Future Ealing Fund - Crowdfunding Opportunity
Finance & Fundraising
Future Ealing is Ealing Council’s transformation programme. Its goal is to make the borough better and we want people who live and work in Ealing to get involved.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought out the very best in our local community, but it has also had a big impact on people’s health, finances and wellbeing. In March 2021 we are launching our Future Ealing Fund (FEF) to support local people with big ideas to improve the local area and to do something good in the community. It will provide match-funded, financial support to community-led ideas that help the recovery of local business, neighbourhoods and groups, and build more prosperous and vibrant local areas.
Get Involved
We would like to hear from new groups that may have come together since the start of the pandemic as well as those who are more established with their fresh ideas for a Future Ealing.
Type of projects we are looking to support
We want to support locally led proposals which helps to create a healthy and great place to live in:
- Bring people together to achieve their potential
- Improve public spaces
- Create community hubs and reanimate high streets
- Help reduce the borough’s carbon footprint
- Promote happiness, confidence and health
What we are offering
- £100,000 crowdfunding pot
- Up to 50% match-funding; you’ll need to raise at least 50% from the rest of the ‘crowd’ – people, businesses, public funders and so on
- Support from Spacehive our crowdfunding partner to help you create, fund and deliver your project idea
- Support from the Ealing Adult Learning Team for those of you who have never done something like this before
- English
- Maths
- Digital skills
- Digital photography
- Writing a bid
- Money matters
- Communication skills
- First aid
- Planning and managing projects
- Support from Ealing and Hounslow CVS
- Support from The Freshwater Foundation
Don't forget to register with Ealing4Fundraising to find other funding opportunities to get you to your target
How does it all work and how do I get support?
To be considered for a pledge from Ealing Council’s Future Ealing Fund you will need to create and launch your idea using the Spacehive platform.
Notes
Ealing Council will be using the Future Ealing 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.
Ealing Council will use these funds to support Ealing based projects that are pitching for Make London (MoL) crowdfunding if their projects also meet our FEF criteria (Ealing based projects and have at least 20 pledges, and the project has a capital element). We will know more when Mayoral pledges are announced 15th March.
For more detail about the types of projects we will be looking to support download the criteria guide.
Key dates and deadlines
3rd March – Launch event
Click here for the link to the presentation – packed with information
28th April – Deadline to create a project page on Spacehive who will then verify your pitch. You can't begin your crowdfunding campaign until your project has been checked and approved
We will assess any live crowdfunding campaigns that have pitched to Make London and if any are identified as eligible for Future Ealing then pledges will be made. If the campaigns are not successful by 18th May, these pledges will be available to be reallocated on 1st June
18th May – Groups must have started a crowdfunding campaign by this date
w/c 24th May – We will assess your crowdfunding campaigns. You should have plenty of engagement with 20 backers by this point
w/c 1 June - Future Ealing Fund Pledges announced
Mid July – Crowdfunding campaigns to end
August – Groups receive their crowdfunding monies and deliver their projects
Whatever you have in mind, this is the time to start to talk to your friends, your neighbours and your local community and get them on board to support you.
