Spruce up a park or start an arts festival: how to raise money for a community project | Money

Your stadium nail

Whether this is increasing the local garden playing area, adding solar panels to the primary school for your children, creating a community cafe or setting an art festival, maintaining the stadium – and the title – short and concentrated.

People will not only fall behind a project that they can understand, and the stadium is one of the first opportunities that you have to communicate your idea.

Misha Danak, CEO of SpaceHive, a group financing platform specialized in collecting community donations, says, says Misha Danak, CEO of SpaceHive, a group financing platform specialized in collecting community donations,

: “It is really important to make your address short, brief and clear. If you need to explain it twice, it is likely to be mysterious or very complicated.”

In addition to explaining what the project is, and why it matters and who will benefit, and gives a preliminary estimate of its cost, try to tell a story.

Instead of saying: “We want to improve the local park,” it is more powerful to say: “Local families want to convert an enlarged garden into a fictional space where children can recognize food and nature.” This way, you create a story, and a future for potential supporters who really buy and see themselves involved, so they are likely to want to support it.

Build your crowd first

Collecting successful donations do not usually start with strangers. Most of the first supporters come from personal and local networks – friends, family, neighbors, parents at the school gate, etc.

Once you get your closing circuit support, try to share your idea in societal WhatsApp groups and local Facebook pages.

This helps to remove the word and make sure that you “make the largest possible noise around it,” says Danak.

The team you work with to come from this initial group, and people may have experience, or want to provide assistance. For Daniel Jones, President of the Mydltleton Road Community Benefit Association, his “small team of actors” was the key to collecting money successfully to convert a bar/former restaurant in Bouisk Park, north of London, to a societal place called Helpelli social.

“You will face a lot of challenges, and you will need the right team of people to reach them, so a relatively small team of actors with perseverance is useful, with a mixture of skills,” he says.

Danak says that knowing your strengths, and playing with them, is vital: “If you are good in planning and building a budget but you are not sure of marketing, search for someone in your community that can support you with that. If there is a lot of planning permission, you can find a local architect to support you as well.”

Dependence on people who have succeeded in collecting donations for similar projects is a good place to start.

However, you do not need to be an expert in what he gives it. “I hadn’t done it before, it doesn’t mean that it’s impossible – you haven’t done it before. About 65 % of the people who use SpaceHive have no experience to collect donations. They did nothing before,” says Danak.

Using support is not connected

Not everyone is connected or active on social media. Posters in cafes and bulletins can reach doors and conversations in local events to people who can miss your project.

“It is clear that social media is necessary, but also use your daily networks – the newsletters of the school, the local exercises, the local choir, the pub, the note plates and the library paintings,” says Danak.

The Jones project started with investigative studies in a local monthly market to measure interest, as well as a post on the local Facebook group. The positive response the team gave confidence to follow up. “We just went out and got the small market booth with some leaflets and a few volunteers, and talking to people about what we were looking to do and handing them a bulletin to ask them to fill the survey online.

After two weeks, we had pledges of perhaps a few hundred local population [a total of] 120,000 pounds. So we thought: “Well, this idea has some legs.”

This type of contact is face to face confidence and enthusiasm, especially in accumulated societies. “Our surveys really helped make sure that we have carried people with us, and we can say all the way,” we do what society wants, “says Jones.

Think about your structure

If a direct societal group run by volunteers (for example) improving your local area, it does not include a huge budget, or requires employees to employ them or be rented, then it is likely that an unconnected association is the structure for you, The Resources Center saysA charity that serves voluntary and community groups in Brighton and Hof, east of Sussex.

“This is a simple structure that you can prepare for yourself, without registering with anyone. All you have to do is write and agree to a constitution.”

However, more and more local community organizations are formed, or turn into societal benefit societies, as cooperatives in the United Kingdom say, a union that represents and supports thousands of cooperatives throughout the country.

This is a legal structure for organizations that want to work on an inconsistent basis for profit for purposes that benefit society as a whole, she says. They often use this model to raise funding through the problem of community participation. This is where the locals and others can invest in the project by buying stocks.

Organizations such as Financial behavior authority and Cooperatives in the United Kingdom Publishing information on their web sites about creating a community interest community.

Choose the correct platform

There are a lot of group financing sites there, and it may mean choosing the right sites for your project, the difference between directing them from the ground or not. Some, such as SpaceHive, can advise during the process, while others, such as gofundme, help you track donations.

“The statute you choose becomes an extension of your idea, to some extent,” says Danak.

If you think you will benefit from more practical support, take into account when choosing. It is also worth noting whether the platform you choose has access to potential financing from partners, boards or companies.

“When someone thinks about supporting a project, if they see an organization they know – their local council, or the brand name they know – it gives everything a great deal of confidence that it will happen,” says Danak.

However, some platforms take a percentage of what you raise, so Jones says you need to take this into consideration.

“There is no need to spend money on expensive scanning platforms. We have hosted our online polls with Google models, which are free.

“When it comes to collecting money, we looked at some known financing platforms. We found that with their treatment fees, the cost will be about 2.5 % to 3 % of the total collected money, which was a large amount, as we collected more than 280,000 pounds.

“Instead, we have built a simple web site and we participated in Stripe- online payment processing platform-the processing card safely and direct deduction payments for one time, with much lower fees.”

“We also encouraged the large amounts that are sent by bank transfer. We have provided more than 5,000 pounds of fees by walking in this road. The tape carries all the details we need for more than 500 investors, which is necessary,” he added.

Get financing like grants

There are many organizations and plans that can provide financial support in the form of grants or prizes. You may want to try charities and confidence that is in line with what you want to do.

King’s Trust website A useful list for some of these organizations.

Requests to the local cooperative community fund Open now It should be presented by midnight on July 6. She is looking for new projects for its members to support them. There is a bowl of 5 million pounds, and you can apply if you are a non -profit set that needs funding to provide a specific project that benefits your local community.

Link with reliable partners

Partnership with community centers, local schools, councils, charities, or companies can increase the credibility and resources of your project. It indicates that the project is linked and integrated into society.

Danak says that approaching potential partners with a clear idea of ​​how to compensate for your work to society, how it will work together and what each party will attend is necessary.

“You need to think about what your idea offers and who will match your local region. I would like to deal with local companies and community leaders to support.”

“It will add value to the neighborhood, so there are many good reasons that aim to add their support, whether it is through donations, promotion or materials. Known partners in the local community can open new doors for you and increase credibility, so that they can provide you with more than just money – they may have communications, backup capabilities or goods that need volunteers or experts who may be in the support mode to take you.”

She says that local authorities are generally accepted to support these ideas, and they recommend researching the various funds and plans available.

Get close to the potential partners with a clear idea of ​​how you work together and what each party will bring. Even a simple support letter can help.