Crowdfunding | Otley Lido

Crowdfunding 2021

Tuesday 27th October 2021

Crowdfunding campaign: £53,000 target hit!

We are absolutely delighted that our crowdfunding campaign has reached the target of £53,000! We are so grateful to everyone who has supported us. However, we would love to go further and have set a 'stretch' target of £65,000. Any extra funds raised will go towards future phases of the project which will enable us to bring the project to fruition sooner!

We still have over 5 days remaining. Businesses have been tremendous - we still have more rewards to add and more being offered. To be fair to businesses - and to you - we shall continue with our campaign. We want businesses to receive the recognition and thanks they deserve for supporting our campaign. We also want you to be able to benefit from the great rewards on offer!

Friday 22nd October 2021

Crowdfunding update: another huge boost as Sport England pledges additional £3,500!

Sport England has committed another £3,500 to our crowdfunding campaign. This is in addition to the £10,000 previously pledged.

This has come totally out of the blue and was a complete surprise to us!

We were absolutely thrilled – and so grateful to Sport England - to receive the original pledge so this additional commitment has blown us away. We had not even considered the possibility of any additional funding from Sport England given its original, exceptionally generous pledge.

Sport England are an amazing organisation - here providing match funding for capital works (building or refurbishment) that will enhance spaces in local communities to give people the opportunity to be more active. Match funding because they see you donating and are keen to help us reach our target.

Funding Lead of Friends of Otley Lido, Sarah Langli explained “I received a lovely phone call from Chloe at Crowdfunder to say that Sport England has been so massively impressed with our campaign - on all levels - that they have committed another £3,500. We received praise regarding the number of supporters; the range and number of businesses who are pledging rewards; the endorsements from prominent people and councils; the press coverage; and our own social media posts. We're delighted that Sport England has been following our progress and it’s brilliant that they have pledged another £3,500”.

We have also been added as one of the projects supported by Sport England on the Crowdfunder website.

Our total now stands at over £43,500 towards a target of £53,000.

If – like Sport England – you too would like to pledge please go to our crowdfunding page here.

Sport England

Established by Royal Charter in 1996, Sport England is funded by the government and the National Lottery. It is determined to give everyone in England the chance to benefit from sport and physical activity regardless of age, background or ability. It does that by working collaboratively to run campaigns, award funding and build partnerships with organisations big and small. It’s ‘Uniting the Movement’ strategy is the 10 year vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity.

Read more about Sport England here.

The pledge will be added to our crowdfunder campaign shortly. There are conditions attached – primarily that we still need to hit our target of £53,000. We are now significantly closer to achieving that after this generous pledge from Sport England.

Progress Update

We are now 19 days into our crowdfunding campaign and have pledges – including Sport England – worth over £23,000. We could not have done it without you! Sport England has regularly reviewed our progress. Our community - and beyond - have not let us down! Thank you to everyone who has supported us so far by:

pledging money at crowdfunder.co.uk/otley-lido
offering rewards and displaying our banners - if you can help please visit our dedicated page here
spreading the word and speaking so positively about what we are trying to achieve
engaging with us on social media

The crowdfunding campaign has 23 days remaining – we are not even at the half way point but we have already raised almost half the total. We cannot afford to let this opportunity slip away from our community – we must hit the target! The valuable contribution from Sport England shall be lost if we do not.

We were about to provide an update on the crowdfunding campaign when we received the news from Sport England. We have been working hard behind the scenes to secure funding for our project from various sources. Sport England is one of several we have been exploring. Discussions with others are on-going and are progressing well. Some potential funders have previously pledged significant amounts to our project but – for various reasons – these need re-approving or re-confirming in the current context. Others are waiting to see how our campaign progresses and want us to demonstrate strong community support. The pledge from Sport England demonstrates our ability to secure funding and we shall continue our extensive engagement with all potential funders.

It has not all run smoothly though! We have now overcome some initial challenges particularly surrounding the progressing and processing of the great rewards businesses have donated to us and which we are then able to offer to you! We have new rewards being posted daily and more in the pipeline. Keep checking our crowdfunder page crowdfunder.co.uk/otley-lido, website and follow us on social media to receive notifications when new rewards are added.

How You Can Help

We understand some potential pledgers may wait until the end of the campaign. We would strongly encourage anyone who is waiting to pledge now so we can continue to build momentum. Hopefully, this in turn, shall convince others – who are also waiting – to pledge as they see the target is not insurmountable. It also helps demonstrate community support for our project during discussions with potential funders.

If you support our project but are sceptical we shall hit our target and therefore don’t see the point in pledging please remember this: if we do not hit our target then your pledge will not be taken! What have you to lose!? Why wait!? It is inevitable that if people wait to pledge some will forget. The campaign will end and the opportunity will have been missed. The pledge from Sport England will be lost.

We understand we have asked a lot of our community – and beyond – during this campaign. You have responded brilliantly! We have one more thing to ask…please continue the wave of enthusiasm and amazing support you have demonstrated so far. This shall ensure the best possible outcome.

We have come a long way in the first 19 days of this campaign. We still have 23 days to raise the remaining funds. Do not let this amazing opportunity pass our community by! Current and future generations deserve the same opportunity as the generations before them – a leisure venue that brings our community together and improves health and well-being. Together we can make this happen!

And finally, please pledge now. Don’t wait!

Thanking each and every one of you for your amazing support.

Friends of Otley Lido