The Ealing Together Fund is a crowdfunding opportunity that encourages community-led activity; it helps people come together and co-design projects that can build prosperous and vibrant local areas reflecting and celebrating culture and diversity. It aims to make the borough more resilient by funding projects that are built on local knowledge, relationships and assets, empowering people that have the respect and trust of their community to take the lead.
If you have an idea how to help your local community flourish, and it focuses on one or more of today’s challenges, whether it is the rising cost of living, climate change, income, health and educational inequalities then this fund could help turn that idea into reality.
There’s support for locally led proposals that:
- Help people achieve their potential by creating volunteering opportunities to learn new skills, or offering an apprenticeship, or creating jobs
- Bring people together to celebrate culture and heritage, promote inter-generational understanding, or provide reminiscence activities for older adults
- Improve people’s health and well-being
- Make the borough a greener and cleaner place by reducing the carbon footprint
Are you eligible?Â
A community group, mutual aid or volunteer network, charity, tenant or residents’ association, a town team or social enterprise – or an individual representing a wider interest group, so long as the location you are intending to use is in, or will benefit the residents of, the London Borough of Ealing.Â
What’s on offer?          Â
- £50,000 funding pot
- Maximum of £10,000 for capital elements, capped at 50% of the project’s total costs[i]
- A simplified route for smaller projects (under £3,000) with less questions being asked
- Projects will be assessed even if they have low engagement:
- The council will offer conditional pre-approved pledges to the projects which are a good fit but have low engagement by 26 April. The projects would then unlock the pledge when it gets to 20 backers.
[i] The council will retain the right to pledge up to 65% for projects in areas with relatively high levels of deprivation (if a project is located, or providing for those, in an area which has relatively high levels of deprivation it will be given bonus scores depending on how strongly it aligns with the council’s priorities. For campaigns being run in all other areas the projects will be assessed on their fit to the fund’s criteria only), or where multiple council funds are pledged to a project. See Ealing Together Fund – Areas of relatively high levels of deprivation, published separately.
Key dates and deadlines
12 noon on Monday 6 March 2023 – launch workshop
Wednesday 26 April 2023 – deadline for pitches and projects to be published on Spacehive with quotes and permissions (ready for submission for verification)
Mid-May – launch your campaign
Late May – Council assesses pitches to the fund, pledges announced w/c 4 June
Mid July – Campaigns hit targets and you get on with delivering your projects in Summer 2023.
Projects that support the following criteria:
- Help people achieve their potential by creating volunteering opportunities to learn new skills, or offering an apprenticeship, or creating jobs
This is about people building up their confidence as much as developing new skills for employment such as:
- Turning an under or unused building into a space which can offer new skills to people, that provides learning, development and practical experience
- Creating spaces for those who first language is not English to access support services and network with others
- Funding equipment to support practical skills training, which could be mechanics, sewing, cooking, artistry etc
- Developing a circular economy hub with a school or college starting up a repair workshop that appeals to young people
- Changing a space to host CV writing or interview practice workshops
- Building a classroom in an outdoor setting to teach horticultural, carpentry
- Bring people together to celebrate culture and heritage, promote inter-generational understanding, and provide reminiscence activities for older adults
Ealing is a borough where diversity should be celebrated and embraced; cultural awareness and the opportunities to learn more about people’s heritage can create a sense of unity and belonging.  This year, for example, marks the 75th anniversary of the arrival of the MV Empire Windrush. Projects that give people an understanding of previous generations and the history of where they come from instils confidence and a sense of pride that empowers people to be happier and healthier by:Â
- Contributing to a programme of High Street activities over the summer
- Working with a local school or community group to create a public mural or piece of art which depicts the history/culture of the local area
- Creating a garden of plants and herbs that reflects the heritage of a local community
- Using hoarding as a creative way to tell stories about the local community’s history
- Developing walking routes to highlight a town’s cultural journey
- Adapting a space to host a cultural workshop
- Bring people together to improve people’s health and well-being
Make a lasting and positive impact on health and well-being outcomes by working with the assets that sit in your community, the skills and knowledge, social networks and community organisations that are all building blocks for a successful project. Â Take steps to make these connections and collaborate on projects which can help reduce health inequalities and transform the lives of people, by giving them increasing control over their health and future for example:
- Creating a safe place where people can meet others, and take part in activities that are culturally appropriate for them
- Developing a safe, pleasant and well-marked walking/running route to encourage more physical activity
- Creating safe spaces where people can participate in group sport to improve their physical and mental health
- Improving a space to establish a support group or advice centre on common diseases such as diabetes, dementia, heart disease and cancer
- Building a kitchen or café to provide healthy cooking sessions across a range of world cuisines
- Building a ‘Men’s shed’ where they can meet and take part in a shared activityÂ
- Make the borough a greener and cleaner space by reducing the carbon footprint
The soaring summer temperatures means more people are acutely aware of the need to adopt greener choices to protect the welfare of the planet. Projects that help people to understand how to make the right choices and the best way to implement them in their day-to-day lives so that they make the greatest impact, such as:
- A Library of Things to promote re-use of items that are used seasonally or infrequently
- Pocket allotments and shared gardens for newbie gardeners and orchards in community spaces
- Community farm gardens that help people learn how to grow their own food
- An unloved alleyway turned into a green space for people to come together and a place for children to play
- An innovative food hub that is good for people, the environment and local businesses and promotes short supply chains
Work we are unlikely to support
- projects outside the borough boundary unless it clearly explains how residents of the borough of Ealing would benefit
- ongoing community projects or running costs
- temporary events or displays that last less than a year
What will I need to do?
Come to the online launch event on Monday 6 March noon to find out more by registering on this link:
Get your ideas up on www.spacehive.org.uk and develop them, find out how much things are going to cost, what permissions you will need by Wednesday 26 April 2023.
Take a look at the guidance in ‘Ealing Together Fund Spring 2023 – Additional Local Support‘ and ‘Ealing Together Fund – Areas of relatively high levels of deprivation’, both published separately.
Get registered on the Ealing4Fundraising portal – it allows you to fill in your details and select the types of projects you are interested in. If you save that as a search then you will receive regular updates of new funding opportunities.
You’ll need to work up support from your community; people, businesses, as well as public funders to get them to help you raise about half of the funding you will need from the rest of the ‘crowd’.
We, Ealing Council, will be using the Ealing Together Fund to support capital elements of a project, i.e. physical, substantive items so the project can continue for more than 12 months, so please bear this in mind when you are presenting your costs. Pledges from the public and other organisations will not have this restriction.