Spacehive is a

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

-based

crowdfunding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by cro ...

platform for projects aimed at improving local civic and community spaces.

Overview

According to the company's website, Spacehive's mission is to "empower people to make their local area better". As of October 2018, Spacehive has been used to crowdfund 500 projects worth over £10 million including the Camden Highline, a giant water slide down a high street in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, the revival of Peckham Lido in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and a community centre in the deprived ex-mining town of

Glyncoch Glyncoch is a village to the north of Pontypridd in Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. It is also the name of an electoral ward. History The name Glyncoch is Welsh language for 'Red glen' (''glyn'' "glen, small valley" + ''coch'' "red"). How the name or ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. Spacehive was launched in 2012 by Chris Gourlay, a former Sunday Times journalist who specialised in architecture and planning stories. Supported by the

Big Lottery Fund The National Lottery Community Fund, legally named the Big Lottery Fund, is a non-departmental public body responsible for distributing funds raised by the National Lottery for "good causes". Since 2004 it has awarded over £9 billion to ...

and a mix of private and social investors, the

social business Social business was defined by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus and is described in his books. In these books, Yunus defined a social business as a business: * Created and designed to address a social problem * A non-loss, no ...

maximises sources of funding for projects by allowing cash raised locally to be combined with grant funding streams available for civic projects from government, foundations and businesses. Backers of projects are only charged if the funding target is reached. Project creators can apply for grants via the platform at the same time as crowdfunding. They can also request in-kind contributions towards the cost of the project. Each project is verified by partner organisation Locality to ensure its viability before it starts funding. According to the company, the average success rate for fundraising campaigns on Spacehive is 52%, whilst projects that secure just 10% of their funding target have a 79% success rate. In addition to its service for project creators, Spacehive provides specialised software and support services to help councils, companies, and foundations that it partners with to fund projects alongside the crowd and to measure their social impact. Spacehive's partners include the

Mayor of London The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom. The current m ...

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three f ...

, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, GLL, and

Veolia Veolia Environnement S.A., branded as Veolia, is a French transnational company with activities in three main service and utility areas traditionally managed by public authorities – water management, waste management and energy services. It pr ...

. Spacehive projects have attracted significant press coverage in the UK and internationally. Notable supporters of Spacehive projects include the actress

Joanna Lumley Dame Joanna Lamond Lumley (born 1 May 1946) is an English actress, presenter, former model, author, television producer, and activist. She has won two BAFTA TV Awards for her role as Patsy Stone in the BBC sitcom ''Absolutely Fabulous'' (1992 ...

, broadcaster

Kevin McCloud Kevin McCloud, (born 8 May 1959) is a British designer, writer, and television presenter. He has presented the Channel 4 series ''Grand Designs'' since its debut in April 1999. Early life Born in Bedfordshire, McCloud and his two brothers, ...

, the comedian

Stephen Fry Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director and writer. He first came to prominence in the 1980s as one half of the comic double act Fry and Laurie, alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring ...

, the actor James Norton, and the

Sadiq Khan Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...

Rewards

Unlike other crowdfunding sites that offer material rewards to incentivise backers, most Spacehive projects simply offer delivery of the project itself.

Awards

*Global Urban Innovator, 2016 - New Cities Foundation * Big Society Award -

10 Downing Street 10 Downing Street in London, also known colloquially in the United Kingdom as Number 10, is the official residence and executive office of the first lord of the treasury, usually, by convention, the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Along w ...

*Winner, Big Venture Challenge - UnLtd *Top 50, New Radicals 2014 -

Nesta Nesta (formerly NESTA, National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) is an innovation foundation based in the UK. The organisation acts through a combination of programmes, investment, policy and research, and the formation of part ...

References

External links

* {{Crowdfunding platforms Crowdfunding platforms of the United Kingdom Social enterprises Internet properties established in 2012 Companies based in London