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After the success of Southampton Bike Park I was inspired to rejuvenate the disused and dishevelled old BMX track at Freespace and turn it back into a vibrant community asset. I took a plan to the Eastleigh Council where I funded, provided the labour and project managed the work required to make the track rideable.
I have arranged Dig Days to get the track sorted (next Dig Day planned for Sunday 24th 10am-2pm) and I have successfully applied for a grant to get a fleet of bikes, protective equipment, coaching and training for the team so they can run future coaching but there are other costs. Grants seem only to cover capital expenditure and not running costs such as insurance for events etc.
The long term plan is to get membership and other income sources to pay for this but on Day 1 that is not practical so I want perhaps £1,000 or so as a working cash pot to cover these things.
Google suggests Crowdfunding but having never done that I will listen to the STW thoughts on this.
Can you generate a membership base so that some of the costs can be offset by the membership fees? Match-funding can be easier to find and secure. I say can, it still isn't easy but it can help...
A stealth ad on here might help 😉
I don't really want to fleece the members in 2024 until we have some properly useful things to offer beyond a free to use track.
We will/do have a range of t-shirts and hoodies (agreed today) so they should help.
I would never do stealth advertising for any of my schemes on STW! Perish the thought 😉
I was just trying to understand how crowdsourcing would work for a club. Okay, if you are making something you can promise people products or discounts in the future but if you are a club it just seems like begging. I wasn't sure if I was missing something because I am not young, cool and trendy.
Set up a Just Giving page. A few quid from a lot of individuals can soon mount up.
Think who might benefit from being associated with it. For me it was getting the local holiday letting companies to battle against each other to donate towards litter picking equipment. That and lots of small donations gave us more than we needed. I made sure to follow them on social media as that's ultimately the association they want with the project rather than some kind of product.
Maybe sponsorship in the longer term?
I was just trying to understand how crowdsourcing would work for a club. Okay, if you are making something you can promise people products or discounts in the future but if you are a club it just seems like begging. I wasn’t sure if I was missing something because I am not young, cool and trendy.
It is basically "begging" you are asking for people to "sponsor" the initiative. Take a look at Youtube/Patreon - lots of people essentially being crowd funded by a fan base - they might be getting something in return like extra footage or early access but its basically just the patreon's way of feeling good about themselves for helping out a channel of interest. When you look at crowd funding solutions they often have "tiers" that do offer something in return. e.g. naming a jump or corner after them, getting their name or logo on a plaque somewhere, a special version of the t-shirt or hoodie, etc. Don't underestimate local or corporate sponsorship. If its getting media attention (even local press for local shops) then those with links to youths / parents / bikes will often be willing to offer either cash or prizes.
My experience with grants is not that they will only fund pure Capex, but they will fund set up costs but not ongoing operational costs. You need to show how the thing you are doing can become self-sustaining. If its a new club BC should be able to provide some advice and a channel to affordable insurance. However a lot of grant funders will not 100% fund - they want some proof that you have enough interest to make this happen - whether its membership, coffee mornings, raffles, even fees, selling hoodies etc - something that says "we managed to raise £1000 from the community can you give gives us another £4k" etc. And often that resonates better as "we've raised £1k, XYZ promised £2K, could you match that".
I have a number of revenue channels in play including grants, sponsors, corporate fun days, merchandise, seeded match funding and preferential donor plan but crowdfunding was mentioned and I struggled to see what it really offered.
Already have BC contacts and working with a couple of their local team. Have landed my first grant from Sports England. Things are in motion but I didn't want to miss an opportunity though ignorance.