Can Impact Hub Birmingham crowdfund £50,000 by Saturday?
A group of five Birmingham citizens are attempting to crowdfund £50,000 to create an innovative new work & community space in the city. But with just four days to go, will they achieve their ambitious goal?
Impact Hub Birmingham will bring together people who want to have a positive impact on their city through their work. It was started by five enterprising local people who have left high profile jobs in the NHS, Police, housing and in private business, to pursue their dream of building a better Birmingham.
The idea has received widespread support. Mark Rogers, Chief Executive of Birmingham City Council, said “We know that we can – and must – do more across the whole of the city to stimulate innovation and creativity. This new Impact Hub will act as an accelerator for new ideas and startups across Birmingham and the wider Midlands region. We want to encourage the next Google or Grameen to set up and say they were ‘made in Birmingham’, driving employment opportunities as well as tackling difficult social problems.”
Now they’ve launched an ambitious crowdfunding campaign to bring their vision to life. It’s all or nothing: if they don’t hit the £50,000 target by January 10th, they won’t get a penny.
The group has already picked up the keys to part of a renovated factory in Digbeth. Now they need to raise the money to transform this empty space into a shared working, events and community space, for organisations and individuals who share their values.
People are invited to support the group by pledging cash in exchange for unique rewards though the Kickstarter web site.
The group is offering a range of rewards and experiences , including reduced price membership, launch party invitations and limited edition prints, tea towels, t-shirts and hoodies designed by well-known local artist Claire Hartley, who created a mural which is on display in the Birmingham Rep. Thirty supporters will also be able to take part in workshops with renowned photographer Verity Milligan, whose work has appeared in the national press.
The initiative has already raised over £29,000 and is the biggest crowdfunding campaign that has happened in Birmingham. If the group meets its target by January 10th, money will be drawn from the accounts of people who have pledged cash and they will begin to receive their rewards.
The money raised will go towards fitting out the building with locally-made desks and chairs, printers, fast wifi and a new coffee shop.
Immy Kaur, co-founder of Impact Hub Birmingham said: “We are really excited about our new venture and hope that our local community will give us lots of support and back our campaign. We will be running all sorts of activities and events in the coming weeks so that people can come and meet us find out more”.
The Kickstarter campaign is called Epic Brum and can be found by visiting: bit.ly/EpicBrum
Impact Hubs can be found around the world but is the first of its kind in the UK outside London, where the movement started in 2005 The goal then, as now, was “to create a place where unlikely allies would meet by serendipity”.