Published in: M2 Communications for Equities.com, Global Financial Network
Date: January 14th 2013
A north London community centre has launched a campaign to crowdfund an organic food garden in a community centre that will grow diverse global foods, train locals and generate income for the charity that runs it.
Tottenhams Selby Centre, set up in 1992 and based on Selby Road near Wood Green, is transforming its grounds into a stunning new community garden where local people will produce and prepare organic foods in an open and friendly environment.
The Selby Centre is using Spacehive.com to raise the 11,500 needed to transform the Selby grounds.
Crowdfunding allows projects to generate funds online, pooling small amounts of money from locals, strangers, businesses and even councils.
The Global Garden, Global Kitchen project isnt just a simple kitchen-garden. The centre will grow an array of rare and colourful produce, from blue carrots to red lettuce, which will act as the basis of the Global Kitchen.
The centre will host cooking classes and offer hands-on skills for healthy living to the community. They will also sell produce in their on-site caf and a new outdoor market to raise funds to keep the centre, which is 70% self-funded, alive.
Tottenham, as well as being one of the UKs most diverse communities with 40% of the population an ethnic minority, is also one of the UKs most deprived boroughs with eight out of ten children living below the poverty line, according to a recent New Economics Foundation report. Haringey Council has also capped the number of local fast food outlets in response to a shocking number of obesity-related deaths.
The Selby Centre believes its new culinary endeavour will offer the community a step towards a healthier, happier lifestyle.
The centre will encourage local people to use their newfound cooking skills at home and intends to have local children deliver fresh food parcels to vulnerable people in local council estates, ensuring some of Tottenhams most deprived people have access to quality fresh food.
Spacehive.com is a social enterprise, backed by Big Lottery, Deloitte and Business In The Community, which is growing in popularity as communities begin to take urban planning into their own hands.
Volunteer Project Manager Dexter Kelly says the project is *More than about growing food, its about creating a legacy for Tottenham and a source of pride for our children in years to come. Using Spacehive has given us a platform to bring people together and generate interest though the internet that we would have previously not been able to create.
Crowdfunding has shown us how the real power of community can be embraced by the digital age.* Chris Gourlay, CEO of Spacehive, said: "A true grass-roots campaign, this is exactly the kind of project that we wanted to see thrive. By using the Internet to bring people together and find funding for projects that would otherwise be impossible, communities can make a real difference in their areas and this is a vibrant example of what we can achieve."
The Global Garden, Global Kitchen project featured on BBC1s 'InsideOut' on Monday, 14 th January at 19:30. More information about the project can be found here: https://spacehive.com/selbytrustglobalgarden.
The Selby Trust and centre:
The Selby Trust was set up as a charity in 1992 by local people who recognised the need for a multi-purpose centre led by the community and third sector organisations. It was supported by the late Bernie Grant MP, who had a vision for a place in the community that people could afford and call their own. Selby registered as charity in May 1994 and Company Limited by guarantee in May 1993.
Since 1992, it has operated from the Selby Centre in Tottenham, in former school premises, which the Trust manages as a multi-purpose community and social enterprise centre, with a 25 year lease from LB Haringey. The site is 150,000 square feet, with offices, meeting rooms, training facilities, sports and events halls and a large car park.
Selby Centre, which is located in an area of high deprivation, brings together a rich mix of individuals and organisations, primarily from BME, refugee and other historically excluded communities in Tottenham, Haringey, North London and beyond.
Over 70% of Selby Trust funding is self-generated.
Tottenham:
Tottenham is a remarkably diverse part of London with over 40% of the population belonging to an ethnic minority.
Tottenham is one of the UKs most deprived boroughs with consistently high child poverty levels: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/nov/19/breadline-britain-homeless... Obesity is a key problem in Tottenham and Haringey: http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/uk_news/Health/article1042358.ece
What is crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is like a financial version of the concept underpinning Wikipedia - the idea that many hands make lighter work. The model works by taking online cash pledges - from businesses, public bodies and ordinary members of the public and using them to fund popular projects.
As well as raising money, crowdfunding maximises community engagement. Even though some people may only contribute a few pounds, every contribution represents a degree of buy-in that accentuates their sense of ownership of their community.
The model was pioneered in the USA by Kickstarter, which has been used to fund hundreds of millions of dollars worth of creative projects: from an Iraqi Shakespeare group who wanted to attend Oregon Shakespeare Festival through to new feature films.
What is Spacehive?
Spacehive.com is a crowdfunding website specifically designed for the built environment. Its been live since March and is now catching on across the UK.
Supported by the Big Lottery Fund, BITC and the BPF and co-designed by Deloitte, the social enterprise maximises funding sources by allowing cash raised through the site to be combined with grants and other funding streams. People are only charged if the projects hit their targets.
Spacehive.com offers bespoke project management tools for public space initiatives. Each project is also verified by independent partner organisations (ATCM is one of them) to ensure they are viable before they start funding.
Spacehive projects have already attracted funders such as Tesco, Asda and Deloitte, as well as celebrity support from Stephen Fry, David Suchet and Ian Botham.
Why is Spacehives crowdfunding model effective?
Because people are able to realise the benefit of something for very little outlay. The website - Spacehive.com - is a focal point for projects that people can link to via Twitter o Facebook to help raise awareness even before fundraising begins. It also offers businesses, locals or other groups the opportunity to be publicly associated with popular local initiatives but in a very transparent way. It is well suited to match funders - such as charitable trusts and a great way to combine contributions from an array of sources.
What projects is Spacehive involved in currently?
Community centres: we helped fund an 800,000 community centre in Glyncoch, South Wales
Sports projects: we helped launch Cage Cricket, a street version of the sport designed for confined spaces
Public green spaces: were in the early stages of London High Line, a project that plans to turn a disused railway bridge into a garden
Small-scale community activities: were supporting projects such as local festivals, pop-up shops and a hub for youth enterprise.
Who funded Spacehive?
Spacehive is backed by Big Lottery Fund, UnLtd, and a number of private investors that share a common interest in online innovations that deliver positive social impact. The company was the first to win UnLtd's Big Venture Challenge award in 2011, securing match funding for their investment, and are also supported by Drivers Jonas Deloitte and law firm Simmons and Simmons.
Spacehive is also supported by the Big Society Network, as a member of the Nexters initiative, which aims to build scalable online businesses that deliver high social impact.
What projects has Spacehive helped to launch?
Spacehive helped fund the 760,000 construction of a community centre in Glyncoch, South Wales, a campaign that was supported by Tesco, the BIG Lottery Fund, Deloitte, Stephen Fry and the Welsh rugby team. Spacehive recently launched Ian Bothams Cage Cricket initiative, which will see an urban version of the sport brought to multi-use games areas in cities across the UK, starting in Portsmouth.
How can communities start a regeneration project?
Individuals, community groups and sports clubs can start a campaign for a regeneration project in their area by creating a project page on Spacehive.com. They can then use the site to gather volunteers and develop the project, and find a local project delivery manager (likely a landowner or community centre). Once the fundraising campaign is approved and published on Spacehive, anyone can pledge funds to the project. Funders are only charged if the project goes ahead.
Political Context
Government plans outlined in the Localism Bill aim to encourage councils to prioritise the demands of the community by removing broad regional targets around development and insisting on local plans. Giving communities more control over the projects being built in there is a great ideal, but there has been no feasible way to manage this process, since the vast majority of people do not wish to attend planning meetings. Spacehive.com works with communities and individuals who have an idea for a regeneration project, helping them to build grass-roots support for the idea and ensure that the project is viable.
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