Councillor Louise Gittins
Leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council
Cheshire West Crowd Ambassador
Cheshire West and Chester Council is committed to building greener, fairer and stronger communities. We are working hard to strengthen relationships with every community, family and resident so that more of us can be heard and empowered to shape the communities they live in.
We understand the importance of working together because together we are stronger and can truly make great things happen. With this in mind, the Council launched a new crowdfunding platform, the Cheshire West Crowd. To date*, this platform has enabled over £2.5million funding from almost 9,000 backers for 150+ local projects. It has also received support from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).
The Cheshire West Crowd has made funding more accessible to a wider range of smaller, local organisations and community groups. It has also empowered them to take ownership of and seek funding for their own project ideas.
Cheshire West and Chester Council committed funds for each funding round and for every £1 it pledged towards projects supported by their local community, it generated another £1.89 funding from other sources (1.89x fund leverage*).
We’re delighted to have this opportunity to share our learning and experience of developing, communicating and delivering a community crowdfunding programme and hope it inspires other local authorities to do the same.
* figures accurate as of 4 March 2025
