What we do

Growing Great Places is a community crowdfunding programme, managed by the Democracy Service at Kirklees Council. It’s all about backing ideas that matter to local people and making our local places even better. We started the programme because we think that everyone should have a stake in the places where we live, work or visit.

How it works

Online campaigns can be started by anyone who has a great idea for their local place, including citizens, community organisations, business associations and community interest companies. Everyone can chip in to support the projects. You can also get involved by sharing the projects online to encourage others to help.

Ideas that get support from their communities have a chance to receive funding from Kirklees Council (up to £5k for groups and up to £2.5k for individuals). We run two funding rounds per year. We're working with Spacehive to help people create successful crowdfunding campaigns.

How it can help your business

We know that businesses are great supporters of local projects and are always looking for ways to engage with their communities. All the Growing Great Places projects are specific to one of our local places, so it’s a great way to give something back in a way that gives you as much exposure as possible. Almost every successful campaign on Spacehive receives a pledge from a business.

It’s easy to make a pledge directly on the Spacehive website, and you can include a profile about your business. You might also want to use your social media channels, website or email contacts to help promote projects that are crowdfunding near you.

Alternatively, if you’re already working with a community organisation on an idea for a community project that your business wants to help with, you could also think about running a crowdfunding campaign to get other people involved and to make it happen.

Find out more or back a project at: www.GrowingGreatPlaces.org.uk