DORSET County Council is set to become a trailblazer for local authorities by trying out a novel means of dispensing community cash  – crowd funding.

The council has become one of the first local authorities in Britain to team up with Crowdfunder, a website on which people pledge cash to support projects.

It has set aside £200,000 in an ‘Innovation Fund’ to provide young people with places to go and things to do, or to help them improve their community through social action.

As a way of determining how much of the money to release to individual projects, the council will examine whether the project will be delivered in a deprived area or one in which few other opportunities exist.

Jason Nuttall, head of funding at Crowdfunder.co.uk, said: “We are delighted to be working with Dorset County Council as it takes up the exciting opportunity of opening up crowdfunding for the county with the added benefit of funding contributions for projects.

“We know this model works, and we are excited about sharing the social and economic benefits of the campaign for the county as this partnership takes off.”

A similar scheme was launched in Plymouth where the city’s council placed £90,000 of funding into crowd funded projects.

These projects have raised a total of more that £500,000 across the city through the partnership.

Cllr Rebecca Knox, Dorset County Council’s spokesman for health and wellbeing, said: “It’s a pleasure to be working with the committed team at Crowdfunder in order to distribute funds direct into the heart of our community.

“Crowdfunding is a democratic and transparent way of distributing funds and we are delighted to be at the forefront of innovative community funding in the UK.

“We hope this will be the first of many examples of using crowdfunding to support a range of different projects.”

Somerford Youth Club coordinator, Jae Harris spoke of his Dorset-based crowdfunded project in Christchurch.

He said: “We raised over £2,300 to support and raise awareness of our plan to take over the youth club building.

“This enabled us to start working towards local employment for the centre alongside taking on apprentices to upskill local young people in the future. 

“Crowdfunding also enabled us to unlock further pledges of support from two match funding organisations, similar to the model that Dorset County Council are providing to the community through crowdfunding.

“We are excited to watch Crowdfund Dorset unfold across the county.”

Campaigns launching as part of Crowdfund Dorset will be eligible for a contribution from Dorset County Council of up to half the cost of a project to a maximum of £5,000.

Community groups must also raise 25% of their target before they will be considered eligible for council funding.

The council's contribution will be based on the extent to which the projects meet the Innovation Fund’s aims and have public support – including from young people and the local county councillor.

For more information about Crowdfund Dorset and how to get involved either to support a crowdfunding project or to run a project, visit: http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/dorset and follow #CrowdfundDorset on social media.