Funding update

16th Jan 2018

Aviva Community Fund

Previously, we had been announced in the top 8 of our category/funding level thanks to the kind votes of hundreds of people. The results have been announced, and… (if this was a TV show, there’d be a very long pause here) sadly, we didn’t make the winning two.

Congratulations to Northumbria Coalition Against Crime and Cantley and Horning Primary Schools Federation. Two extremely worthy winners, amongst the many others from all categories and funding levels within the competition.

Thank you again to everyone who voted for us, and to Aviva for considering our application.

But it’s not all bad…

As a runner-up in the top eight, we have been awarded £500.

While we’ve been waiting for Aviva to announce the winners, we’ve not been idle on the fundraising front. A successful application to London Luton Airport’s Community Trust Fund for a grant to assist with the renovation of the building has meant an award of £3750 has been made by Bedfordshire and Luton Community Fund on behalf of the airport’s fund.

North Hertfordshire District Council’s Hitchin Area Committee awarded us £5000 on the strength of our application to them for funding, and Mark’s successful presentation of our case to the committee in person.

Councillor Judi Billing, who has supported us for many years, has given us £1000 from her locality budget to fund the purchasing of new doors for the building.

This brings our fundraising total up to £10,250 in the last few months. Considering that we entered the Aviva competition because an extra 200 quid (awarded to any entry submitted by an Aviva customer) would be nice, to have over ten thousand pounds to build and fit out the Hackspace is a real privilege, and will make an enormous difference to the sort of space we can build and operate.

In the meantime, in between games of Fantasy “What Could We Spend £25,000 On?”, we’ve been beavering away in the Bancroft building, mostly knocking down the old ceiling and preparing to put a new one up. Look for some big progress updates coming soon.