently in place. Now is certainly a good time to think about the types of initiatives that may be in demand once we''re through this, and to get a plan in place for funding and delivering them. 

New Covid-19 response campaigns this week include foodbanks in Liverpool and Havering, as well as campaigns which support the elderly in Westminster, deliver free meals to vulnerable residents in Hammersmith and Fulham, and provide packages with learning resources to children in West Sussex. 

Groups which are using this time to crowdfund for projects which will form part of the rebuild are coming forward with a range of ideas, from new preschool facilities to pond restorations to new dinghies for community sailing clubs.

We also welcomed 50 cricket clubs this week who as part of our partnership with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are crowdfunding to cover lost revenue over what would be their busiest time of the year. The ECB are putting in the first ?100 for every campaign - owzat for a good deal?

Spacehive combines funds from across society to get grassroots projects funded fast.

This matters more now than ever before. To assist this, we''ve committed to:

• Waive our 5% fee for all projects created during this period.
• Relax our criteria so you can raise money purely for running costs as well as tangible projects. 
• Offer our technology free of charge to any company, council or foundation that wants to set up urgent, flexible funds to help communities cope with the crisis. 

In addition to the many councils we''re working with to run their own campaigns to fund emergency response projects, others are getting behind community-led campaigns and pledging alongside other members of the crowd.

Spacehive makes it easy for projects to land on the radar of their local council through our grantmaker app, which matches them to available grants in their area. These funders can then review the project and the crowdfunding campaign, and make a decision on whether to pledge. Given the bigger pledging power than your average backer, this means that campaigns that receive a pledge from their local council are 85% likely to hit their funding target.

Congratulations to Community Honey by Bees & Refugees and The Kids Network in Hammersmith and Fulham, which received pledges of ?10,000 and ?1,500 respectively, and Bow Food Bank and First Love Foundation in Tower Hamlets, which received ?2,834 and ?5,000.

Councils and Mayoralties across the UK have pledged over ?500,000 to community projects in 2020. If you are in an area where your council works with Spacehive to distribute funds, then you too could see your initiative backed in a similar way. Click here to see the councils that we work with.

Spacehive combines funds from across society to get grassroots projects funded fast.

This matters more now than ever before. To assist this, we''ve committed to:

• Waive our 5% fee for all projects created during this period.
• Relax our criteria so you can raise money purely for running costs as well as tangible projects. 
• Offer our technology free of charge to any company, council or foundation that wants to set up urgent, flexible funds to help communities cope with the crisis.