Crowdfunder & Santander partnership supports social enterprises
Melanie May | 4 September 2017 | News
Crowdfunder and Santander’s Changemaker Fund has helped a Falkirk project that takes elderly people out on cycle rides to raise enough funds for more specially-designed bikes.
Cycling Without Age crowdfunded to purchase specially designed Trishaws, which enable local volunteers to visit care homes in the community and offer residents an opportunity to get out and about. Cycling Without Age achieved its crowdfunding target of £20,000, with Santander matching the fund by contributing an extra £20,000. Cycling Without Age received 50 per cent of its funding requirement from the fund as well as coaching and training from Crowdfunder.
Crowdfunder and Santander launched The Changemaker Fund launched in October 2016, and is a £200,000 fund to support social enterprises and community projects across the UK. To date, the fund has supported 39 different projects.
Fraser Johnston, project lead for Cycling Without Age Scotland, said:
“Hitting the initial £20k target has enabled another three Trishaws to be purchased. When we received the phone call to confirm that our application to the Santander Changemaker Fund had been successful, we were ecstatic to think that such a large organisation had such belief in the merits of our project to make such a significant financial backing. Through the support of Santander, we will be able to afford to give up to 800 additional senior citizens the opportunity to get outside and feel the wind in their hair.”
Rob Love, Chairman of Crowdfunder.co.uk urged other social enterprises and community projects to apply for funds.
He said:
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“The Changemaker Fund was developed in partnership with Santander to help projects just like Cycling Without Age; it’s about turning community-based ideas into a reality. Santander has a total pot of £200,000 available, to support such projects, so there’s still plenty more to go around. The Changemaker Fund is about putting the power into the hands of those who want to make a real difference and give them the tools to be able to do so, the pure emotional pull of this project was astounding and we encourage all those with a desire and idea to give back to the community to apply for a slice of the Santander pie.”
Crowdfunder has partnered with a number of other organisations including London Sport, Nesta, and Big Society Capital to help a range of social enterprises, charities, and causes. Last November it announced that it had joined forces with London Sport to support grassroots sports in the capital, while in December 2016, it was one of a number of crowdfunding platforms working with Big Society Capital to provide the £10m Crowd Match Fund.
We still have £100k from the @santanderuk Changemaker fund to give to community projects – are you eligible?https://t.co/e2R9SKvvmb
— Crowdfunder UK (@crowdfunderuk) October 3, 2017
About Melanie May
Melanie May is a journalist and copywriter specialising in writing both for and about the charity and marketing services sectors since 2001. She can be reached via thepurplepim.com.