Crowdfund North of Tyne

Crowdfund North of Tyne gives local people the opportunity to create and fund projects which celebrate and improve our local areas. During the coronavirus crisis we have seen the amazing resilience, innovation and compassion of people within our communities. As we emerge from the crisis, we hope that this programme will become a springboard for a locally led recovery. Through this programme, the Combined Authority has £300k available for supporting campaigns with pledges.

In response to the ongoing cost of living crisis, the North of Tyne Combined Authority can now pledge up to 90% or up to £30,000 towards your crowdfunding project if you are an organisation and £1,000 if you are an individual. 

The Spring funding round is now open with a deadline of the 22 March 2024 to get involved. 

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Read below to understand how the programme works and how to get involved.

1.    EXPRESSION OF INTEREST/ ATTEND A WORKSHOP

Complete our Expression of Interest Form as soon as possible to inform us of your project idea and knowledge of crowdfunding. A member of the team will be in touch to provide you with the necessary information about future events and any support you may need to help get your project started. 

2.    PROJECT PAGE AND PITCH

Create your project page on Spacehive which will match you the relevant Crowdfund North of Tyne fund. Here the North of Tyne Combined Authority will ask you some additional questions about your project. Follow this handy step-by-step guide when setting up your project.

3.    VERIFICATION

The project costs and necessary permissions will be checked and verified. This involves checking quotes for all the major items and if you have land owner permission for your project.

Deadline: You must be in verification and have pitched to the fund by the 22 March. 

4.    CROWDFUNDING

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

5.    PLEDGE

The Combined Authority will review all project campaigns and successful projects can expect to receive a pledge from the combined authority. 

6. HIT YOUR TARGET AND DELIVER YOUR PROJECT

Projects which hit their target early can continue to raise money until their original deadline thorugh 'Overfunding'. Pledges will be collected and transferred to the project normally within 10 working days of the campaign ending. 

Please note that the Combined Authority 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 pledge to your campaign. 

WHO CAN APPLY FOR THIS FUND

Charities, social enterprises, constituted community groups and community interest companies (CICs) can potentially receive a pledge of up to £30,000 and as much as 90% of total project costs.

Individuals can receieve up to £1,000 towards their project. 

Crowdfund North of Tyne aims to fund projects which are strongly community -led and at neighbourhood level.  The type of activity is generally more important to us that the type of group, but priority is usually given to organisations with an annual income of less than £500k. 

Well-established charities and organisations with ambitious targets are welcome to apply but will need a plan for funding the rest of their project goal. Our team may be able to advise on other funding streams which could be available to you.

We understand that businesses are often at the heart of our communities and that they are an important part of a strong and vibrant social tapestry. We welcome applications from private companies, providing they meet the following additional guiding principles.

• The business must not make any financial gain or economic advantage from the grant.
• Projects should not be for commercial advantage, represent an extension or scale up of existing business activity, pay for running costs or constitute business support.
• The business should act as an intermediary, with any benefit from the grant flowing directly through to the local community. Checks will be made to ensure the support does not constitute a subsidy, and if it does, it will not be awarded. (Subsidy control guidance can be found here).
• Businesses must be able to demonstrate that the initiative they are proposing is strongly community-led. They should have a minimum of 40 community backers before receiving funding from NTCA.
• The business should already have a strong connection with their local community and ideally already be working with the community. The business must have demonstrable community reach and influence.
• Businesses must be small, local and independent with a head office in the North of Tyne.
• If the fund is oversubscribed in a given round, priority will be given to eligible applications from community organisations.

Headline criteria:

Project groups will need to meet one or more of the following criteria to pitch to the main fund:

• bring people together in new ways 
• support people’s wellbeing and mental health - especially outdoors
• inspire creativity and opportunity for all – including promoting lifelong learning

Additional Criteria:

You’ll also need to:

• Show us that the idea comes from, and is for, your local community
• Tell us how you’ve considered the needs of everyone in your community – particularly people from different backgrounds, across different ages and with experience of disability
• Demonstrate the support of your community through pledges, likes, and comments on the campaign page.

*Investment from the Crowdfund North of Tyne’s Main Fund is part-funded by the UK government through the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is a central pillar of the UK government’s Levelling Up agenda and provides £2.6 billion of funding for local investment by March 2025. The Fund aims to improve pride in place and increase life chances across the UK investing in communities and place, supporting local business, and people and skills. For more information, visit https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-shared-prosperity-fund-prospectus