A dedicated fund of £100,000 has been put forward to help community crowdfunding projects in Liverpool.
Spacehive, a crowdfunding platform that focuses on ideas that “bring local places to life”, has joined up with Liverpool City Council to launch Crowdfund Liverpool.
While seeking cash traditionally relies on small amounts chipped in from any number of ‘backers’ or investors, successful applicants for Crowdfund Liverpool will receive a significant boost in raising money for their idea.
At the launch event yesterday, attendees were encouraged to discuss their potential ideas after talks from Spacehive CEO and founder, Chris Goarlay and Mayor Joe Anderson.
Mr Goarlay told JMU Journalism: “We’ve got 800 successful projects delivered around the UK. We’ve worked with a lot of different cities and local authorities, to help them support these sorts of locally led crowdfunding campaigns.”
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He added: “The idea is just to make it as easy as it possibly can be for people who have good ideas for improving local places, to bring those projects to life.
“Crowdfund Liverpool is about doing that in Liverpool, a city where we see a lot of opportunity for people who clearly have a lot of passion for their city and a lot of ideas for making things better.”
Emma Case, photographer and daughter of former Liverpool midfielder Jimmy Case, is currently planning a crowdfunding campaign for ‘The Red Project’.
She told JMU Journalism: “We’ve been collecting Liverpool fans’ old photos, the ones in the shoe box in the loft, building an archive.
“The crowdfunding is for a caravan. We’ve got this tiny 1960s caravan and we’re going to renovate it. There’s going to be a scanner on board and audio equipment and we’re going to take it on tour around Liverpool, collecting more photos and more stories.”
The Red Project launches on Monday on Crowdfunder, a separate platform, but Mrs Case was among the many creators enquiring about the scheme at yesterday’s event. The project’s goal is set at £23,000 to renovate the caravan and mobilise its preservation of LFC history.
Crowdfund Liverpool will be hosting a workshop on March 18th with the final deadline for applications on April 30th.