Dozens of local projects have already run successful crowdfunding campaigns through our Growing Great Places programme. Together they have raised over £380,000 in pledges, helping to get some great ideas off the ground in local places. Take part in a free online workshop to find out how to join them.
Got a great idea for making your local place even better? Want to connect with others who can help make it happen and raise funds to get going? Growing Great Places, run by Kirklees Council in partnership with Spacehive, can help you to get that great idea off the ground.
Online workshop, 1st December 2022
We’re running a free online workshop where you can get advice and support. We’ll be on hand to answer your questions and to share advice about running a successful crowdfunding campaign. Our online sessions include different breakout rooms where you can get the support that’s right for you. So whether you’re almost ready to get started with your project, or you’re just thinking about some ideas, we can help.
Over 30 local projects have already run successful crowdfunding campaigns through the Growing Great Places programme, raising a huge £217,657 in pledges. Take part in a free online workshop to find out how to join them.
Got a great idea for making your local place even better? Want to connect with others who can help make it happen and raise funds to get going? The Growing Great Places programme, run by Kirklees Council in partnership with Spacehive, can help you to get that great idea off the ground.
Online workshops – February and March 2022
We’re running free workshops where you can get advice and support. We’ll be on hand to answer your questions and to share advice about running a successful crowdfunding campaign. Our online sessions include different breakout rooms where you can get the support that’s right for you. So whether you’re almost ready to get started with your project, or just working on some ideas, we can help.
The deadline to have your project ready to crowdfund this Spring is 20th April 2022. Come along to one of our workshops to get all the support you need to get your project ready in time.
Kirklees Council have provided almost £500k through the Community Buildings Recovery Grants scheme this summer, to support vital community buildings in local places across Kirklees.
Supporting local organisations
Community organisations are vital for our local economy and for people’s wellbeing – creating jobs, delivering services, connecting people in our neighbourhoods and providing activities that people and communities really value. We know this continues to be a difficult time for local organisations who were unable to open community buildings as usual for long periods of time.
The Community Buildings Recovery Grants were available for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations who own or rent buildings in local places across Kirklees. They had either been legally required to close or had been significantly impacted by lockdowns and local restrictions.
What local organisations say about receiving a recovery grant
43 different local organisations have received £470,000 in total from the Community Buildings Recovery Grants fund. Here’s what a few of the organisations have told us about the difference this funding is making:
“We at Outlane Methodist church are looking forward to resuming as many of our former activities in the community as we can and making plans for going ahead with new ideas. We do not expect it to be easy but the boost given to our finances by the generous grant we have received has made such a positive difference to our situation.”
Mary Mercer, Outlane Methodist Church
“The pandemic had a devastating effect on our fundraising efforts and our income. This grant will help plug the gap in our finances so that we can resume the full services that we provide to our members and volunteers as soon as we can. As we are a base for other community groups and rent rooms to other organisations, the funding will also be of benefit to the wider community.“
Deborah Hall, Howlands (Dewsbury and District League of Friendship)
“Receiving funding from the Community Buildings Recovery grant is so helpful. After a very difficult 16 months for the charity, this funding will hasten our ability to recover, allowing us to sustain our work and services for local people in need of support. Kirklees Council have been supportive throughout the pandemic and we’re grateful to them for the information sharing, advice, ongoing support and now this funding to aid our recovery.”
John McKernaghan,The Brunswick Centre
“The pandemic had cut our income to zero, and the theatre was on the verge of closing for good. The community buildings recovery grant has changed this by giving us a much needed cash boost. Now the Show will go on!”
Bob Newton, Southgate Theatre, Honley
“OASIS values and appreciates this contribution towards the survival and reshaping of our services within our Resource Centre.”
Denzil Nurse, OASIS Care Support Services
“As we’re reliant on community groups that hire our community centre, we have had to put off work that would have greatly impacted the people who we serve through the community centre positively. The grant awarded to us by Kirklees Council will allow us to develop the community centre further, with the additional benefits that a modern, safe, accessible community centre will bring to the communities around Cleckheaton Methodist Church.’
