What We Do

Project

Crowdfund North of Tyne

Bringing together people and opportunities to create vibrant communities

Crowdfund North of Tyne (CFNOT) was set up by North of Tyne Combined Authority (NTCA) to give local people the opportunity to create and fund projects which celebrate and improve our local area.  Crowdfunding works by encouraging projects to raise a proportion of their funding via direct donations from local people, groups and businesses. 

It is an initiative which provides ‘grants of around £5k’ or 50-60% of your project goal to community groups and individuals, to top up their crowdfunded projects. It will run until June 2025.  

Through CFNOT, the Combined Authority has £300,000 available through two separate funds. The Crowdfund North of Tyne Community fund is a general fund of £150,000 where the combined authority can pledge to campaigns which demonstrate the wider community benefit of the project. The Mayor’s Zero Poverty, Zero Carbon Fund is a £150,000 fund for community led projects focussing on poverty, sustainability, and green spaces.  

NTCA partnered with Spacehive, a crowdfunding specialist, secured by an open procurement exercise at the start of the project, in summer 2020, to manage our fund.    

Spacehive work directly with the project creators from the outset, explaining the pitching process, helping them prepare and verify their pitches and then helping them to promote their pages once live. 

Crowdfunding on Spacehive is a simple process that allows local people to engage with their community. It starts with a group or an individual with an idea. NTCA and colleagues at Spacehive guide projects through the process, and if the project gets the support from local people and organisations, NTCA will put money in to back it.  

To get support from NTCA all projects must: 

  • Show that the idea comes from, and is for, their local community  
  • Tell us how they’ve considered the needs of everyone in their community – particularly people from different backgrounds, across different ages and with experience of disability. This includes the accessibility needs of residents. 
  • Demonstrate the support of their community through pledges, likes, and comments on the campaign page.   

There is specific project criteria for each fund.  

A decision panel meets bi-annually to agree NTCA’s recommendations for the pledge values.  The decision panel comprises colleagues from each of our constituent local authorities, NTCA Officers and representatives from voluntary sector infrastructure organisations across the region. 

Since the pilot phase, which began in summer 2020 NTCA has  

 

CFNOT aims to: 

  • unlock new forms of investment. Crowdfunding works by encouraging projects to raise a proportion of their funding via direct donations from local people, groups and businesses. More recently Cycling UK have offered grants to projects with a cycling focus that have been funded by the Combined Authority.
  • fund projects and activities which are genuinely needed. CFNOT puts NTCA’s commitment to the principles of co-design and co-production into practice by encouraging local individuals and groups to fundraise for the things they know will make a difference in their local area.  
  • support local economic resilience by encouraging local activities via local organisations, attracting, and therefore retaining local spend. Community-led organisations are also more likely to support local volunteering, training and employment opportunities, helping provide more jobs locally and help more people into work 
  • support people within the most deprived wards across the North of Tyne. At least 50% of projects funded should be based within, or support people within, the 20% most deprived wards across the North of Tyne.  

The programme as a whole must contribute to zero carbon, zero poverty. 

Find out more about CFNOT here.