TFN London

In September 2017 we met at Stephenson Harwood in Finsbury Circus, for an evening of live crowdfunding

First to pitch was Corali, who raised over £7600 to teach dance as a tool to help people with learning disabilities gain independence, confidence and control over their lives through creativity and self-expression. 

Since then, Corali has led 6 workshops at three London special needs schools, impacting the lives of 53 children. 

In a survey 70% of children said they had enjoyed dancing, and 61% said they were feeling confident enough to try more dance; one child even expressed that they would like to share what they had done in assembly, a real indication of how confident they were feeling as a result of working with Corali.

Next to pitch was Cracked It, who raised over £10,000 to use smartphone repair to create employment opportunities for at-risk youth. 

With the funding, Cracked It was able to build their business by making new partnerships and opening a new office, working with 40 ex-offenders and at-risk people across London, training and coaching a whole new fleet of young technicians.

Since the event, Cracked It has reached new heights, being awarded Social Enterprise of the Year by the Centre for Social Justice and named as a finalist for Children and Young People Now's Youth Justice Awards. Cracked It aims to train more young people in phone repair to improve lives.

The next to pitch was the Centre for Innovation in Voluntary Action (CIVA), who raised over £6300 for their project GreenWave, in sustainably farming ocean produce including seaweed, oysters and mussels to grow local economies in coastal communities. 

Since then, CIVA has undertaken scoping research, a site visit and built important relationships with prospective farmers and other stakeholders, and are continuing to develop their project whilst raising further funds towards achieving project implementation. 

The last pitch was from Aspyre Africa, who raised over £6,000 to provide young farmers with training in horticulture in Saint-Louis Senegal, to provide them with skills and knowledge to secure sustainable livelihoods.

Today, Aspire Africa are continuing to work with the young farmers to develop their own or collective plans to start their own businesses and improve their livelihoods and the lives of their families.