FAQs

What is Spacehive?

The world's first funding platform for civic projects. We make it as easy for you to buy a new park or playground for your area as buying a book online.

Spacehive is powered by an all-or-nothing funding model which means projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.

Who can fund a project on Spacehive?

• Local people with brilliant ideas - like creating relaxing green spaces, shiny new sports facilities, or giving the high street a makeover.
• Design professionals with imaginative plans that they think communities will like.
• Public bodies looking for a way of funding capital projects.
• Businesses and brands keen to leave a tangible community legacy.

Spacehive helps people fund the capital costs of one-off projects, not ongoing running costs. Projects must have a clear deliverable - an asset that you can touch, see and access.

Learn more about our project guidelines.

Who are the key players involved in creating and supporting projects?

• Funder: someone that pledges money to a project (and pays if it goes ahead). A funder could be a local resident, business, grant body, brand sponsor, or the council.
• In-kind contributor: someone offering a thing, not cash. For example a company might pledge trees, labour, or materials like paving.
• Project Promoter: the person or organisation leading the campaign to make their project a reality. Promoters manage the project pages on Spacehive.com.
• Verifier: the organisation reviewing the project to ensure its viability and protect funders. All projects must be verified before being able to fundraise.
• Project Delivery Manager: the person or organisation responsible for receiving and spending the money raised and ensuring the project is delivered as promised. Project Delivery Managers are able to hire contractors, architects, suppliers etc to get the project done. It doesn't matter if the Project Delivery Manager is also the Project Promoter.
• Contractor: the firm responsible for building or installing the project.

Why do people support projects?

Everyone wants to improve their local area. Sometimes it's to increase the quality of life by creating a nice relaxing green space, or somewhere for the kids to play. Sometimes it's for economic reasons - transforming a drab high street into a place that people want to visit is good for business.

My project is only little. Is Spacehive for me?

Absolutely. You can use Spacehive to fund anything from goal posts to grand pedestrian promenades. If the community support you and you can get the necessary permission, go for it.

What's the maximum amount I can raise?

There is no restriction on the amount of money you can raise.

How risky is the process? What if I pledge money and the project doesn't get built?

Spacehive or its carefully selected partners review every project before it can start fundraising. We require:

• Promoters to provide evidence of the viability of their project - like planning permission, full costings, and a contingency fund, if appropriate.
• Project Delivery Managers to sign an agreement accepting responsibility for receiving and spending funds raised and overseeing delivery of the project.

Once these things are confirmed, the project's status is updated to "Verified". The project is then free to start fundraising.

The two payment systems we use are extremely secure:

• PayPal is one of the world's most trusted payments services and a system that many people are familiar with.
• GoCardless are an online direct debit payments service regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

On top of that, every Spacehive project must be fully-funded before any money changes hands. So funders only pay if the project actually goes ahead.

It doesn't mean that funding a project is risk free - there's always a chance the builders could find Roman ruins - but the system does help to protect funders.

Does Spacehive acquire any ownership or intellectual property rights over projects it helps to fund?

Absolutely not. The project becomes the property of the landowner - often the local authority.

How do I start a project?

Go to the "Create A Project" page and click "Let's Get Started". It only takes a few minutes to post a project concept, and a little longer if you've got a fully-developed project plan that's ready to fund.

Who is Spacehive?

Chris Gourlay, Rod Schwartz, Maddie Yullie, Niraj Dattani, Chris Campbell and Andrew Teacher.

We are advised by Chris Satterthwaite, Charles Mills, Elizabeth Buchanan, Sunand Prasad, Eric Reynolds, Leon Benjamin and Victoria Thornton. Spacehive is grateful to receive support from Deloitte and its subsidiary Drivas Jonas Deloitte, as well as the Lottery-funded Big Venture Challenge initiative.

We're based in central London. Check out our team page for more!

Who supports Spacehive?

Spacehive is grateful to have received funding from the BIG Lottery Fund's Big Venture Challenge initiative, UnLtd, and a group of socially-conscious investors. We have received substantial in-kind support from Deloitte, as part of their drive to support innovation in the social enterprise sector. Deloitte's subsidiary, Drivas Jonas Deloitte, played a key role in designing Spacehive's innovative contractual framework, which helps communities commission and fund projects in public space without depending on councils. Spacehive is also supported by the Nexters programme.

We are currently working with a range of organisations to help communities develop projects. These include: the Royal Institute of British Architects, Design for London, London 2012, and Your Square Mile, as well as several corporates and a large number of local community organisations and councils.

Where can I find out more about Spacehive on the web?

You can find Spacehive on Twitter and Facebook, as well as keeping up to date on what we're doing by checking our blog.

How can I contact Spacehive?

There's a "Contact" link at the bottom of this page, in the site footer.