Another successful funding round for the Cheshire West Crowd

Cheshire West and Chester Council has provided local community projects with support worth nearly £200,000 through the spring 2022 round of the Cheshire West Crowd, an exciting crowdfunding initiative run in partnership with Spacehive.

After an opening funding round last year that was one of the most successful Spacehive had ever run, nearly 30 different projects have been using the Cheshire West Crowd in spring 2022 for their crowdfunding campaigns.

The Council provided grants in this latest round through the following funding pots.

• Cheshire West Crowd Fund
• Tackling Poverty Fund
• Climate Change Emergency Fund
• Suicide Prevention Fund
• Winter Poverty Fund

With up to around £270,000 available through these various funding pots, projects have collectively been awarded a figure fast approaching £200,000 by the Council in the spring 2022 round.

Donations from residents, businesses, funders or anyone else wanting to get involved with the Cheshire West Crowd have also contributed significantly to these crowdfunding campaigns.

Jackie Weaver, Chief Officer for the Cheshire Association of Local Councils (CHALC), has donated £1,100 from her TV and other media appearances across four different projects.

The Lion Salt Works Trust has successfully raised more than £10,000 through the Cheshire West Crowd to help towards restoring buildings and providing on-site demonstrations of open salt making.

Nick, Treasurer of the Lion Salt Works Trust, said: “Our Salt making at the Salt Works project was vital to our fundraising efforts.

“We’re now able to start demonstrating the open pan method of salt making at the museum, an industrial technique that was fundamental to the economy of this part of Cheshire.”

Winnington Park Rugby Football Club is another project to make the most of this initiative, raising more than £14,000 through 110 different backers to invest in accessible toilets for all.

David, Vice Chairman of Winnington Park Rugby Football Club, commented: “I can’t express how much the club and our members appreciate the Council and local councillors supporting our crowdfunding project.

“The funding of £6,000 from the Council is a significant pledge and I’d also like to thank all the other backers of the project in these financially challenging times.

“The Council is fantastic at supporting not-for-profit community groups and has backed us numerous times over the years, helping us develop our facilities for the community of Northwich.”

Councillor Louise Gittins, Leader of the Council and Champion for the Cheshire West Crowd, added: “It’s fantastic to see how much success this initiative continues to have with supporting our local communities.

“The Cheshire West Crowd is such a simple way for both projects to raise funds and everyone to come together to support them with their efforts.

“Local community projects have faced many challenges in recent years with the COVID-19 pandemic and the Council is delighted to be supporting so many of them through the Cheshire West Crowd.

“We’re looking forward to seeing this initiative continue to go from strength to strength in the future.”

This all means 57 projects have now crowdfunded nearly £700,000 through the Cheshire West Crowd to date, with donations coming from more than 2,200 different backers.

Some projects are still looking to hit their crowdfunding targets in this round and calling on the support of the local community.

Check out the range of projects on the Cheshire West Crowd

Organisations wanting to explore supporting multiple local projects can contact: 

info@spacehive.com.