A trial scheme to share out funding for young people is set to go ahead for a second year.

Dorset County Council has relaunched its #CrowdfundDorset campaign with a new Innovation Fund of £200,000 for youth projects in the community.

The council has once again teamed up with Crowdfunder.co.uk to offer local groups and organisations the opportunity to raise funds for their project online, before applying for a contribution from the council.

If they are successful in raising 25 per cent of their target online they will be eligible for a £10,000 boost from the fund to assist their project.

The #CrowdfundDorset campaign started last year after the county council’s cabinet agreed to cut £1m from the youth services budget, withdrawing funding for youth clubs and concentrating instead on providing a targeted approach to help the most vulnerable youngsters.

The aim is to give young people in Dorset, aged between 10 to 19, places to go and stuff to do.

Among the youth projects to benefit from last year’s funding was Weymouth St Paul’s Harriers' Long Jump Project.

The club set up a crowdfunding page to help raise part of the £30,000 needed to refurbish its long jump site at Budmouth College.

The long jump site is in need of an upgrade, so the club's athletes can practice on the kind of pit they will encounter when they leave the area to take part in league competitions.

The club decided to leave its base at the Marsh and move to the Budmouth site - already a venue for indoor winter training - after suffering years of anti-social behaviour and vandalism.

After raising more than £6,000 through Crowdfunder.co.uk, the project received £10,000 from the council, pushing the club one step closer to paying for the refurbishment.

Coaching co-ordinator of St Paul’s Harriers, Tracy Moore, said: “We were delighted that we could raise enough to release funding from Dorset County Council. They were very generous to contribute to us.

“It is essential for us to receive funding from Crowdfunder to get our project underway.

“We had members from more than 50 years ago say how much they enjoyed being in the club and they supported our fundraising efforts.”

Rob Love, chairman of Crowdfunder.co.uk said: “The Innovation Fund was developed to help local projects turn their dream into a reality. Dorset County Council has a total pot of £200,000 to go around, and we encourage any projects looking for a boost to get their project up on Crowdfunder.co.uk.

"The Innovation Fund is about putting the power back into the hands of those who want to make a real difference and we want to give them the tools to be able to so do.

"We know crowdfunding works – last year’s trial proved that - so we’re looking forward to seeing how new projects in the region can benefit from this way of raising funds, as well as get their hands on additional funds from Dorset County Council.”