Crowdbacker 2016
with Year Here
Last summer we teamed up with Year Here for our 3rd Crowdbacker event, supporting their 2016 cohort's social ventures. Find out what they did with your money:
Fat Macy's provide a pathway to young Londoners living in temporary accommodation by inviting them to create culinary pop-up events across London. They pitched so they could scale their work and support more young people.
They used the Crowdbacker funding to recruit two part-time staff, giving them them time and resources needed to scale
They were also offered financial and SEO advice as a result of pitching at Crowdbacker.
Fat Macy's has had an incredible year since their Crowdbacker pitch: they recently crowdfunded over £55,000 online to develop a permanent restaurant in Peckham.
Storeys (recently renamed Element) pitched to develop arts projects to promote the emotional wellbeing of care leavers, children in care and children at risk of exclusion from school.
With our funding they ran 2 pilots in Richmond and Islington. This helped them to secure contracts with other London councils - they've now worked with over 40 young people in 6 London areas.
The generous Crowdbacker audience offered Element lots of in-kind support: pro-bono accounting advice, mentoring from professionals in the sector and support from a psychologist.
Misc clear unwanted furniture out of homes and supply it to vulnerable people moving into their first property - helping to make a house a home
With funding from Crowdbacker, Misc upcycled furniture and donated it to the Quaker Social Action Homestore. They furnished 6 homes for vulnerable families living in east London.
The Hard Yard is an open-air workout designed and led by ex-offenders. Six month training programmes provide income, skills and a pathway into meaningful work for people leaving prison
They pitched to get their pilot off the ground and to develop their training programme
Crowdbacker enabled The Hard Yard to do the basics in setting up: developing a website, paying for uniforms and going to recruitment events
They have worked with 4 ex-offenders who have shadowed coaches across London to sample different workouts, and 2 have gone on to lead sessions for paying customers.
And this year they won £13,500 in the WeWork Creator Awards!
Bread & Roses made the final pitch of the evening - they train refugee women in floristry as a pathway to employment
They were able to recruit 2 part-time members of staff and run a further 3 programmes, working with over 50 women. 5 of the 10 participants who had the right to work are now in employment
Crowdbacker introduced them to new sales contacts and volunteering offers
And this summer they raised almost £8,000 at TFN London
Thanks for coming to last year's Crowdbacker and helping us raise over £10,000 for the 2016 ventures.
Join us again next week:
Our 5th Crowdbacker is on 14 December at NatWest - get your tickets here to back Year Here's newest ventures!
