Mayor pledges £600k for local projects through crowdfunding scheme

09 July 2019

Sadiq urging Londoners to add their support and make a difference to their communities

Creating public access to 26 miles of riverside in Newham and building a local events space in Lambeth are among a host of community projects across London backed by the Mayor Sadiq Khan’s crowdfunding programme.

Projects which have this year successfully bid for Mayoral support through Crowdfund London gathered at City Hall today (July 9) for an event to recognise their success and connect them with potential backers who could help them meet their funding targets.

A total of 23 local projects have received Mayoral pledges worth as much as £612,500 through the sixth round of the programme. If all the projects hit their funding targets – including the Mayor’s contributions – this will equate to more than £2.2 million, the highest of any funding round so far.

Since it was launched in 2014, Crowdfund London has backed more than 100 successful projects across the capital – including transforming disused garages into a neighbourhood hub in Elephant and Castle, and a community centre and café in Tottenham.

While support from the Mayor is important to helping make these proposals happen, under the crowdfunding model each project must hit its target or it will receive no funding at all – so the Mayor is urging Londoners to back something in their local area and help bring it to life.

The programme is delivered in partnership with online civic crowdfunding platform Spacehive and is funded by the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP), the local enterprise partnership for London.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “Each year Crowdfund London goes from strength to strength. I’m proud to back these 23 fantastic projects which have the potential to make a really positive impact on communities across our city.

“Through my crowdfunding programme, Londoners can get behind them too and I urge people to make a pledge to help turn these brilliant ideas into reality.”

Trustee of Union Chapel – which received Mayoral funding in a previous round – Kathryn Dixon, said: “We were delighted and grateful to be a recipient of an award from the Mayor’s Crowdfund London scheme. It is allowing us to open up our beautiful old Sunday school hall to a new generation of local audiences. They will be able to claim this space for themselves as somewhere to learn new skills, share ideas and have fun.”

LEAP board member, Alexandra Depledge MBE, said: “Crowdfund London celebrates the best things about our city and its people. It’s a great chance for people to come together and find creative ways to make a difference to their local communities.

“It’s really important now that everyone, including London’s businesses, gets behind these passionate and driven people to help turn their visions into a reality.”

Founder and CEO of Spacehive, Chris Gourlay, said: "Londoners have come forward with more ambitious ideas for improving their area than ever before and the Mayor is stepping up his backing in response.

“More than half the campaigns got a Mayoral pledge this time – up from a third last time – and City Hall is pledging a record amount. London has led the way with civic crowdfunding and now the city's creativity is starting to really shine through.”

Notes to editors

For more information on Crowdfund London, see: https://www.london.gov.uk/what-we-do/regeneration/funding-opportunities/crowdfund-london.

About the London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP)

The London Economic Action Partnership (LEAP) is the local enterprise partnership for London. The LEAP brings entrepreneurs and business together with the Mayor and London Councils to support and lead economic growth and job creation in the capital. For more information, see: https://lep.london/.

Full list of projects supported by the Mayor of London in the latest round of funding:

