Local authority seeks supplier for online system
Credit: Robin Drayton/CC BY-SA 2.0
Portsmouth City Council is to set up an online crowdfunding platform to help community programmes attract financial backing.
The authority wishes to implement a digital system allowing the council and its partners – including community organisations, banks, the Solent Local Enterprise Partnership, and the Prince’s Trust – to seek funding for public-good programmes. Initiatives likely to seek support via the online tool include “local regeneration, parks, sports and leisure, [and] SME start-up and growth”, according to the council.
The authority listed a number of benefits it believes the crowdfunding model will provide, including that funds will “go further as the city council will not be the only contributors to a single eligible, project and will therefore be able to award grant funding to more projects”.
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Among the other benefits are “greater visibility for groups on the platform, increasing opportunities to secure funds from a range of sources” and that “local businesses may put funds on the platform as a way to fulfil their corporate social responsibility aspirations”.
Using a digital system will allow for better monitoring of projects and funding, as well as enabling “a collaborative approach to problem-solving alongside residents, partners agencies and businesses”, the council said.
“The online platform will provide a single point of entry, and each with different criteria, application forms, maximum award values and decision-making processes,” it added. “Challenges of complexity, risks of duplication, lack of consistency and reducing budgets have resulted in a new approach needing to be adopted.”
Portsmouth City Council is seeking a supplier that can provide it with a crowdfunding platform for the duration of a three-year contract to begin later this year. Bids are open until 3 October.
