The Worcestershire market town of Droitwich Spa is home to one of the UK’s few remaining open-air saltwater swimming pools and there’s an enormous amount of civic pride in the Green Flag-bearing lido park – also the site of a much-loved playground.
On 2 July 2014, just three weeks before the summer school holidays commenced, the park was the victim of an arson attack. No one was hurt, but the entire play area was destroyed, along with play equipment worth in the region of £11,000. Local residents were enraged and faced the prospect of having to wait months for Wychavon district council to raise enough money to repair the damage. Enter 31-year-old Droitwich estate agent and father-of-two Matt Nicol, who decided to take matters into his own hands.
Within a day of the fire, Matt set up a JustGiving Crowdfunding page to raise money to help rebuild the park. “I’d only ever seen crowdfunding used by businesses, not from a charity point of view,” Matt says. But despite early misgivings, within a day of setting up his page, 129 people had donated and Matt had exceeded his initial target of £5,000. One month and 246 pledges of support later, he had raised £16,555.
Matt is not alone in this kind of fundraising. Advances in social media and a shift towards peer-to-peer consumption is fuelling the UK’s appetite for crowdfunding. But what started as a means to fund your grassroots business is now morphing into an alternative form of philanthropy, with a new wave of crowdfunding campaigns more concerned with serving the local community and helping individuals in need. JustGiving Crowdfunding is leading the charge.
After sharing his JustGiving Crowdfunding page on Facebook, local radio stations got in touch. “Within a very short space of time, it became a local news story and it just progressed from there,” Matt says.
That radio proved vital in amplifying Matt’s campaign is fitting: the famous 213 metre (700ft) Droitwich transmission masts are a local landmark and have for decades provided a visual reminder of the town’s place in the history of radio broadcasting. “The [radio stations] all pushed the fundraising and without them it may have been a struggle to get to where we did.”
Scroll through the many messages of support on Matt’s JustGiving page and its clear that his efforts were galvanised by community support, with funds raised by individuals and local businesses. “Instead of getting angry, people wanted to use the opportunity to get something better in place,” Matt says. Among those who donated were locals who remembered visiting the park as children.
“Our donation is from a family whose children have played in the park for years,” one message of support reads. “Now they are all grown up, this is for the next generation of children to have their park back and make their memories.” Some of the largest donations came from local businesses. “These made a significant difference,” Matt says. The money raised enabled Wychavon district council to rebuild the playground in just over a month. Costs were further reduced when Hereford & Worcester fire brigade gave its time for free to clear the area, meaning the new play area was installed and opened quickly.
During the planning stage, the council involved Matt in the decision-making, showing him designs of what they planned to put in place and acting on feedback he had collated from locals, such as requests to install picnic benches and more disability-friendly equipment.
As a local estate agent, with vested interest in ensuring the area remains desirable for families and property prices stay on an even keel, did Matt experience any scepticism towards his motivation for renovating the park? “Not at all. I’ve lived in Droitwich Spa for 16 years. I am proud of this area and the community shared my views to get [the park] fixed as quickly as we could.
“This is the main central park area in Droitwich Spa and it would have been tragic if it hadn’t been used to its full potential during the summer holiday.”
Matt’s own children, five-year-old Charlie and two-year-old Maisie, and wife Kate use the park regularly: “They’re all making use of something I played a part in and I find it all very humbling. I’m honoured to have been involved with it.
“JustGiving has given me a platform to be able to do such a wonderful thing. It enabled the community to come together and raise money, and now everyone benefits from using it and seeing the difference that their generous donations have made.”
JustGiving Crowdfunding allows anyone to create a campaign and transform people power into donations. Find out more at crowdfunding.justgiving.com