Project	Funding target	Mayoral pledge
Ravenscourt Park Community Glasshouses	£115,355	£50,000
Replace an existing greenhouse with a new growing space, which will be used for school visits and volunteer gardening sessions for local people (including refugees and those with health and learning difficulties).
The Cornerstone - A Community Landmark	£88,830	£50,000
To construct and install a landmark sculpture in Bermondsey using more than 100 stone carvings by members of the public.
Let’s Build!	£51,556	£12,000
Young people in Lambeth will work with professional architects to design and build a temporary structure, which will be used to host public events.
Revive Wild Swimming in Broomfield Park	£122,886	£40,000
Deliver 'Phase 1' which includes: a feasibility study, establishing a community steering group and governance arrangements to agree a long-term plan, fixing broken plumbing, desilting ponds and a series of free family events (including a mini pop-up children’s water park, a giant water slide, a toy boat regatta and water lantern festival).
Deptford Dockyard & Lenox Visitor Centre	£ 445,880	£50,000
Open up the public the undercroft of a Grade II-listed building, which has been unused for more than a decade (restoring the historic structure and provide new facilities including a public event and display area and a workshop for building the ship’s model and small wooden boats, where we apprentices can train in related skills).
An Outdoor Classroom for GROW	£159,697	£50,000
A life skills education programme which reconnects children with nature, which would provide a sustainable source of food for the nearby Totteridge Academy and the local community (as well as workshops around health and wellbeing, volunteering opportunity and affordable community space).
Grass Routes Minibus	£62,808	£40,000
An electric community minibus providing a pickup service to five local schools for after-school activities, distribute food and community cafe donations, transport furniture for upcycling and make the minibus available for other community use.
Camberwell Banners	£11,046	£6,500
Camberwell Banners will install 15 raised lamppost banners along Denmark Hill, to lead visitors down the high street to discover the cafes, shops, green spaces and galleries of Camberwell. Funders will receive a free guide to Camberwell
Step Up To Work – thinkFOUNDATION	£46,254	£25,000
Establishing a skills programme for young people who have fallen out of mainstream education and support them to acquire necessary skills and experience for them to enter work.
The Old Bath Community House	£55,332	£35,000
Develop a multicultural community centre and kitchen, which will be open to local people for training in East Asian cuisine, social entrepreneurs to demonstrate their culinary skills, as pop up restaurants showcasing different cultures and food tradition, and hired to schools.
Memoirs Through Murals	£56,587	£30,000
Commission a series of murals based on the memories of local residents, which will be placed along Collier Row High Street. Children from five schools and 300 school children to create the stories that will inspire the art commissions.
Mind, Body & Soul Food	£109,557	£40,000
The project aims to build a new kitchen for a social enterprise community café. The project includes the creation of a garden to promote education, mindfulness, positive mental health and social well-being with social enterprise education classes.
Transform the Walled Garden, Croydon	£31,154	£17,500
The project aims to redesign an existing Victorian walled garden, including fully accessible pathways to the garden ‘rooms’, new planting and hard landscaping and performance space/community space.
Cody Dock Rolling Bridge	£199,755	£40,000
The project will create an innovative new rolling bridge at Cody Dock, connecting the new Lea River Park with 26 miles of riverside wetland walks. The project is part of wider masterplan of Cody Docks, which has included the engagement of 7,000 local residents.
Maximise The Canvas community space!	£22,530	£12,000
A not-for-profit vegan cafe and community hub incubating grassroots positive activism. They are seeking Crowdfunding support to deliver improvements to their existing community hub at Hanbury Street to host community-led events.
Greening Daubeney Primary School	£4,409	£1,000
The project seeks to create an outdoor classroom in an underused part of a playground in a school in a deprived area of Hackney called Daubeney Primary School. The intention is to create a natural space for sanctuary, creativity and exploration, to be used for whole-class teaching and as a sanctuary space for smaller groups.
Build A Man Shed for vulnerable men	£5,822	£2,000
Renovating of an existing shed by laying out new floors and decking an outdoor area as a workshop for men with mental health challenges and other associated problems.
Sowing a Community	£141,091	£20,000
Creating a unique communal garden by redeveloping a redundant space to establish a supportive educational space for our community whilst protecting it from harmful pollution.
Hub for the Homeless at The Upper Room	£7,738	£3,000
Refurbish the kitchen to improve the quality of services on offer, as well increase their existing capacity and developing of a new computer training room to create an important homeless services hub.
Community Herb Garden	£12,417	£6,000
A new community garden run by the Anatolian Muslim Society on an unused green space outside the front of a historic building, to include raised beds with herb planting, new benches and fencing, to help address poor health in one of the UK’s most deprived areas.
ACTON UNFRAMED	£54,652	£15,000
A street art project to attract international artists, which will deliver five murals in collaboration with the local community. The project aims to attract visitors to the area, engage the community and inspire commercial and social change in the neighbourhood.
Atlantic Pacific @ Royal Docks London	£131,906	£32,500
A training space and workshop in the Royal Docks for the local community and young people aiming to learn about sea/life boat rescue.
Stitch Academy	£209,493	£35,000
A workspace refurbishment in Homerton, to provide affordable workspace on the first floor for start-up businesses and creative makers, along with a range of subsidised mixed-use resources on the ground floor for the creative community and local residents.

Mayor pledges £600k for local projects through crowdfunding scheme

Notes to editors

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