Revd. Ray Borrett, Minister for Cleckheaton Methodist Church
Thank you from Kirklees Council
Cllr Cathy Scott, Deputy Leader of Kirklees Council & Cabinet Member for Housing and Democracy, would like to thank local organisations for supporting people’s wellbeing:
“Community organisations are incredibly important for people’s wellbeing. We wanted to make sure that community buildings can continue to be safe places for people to get together and enjoy activities as part of our recovery from Covid-19. The Community Buildings Recovery Grants have clearly mattered to the local organisations who are so fundamental for keeping people connected and safe. We’ll continue to work proudly alongside these dedicated and inspiring groups in our local places.”
Got a great idea to help people recover, reconnect and thrive? The Growing Great Places community crowdfunding programme can help you to get your idea off the ground. Successful projects could also receive a pledge of up to £5,000 from Kirklees Council.
Got an idea that will help people’s health and wellbeing in your local place? Want to reconnect people to grow friendships and tackle loneliness? Setting up new activities to support young people? If you’ve got a great idea for helping your community build back better, Growing Great Places can help you generate support from residents, businesses and Kirklees Council to make it happen.
Online workshops – June and July 2021
Spacehive and Kirklees Council are running free workshops where you can get advice and support. We’ll be on hand to answer your questions and to share advice about running a successful crowdfunding campaign. Our online sessions include different breakout rooms where you can get the support that’s right for you. So whether you’re almost ready to get started with your project, or just working on some ideas, we can help.
The deadline to have your project ready to crowdfund is 22nd September 2021. Come along to one of our workshops to get all the support you need to get your project ready in time.
Kirklees Council are providing £500k of Recovery Grants for voluntary and community organisations who have been affected by national lockdowns and local restrictions.
Grants of up to £20k are available now to help our vital community buildings in local places across Kirklees recover from Covid-19.
Supporting community buildings that really matter to local people
Community organisations are vital for our local economy and for people’s wellbeing – creating jobs, delivering services, connecting people in our neighbourhoods and providing activities that people and communities really value. We know this continues to be a difficult time for local organisations who have been unable to open community buildings as usual.
Voluntary and community organisations in Kirklees who own or rent buildings in our local places can apply for a grant to recover lost income due to Covid-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
Who can apply?
The Community Buildings Recovery Grant is available for voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations who:
work in (and are based in) Kirklees
were open as usual before the Covid-19 restrictions
own or rent a non-residential property (this could include a space within a building that you pay costs for, or a building you own and have continued to pay costs for).
have been legally required to close or have been significantly impacted by lockdowns and local restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
How to apply
You can find the full eligibility criteria and apply online via the Kirklees Council website:
Community buildings in our local places are vitally important hubs for our communities. They are places which support people’s physical and mental wellbeing, as well as being welcoming spaces that connect people and organisations. The re-opening of these buildings in a safe and practical way is a key part of helping our communities through the government’s proposed roadmap out of lockdown.
On Tuesday 20th April at 5.30pm, Kirklees Council are hosting a third webinar to provide guidance on how to safely re-open your community building and what the recent changes in Covid-19 regulations mean.
If you have questions that you would like answering at this webinar then please send them to candc.projectteam@kirklees.gov.uk (ideally by 6pm on Monday 19th April). Even if you can’t make the session, please still send your questions through as it will be possible to watch the recorded session on YouTube after the event.
There will also be an opportunity for you to ask questions via the YouTube chat system during the session, but it would be great if you can share your questions in advance so that we can do our best to help.
We’ve been running workshops with local people to hear your stories and talk about how more people can come together to make local places better.
Lots of the people who have participated in our workshops so far have been doing all sorts of great things in their community for some time. Now, we’re particularly interested in hearing from more people who have only got involved quite recently, and who have a story about this to share.
