Issue - meetings

To consider the Crowdfund Devon Partnership report.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Neighbourhoods presented the report which sought approval to create a grant funding allocation of £20k, this would fund a number of Teignbridge community projects for the duration of the one year pilot project. He advised that he had attended a presentation on Crowd Funding at Devon County Council which was attended by over a 100 community organisations. This pilot scheme would give local community organisations a good opportunity to raise funds quickly via an additional platform to traditional methods. It would be up to the individual organisations to promote their own projects.

In response to a Member’s question, the Community Projects Officer clarified that the amount the Council put in would be proportional to funds that the Districts organisations would receive and each of the sponsors taking part would have their own internal approval process for applications.  

The Managing Director stated that only the Districts projects would benefit from the funds that the Council invested.

RESOLVED that:-

(1)          Teignbridge District Council join the #CrowdfundDevon Partnership and;

(2)          Teignbridge District Council would create a new funding allocation for this one year pilot crowd funding project, it would be called the Stronger Communities Fund.

The Portfolio Holder for Community Neigbourhoods referred to the report circulated with the agenda.  Fellow Councillors had raised queries regarding the Crowdfund Partnership and the pilot project since the report’s publication.

The Business Improvement and Development Team Leader and the Community Projects Officer gave a presentation on Crowdfund Devon. 

Crowdfunding is now a well-established and utilised tool that allows communities and organisations to promote and publish local innovation, ideas, solutions, infrastructure and events that need funding digitally via the internet. The digital platform allows potential funders to access and review project proposals and then should they choose to, provide funding. Crowdfunding is open to private funders at a local level with a small amount to donate and to local businesses, but also open to large funding bodies and multinational organisations. As a member of the Crowdfund Partnership and funder, the Council would decide its internal approval process so that decisions to pledge on a project can be made within limited time frames.

Membership of the Partnership and the allocation of £20,000 available from existing budgets, would enable the Council to fund a number of local projects during the one year pilot project. The average pledge would be £2,500 per project, which would enable the Council to assist eight local projects during the one year pilot project, by pump priming donations from other organisations. Partners of the CrowdfundDevon Partnership included other Devon District Councils, Devon County Council and Devon and Cornwall Police.

Members considered additional information was required to enable full consideration of the matter, to include: details of the fees to applicants of a crowd funding application; how much other Councils would be putting into the Devon pilot for pledges; is Crowndfunding part of a project’s matched funding or total funding; the process and who would have the delegated powers to decide and deliver the amount of crowdfunding to any one project; would the Partnership be administered in-house or by a third party; and how the Partnership meets the Council’s T10 Strategies.

The Business Improvement and Development Team Leader advised that the Partnership would be administered by Crowdfund UK and administration costs would be built into pledged funds.

The scheme would enable communities to harness and deliver their aspirations.

It was proposed by Councillor Goodey, seconded by the Leader and

Resolved

That the matter be deferred for further information and referred to the Executive for consideration.