A workshop was held in Southall about the Mayor of London’s Crowdfunding programme and Ealing Council’s £250,000 Transform Your Space (TYS) fund.

It was held at The Centre Banqueting on Merrick Road on Tuesday evening.

The workshop was opened by Councillor Bassam Mahfouz (Cabinet Member Transport Environment and Leisure). Transform your space, in its third year, can enable communities to transform spaces or spots used by drunks or used as rubbish tips into resident friendly spaces within a few months.

There are two pots of money to aim for. The Mayor of London’s Crowdfunding programme and Ealing Council’s £250,000 Transform Your Space (TYS) fund.

The Council will “support you to make it happen” and “to push away undesirables”. You need to raise or contribute £1K towards your project.

Niraj Dattani, Head of Community Development at Spacehive said that the aim of the project should be to come together and collectively fund a project to improve local “community spaces”.

Crowdfund London 2017

The Mayor’s Crowdfunding programme has a total pot of £500K with projects being given up to £50K and the maximum funding a project will receive is 75%.

You need to setup the project on Spacehive. The project description should be your selling pitch and the submission deadline is 5 June 2017. The actual decision will be made in September.

Before you create a project, you need to have the relevant planning permissions sorted and any legal issues resolved. You will need to provide proof of this.

What is the Mayor of London looking for?

A project that:
- celebrate local character
- creativity
- revive unused space
- help local economy

The others things they are looking for are:
- Need to welcome and involve everyone.
- Skills and opportunities for local people
- Strong community backing

What is the success rate? 24%

The project will need to hit the target to get the money.
Having the Mayor’s backing for your project is a good endorsement.
The Mayor is looking for regeneration projects.

Previous projects

It’s an “All or nothing model”
You either get all the money or you get nothing.

Devinia – Brent project – grow fruit to create smoothies, healthy eating leading onto healthy drinking. She raised £20K.

Jane Hooper – Forest school leader – experience green spaces that are wooded. Not just for children. They cater for excluded high school pupils. They are using land that was untouched for 40 years.

Can you get Crowd to back you?

Yes, you can, if the project has the following:
- Clear-cut
- Appeal
- Novel

275 successful projects – 52%
260 unsuccessful projects

Nitty Gritty with the Mayor

The current deadline is 5 June 2017 for the project to be locked down and finalised. It will only pay for capital only ie benches, equipment, trees, bricks etc. It will NOT cover peoples salaries, rent or design work. The Mayors fund covers capital so the others have to cover salaries etc.

Is it for registered charities only?
No, any constituted group can apply. You need to have a written constitution but need not be registered. Or you can partner with a constituted group.

The Mayor London will not pay in advance. You will need to submit your invoice after you have delivered the project and then you will be paid promptly.

Create your project NOW.