Crowdfunder success! Our nail-biting finish + full recap

We are overjoyed to report that the Crowdfunder smashed through its £25K target with four hours left to go on the final day (Friday 31st March).

On Thursday night the total was only £18K so it was quite a nail-biting finish. Thank you so much to our 356 supporters for making this dream come true. Every donation is appreciated and to see them all come in over these four weeks has been humbling for the whole team.

We had 127 donations in the last 48 hours (77 on the final day), so a real surge of support at the end. Some of the final donations were also sizable, including a miraculous £5000 arriving at about 8pm on that last day, from a local business which, you could say, got us over the finish line... by jet pack!

Our donation graph shows support came in a U curve, with quite few low points in the middle of the campaign. On one day (March 6th) there were no donations, and quite a few days had only one donation.

Sitting at £17K on March 29th, we did not think we’d hit our goal by the 31st, but thought it likely we’d get perhaps £20K, so to be able to write in this final update that we smashed through our target is unbelievable.

Director David Pagett-Wright: “The total sum raised was £27,109 over the 31 days. This unlocked full match funding from the Architectural Heritage Fund in relation to the first £25,000, giving us a grand total of £52,109. We are truly grateful for each and every one of the donations, which ranged from £1 to £5,000. Also, a huge thank you to all the Generator team and our advisors for their tireless work in making this such a successful campaign. All those who contributed now have a vested interest in the success of the project and join us on this exciting journey. The funds raised and your uplifting comments reinforce our belief that this is a much-needed facility for Loughborough. There is still a long way to go, and lots of hurdles to overcome, before the Generator doors can open, but we hope you will continue to assist us in whatever way you can to get this fantastic project over the line.”

Director Andy Harper: “This has always been about raising the funds to get something special open in Loughborough. A cutting edge venue with a progressive arts agenda, that also isn’t elitist and welcomes creatives and members of the public from all walks of life- ethnicities, ages and backgrounds.”

HOW THE MONEY WILL BE USED

YOUR REWARDS

Rewards were claimed by 125 donors. Our most popular reward was the Virtual Recognition Board, with 55 claimed, which will be on the website shortly. This was closely followed by the Illustration of the Old Art College Postcard (by Paul Gent), with 43 claimed, which will be available to collect in the Public Coffee Shop soon.

All the details about who claimed each reward is stored safely in a database held by the Generator CIC, and we will be contacting those donors directly about their reward, when it will be claimed and how to claim it.

MAJOR DONATIONS

Two local businesses donated a staggering £5000 each, linked to the Hall of Fame reward, which means their names will become part of a permanent mural when The Generator is opened. Through match funding, the £10K from these two businesses turns into £20K for this much-needed space to celebrate and nurture creativity on a local and regional level. We cannot thank them enough.

One donation is from 19 Limited who left the comment: “19 Limited are happy to support this much needed and extremely worthwhile project. The Generator will be a fantastic space for the arts and the wider creative community, both of Loughborough and the surrounding area. We wish you every success for the future. Andrew Redman, Jamie Spary and all at 19 Limited.”

The other donation is from a local company Ventus Enterprises Ltd. A company representative said: “Repurposing The Generator building as a creative arts venue is an inspiring project. We look forward to seeing the wealth of opportunities it will bring local artists and the benefits it will bring to local residents.”

Other organisations that donated on behalf of many members include The Rotary Club of Loughborough and the Leicester Society of Artists.

SOME HEARTWARMING COMMENTS

One of the most rewarding parts of the Crowdfunder appeal was the comments page where donors could send messages of support alongside their pledges. As well as keeping our spirits up on days when only one donation rolled in, these comments will help in the future, providing proof that this project is very much wanted, as we secure the final funding needed to make it happen.

Read all 147 comments here: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/generatorlboro/comments#start

FANTASTIC SUPPORT BEHIND THE SCENESS

Thanks to the brilliant advice of Caroline Taylor (fundraising consultant) the team here contacted hundreds of people ahead of the appeal launch (friends, family, local people with a love of the arts or a connection to the building) to let them know it was happening, which meant we could 'hit the ground running' when it went live.

This gave us about 60 donations in the first 48 hours, taking us to 25% of the target.

For those that don’t know, the volunteer team behind the scenes are: Jonathan Hale (Secretary) and Directors Dr Jill Vincent, David Pagett-Wright, Andy Harper, and Roger Perrett. These people work on a voluntary basis, and as a CIC (Community Interest Company), the project has been set up as a social enterprise that will use profits and assets to run The Generator for the public good.

Generator CIC Director Jill Vincent: “One of the great pleasures was the personal stuff, contacting people we knew wanted us to succeed: sending advance notice to family and friends and groups; enlisting (brilliant) people to appear in the appeal video; asking everyone to spread the word to their contacts. Then there was simply the hard work pulling it all together. Everyone contributed, as we knew they would; crowdfunding really does value every individual who chips in, and it also reaches deep into the community. And when our spirits and energy flagged, and the donations slowed, we were buoyed up by the comments from so many who shared our vision and wanted the Generator to succeed. It's been an extraordinary experience.”

Over 30 people turned up for the appeal video, and gave their time to talk at length about the Generator's vision, the building's history, and what it could become in the future.

The footage came in at 160 video clips filmed by Andy Harper, with assistance from Jill Vincent and Jonathan Hale. This footage will be an invaluable archive for the project as we've gathered many memories of the building from people who have used it over the years.