Could you help us find someone, perhaps from the organisation or group you’re part of, who might also like to join in a pair of workshops? We’re looking for people who have only recently become involved in their community, who were perhaps not confident to begin with, or who didn’t know how much they had to offer until taking that first step.
These workshops for Kirklees citizens are an opportunity to meet with other local people to look to the future. It’s a bit of an experiment for us. But what we know for sure is that now, more than ever, we want to work with and alongside each other in our local places.
How to take part
Participants will take part in two workshop discussions. You can register now for the first session:
Monday 29th March, from 2pm to 4pm
The workshops will be online via Zoom video call. They will involve a mixture of activities and small group discussions. It’s a safe environment and everyone will have a chance to talk.
You’re welcome to join in if this sounds like the right thing for you, Or if you can think of anyone who might be interested, please share this link with them:
Can you make a difference in your community by tackling misinformation? Can you help encourage people in your local community to take part in the vaccination programme?
Through the Community Champions scheme voluntary organisations will deliver a wide range of measures to protect those most at risk – building trust, communicating accurate health information and ultimately helping to save lives. The Community Champions will tap into their local networks to provide advice about COVID-19 and the vaccines.
Funding is available now for community groups to apply to the Community Champions fund.
Community organisations have until Monday 1st March 2021 to submit their application to round 1 of the grant scheme.
You can download the Community Champions application form online. See the Kirklees Together blog for more information:
Round 2 of the grant scheme, which is due to go live in the coming weeks, will be open for smaller grants of up to £1000. Community groups can apply for this money to develop their own targeted campaigns to help reach communities in all of our local places.
The Growing Great Places community crowdfunding programme is back this Spring. Got a great idea to help your community recover, reconnect and thrive? Growing Great Places can help you to get your idea off the ground. Successful projects could also receive a pledge of up to £5,000 from Kirklees Council.
Springtime is about green shoots and sowing seeds, where new life grows and recovers after the cold winter months. In similar way we know that people in our local places are coming up with great new ideas to help their community recover and thrive.
Kirklees Council are now launching the Growing Great Places spring funding round to support groups anywhere in Kirklees who are aiming to start a project this summer.
Got an idea that will help people’s health and wellbeing in your local place? Want to reconnect people to grow friendships and tackle loneliness? Setting up new activities to support young people? If you’ve got a great idea for helping your community build back better, Growing Great Places can help you generate support from residents, businesses and Kirklees Council to make it happen.
Drop-in sessions – March 2021
Spacehive and Kirklees Council are running free drop-in sessions where you can get advice and support. We’ll be on hand to answer your questions and to share advice about running a successful crowdfunding campaign. Our online sessions include different breakout rooms where you can get the support that’s right for you. So whether you’re almost ready to get started with your project, or just working on some ideas, we can help.
The deadline to have your project ready to crowdfund is 21st April 2021. Come along to one of our drop-in sessions in March to get all the support you need to get your project ready in time.
We know that mutual aid groups and community organisations have made a huge difference in our local places over the past year. So we hope you’ll want to be part of these workshops about how we can help more people feel confident in their ability to make our local places even better.
These workshops for Kirklees citizens are an opportunity to meet with other local people to look to the future. It’s a bit of an experiment for us. But what we know for sure is that now, more than ever, we want to work with and alongside each other in our local places.
Please come and share your experiences, listen to other people’s stories and make new connections.
You will take part in two workshop discussions. You can register now for one of these first sessions:
Tuesday 16th February, from 2pm to 4pm
Thursday 18th February, from 10am to 12 noon
Saturday 20th February, from 10am to 12 noon
Wednesday 24th February, from 5pm to 7pm
Friday 26th February, from 10am to 12 noon
We’ll arrange the second session with you later, at a time that’s suitable for you.
The workshops will be online via Zoom video call. They will involve a mixture of activities and small group discussions. It’s a safe environment and everyone will have a chance to talk. We hope you’ll want to join in.