You can watch our appeal video on YouTube here https://youtu.be/6XXdGn19GWA

Video participant names (in order of interviews)

Guy Boyle, Steve Barradell, Prof Emily Keightley, Deborah Tyler-Bennett, Andrei Roman, Jemain Duberry, Prof Martyn Bennett, Frances Ryan, Miffy Ryan, Deborah Vardy, Janiyah, Agnes, Nick Slater, Kate Clift, Sean Clark, Jacqui Gallon, Glenn Sayward, Laura Dalton, Martin Hamilton, Simon Birchall, Peter Wheeler, Tony Thory, Jemma Bagley, Nita Rao, Mary Byrne, Judith Eason, Lez Cope-Newman, Abida Akram.

THE SOCIAL MEDIA ARMY

Social media has been a huge part of the campaign, with thanks to the tireless work of Angela Montague (Heritage Marketing Consultant) who created this content, along with our Director Andy Harper who provided behind-the-scene photographs in the hall.

As well as the work our team did, we are hugely grateful to other social media accounts (both organisations and individuals) who shared our content far and wide, helping us reach the crowd way beyond our followers. This meant that, during March, we reached 90K accounts on Twitter, 29K accounts on Facebook and £20.6K accounts on Instagram.

BACKGROUND ON THE GENERATOR PROJECT

The Generator is being supported by Loughborough Town Deal which awarded the project a £1.6 million grant. Loughborough Town Deal is supporting 11 projects after securing £16.9 million of Government funding. In total, the projects are worth more than £40 million of investment for the town.

All directors work on a voluntary basis, and as a CIC (Community Interest Company), the project has been set up as a social enterprise that will use profits and assets to run The Generator for the public good.

Restoration has already taken place at the other half of the Old Art College site, the four-storey building fronting Frederick Street. Here the partners of The Generator CIC (Loughborough coworking company Our Neighbourhood) have brought the space back into use with several creative businesses (including Ohh Deer and Cotton Clara) on the upper floors, while the ground floor coffee shop and bread baker, Public and Plants, is thriving.

The Generator Hall side of the restoration needs £2.5m overall to preserve the space and convert it into a multi-purpose community arts venue. The CIC has raised an impressive £2m so far, having secured funding and support from many leading organisations: Town Deal, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Architectural Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Charnwood Borough Council, Loughborough University and the LLEP. Efforts are ongoing to raise more money to bridge the funding gap in order to meet the costs of construction and fitting out. 

With enabling work taking place now, plans are to open in late 2024 / early 2025. 

A RECAP ON ALL THE COVERAGE



OUR FANTASTIC LOCAL & REGIONAL PRESS

Early on in the campaign, the Loughborough Echo gave us an amazing full page of coverage.

BBC Radio Leicester visited the building and interviewed three team members (Jonathan Hale, Andy Harper and Jill Vincent). The resulting seven-minute interview really captures the passion our team has for the place, the potential the project has to nurture arts across the region, and the building work going on right now. Many thanks to reporter Ryan Dilks for putting this together. 

Listen here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0f8p2d2

BBC East Midlands put together a wonderful report on Wednesday in our final week, covering the project in detail and really giving our Crowdfunder a final push.

We’re hugely grateful to presenter Elise Chamberlain for her time and skill in putting this together. We’re also thankful to historian Martyn Bennett and poet Deborah Tyler-Bennett for appearing, along with our own Director Dr Jill Vincent. Though no longer available to watch, we hope to be able to use this film in the future, with permission.

And a big thanks to Mike Roberts at Charnwood BC who helped us contact the right people in the media with our story.

ARTICLES, BLOGS AND WRITE-UPS

Cool as Leicester put together a fantastic write-up, saying: "A group in Loughborough is undertaking an impressive arts regeneration project and you can now back them with their Crowdfunder to see it get off the ground."

Read more: https://www.coolasleicester.co.uk/support-the-generator-in-loughborough/

Loughborough University Alumni put together this brilliant article on the building and its history in the town: “Pairing power generation and the arts, the 1930s building has history in industry and creativity which is being brought back to life under its exciting new guise.”

Read more https://www.lboro.ac.uk/alumni/news/2023/march/generator-building-regeneration/

The Loughborough Building Society also reported on the project and the Crowdfunder.
“Money raised through this Crowdfunder will help restore the Generator Hall on Packe Street, Loughborough and create a new arts and culture hub for the town.”

Read more: https://www.theloughborough.co.uk/news/generator-crowdfunder

The brilliant Lynne About Loughborough blog has featured the building and our Crowdfunder too. The post gives an excellent summary of the site and its history, along with some fantastic photographs of the building right now, with all non-structural elements stripped out ready for restoration. Many thanks to Lynne for writing this piece, which you can read here:

Read more: https://lynneaboutloughborough.blogspot.com/2023/03/saving-generator.html

LET'S STAY IN TOUCH

As our Crowdfunder comes to a close, we want to stay in touch, to tell you about the restoration and (when the time comes) the events taking place at The Generator, including calls for collaboration.

Please subscribe to our email newsletter by completing the simple form here:

https://www.generatorloughborough.com/newsletter-signup

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You can also email us using hello@generatorloughborough.com

THANK YOU once again to everyone who donated and everyone who shared our campaign, it means so much that you believe in our vision. 

Jill, Jonathan, Andy, David, Roger & Angela