Nottingham Heritage Vehicles is an East Midland based charity, who work to preserve and restore local transport heritage. They entered the crowdfunding pilot programme to raise the funds needed to restore a donated 1962 former South Notts double decker bus back to the road. We spoke to Simon, CEO of the charity, about the ongoing progress of the project, the continued interaction with donors from the campaign, and an issue they had with the functionality of the crowdfunding platform.

Nottingham Heritage Vehicles is an East Midland based charity, who work to preserve and restore local transport heritage. They entered the crowdfunding pilot programme to raise the funds needed to restore a donated 1962 former South Notts double decker bus back to the road. We spoke to Simon, CEO of the charity, about the ongoing progress of the project, the continued interaction with donors from the campaign, and an issue they had with the functionality of the crowdfunding platform.

Simon described how the bus had been withdrawn around twenty years ago, and had sat neglected in a field, before making its way to the charity via a local museum. The money they raised through crowdfunding has allowed them to work on the bus already, including the replacement of the old timber work. Simon projected that if they are able to carry on at their current pace of work, the vehicle would be completed, painted and on the road within eight or nine months.

One challenge raised by Simon of the campaign itself was around the clarity of information presented on the campaign page. For example, Simon was concerned that after they had met their original target, they set additional funding targets which were perhaps not made very obvious to other potential supporters. How information on the progress of campaigns is updated by the fundraiser and the platform, would be worth exploring in future research.

Participating in the matched crowdfunding pilot increased public exposure of not only the specific project, but the charity more broadly. Significantly for Simon, the interaction with the public led to discovering a social dimension to the project that hadn’t been considered previously. He discussed how members of the public who attended events displaying the bus and other vehicles, enjoyed reminiscing about how they’d caught that bus to school or work. The realisation of how much these old vehicles mean to people led the team at Nottingham Heritage Vehicles to consider a storytelling piece. They now have “a team of two people working towards doing a recollection project to engage with the local community”.

Furthermore, Simon talked to us about the engagement with groups the charity had not interacted with before, as well as support gathered from individuals who were not known to the charity locally. Local schools want to take the bus for display when it’s refurbished, while people from neighbouring communities such as Derby reached out through the crowdfunding platform and have been offering hands on help. One particular donor, named John, has been so involved in the project since the campaign, he is now a trustee of the charity. Following on from the conversation with Simon, we were able to speak to John himself, about how interacting with the crowdfunding campaign led to significant longer term impact, and the attraction of matched funding to donors.

John’s interaction with Nottingham Heritage Vehicles started with him coming across the crowdfunding campaign on Facebook, and due to his interest in old buses, making a donation. He was thanked by Simon, and went from attending one of the regular get-togethers, to working on the bus itself and other vehicles. This escalated to being “involved in going out to rallies with them, fundraising and things like that” and eventually coming on board as a trustee of the charity. Crowdfunding was the gateway to not only longer term interaction, but the charity strengthening its’ core team.

As well as his own personal interest in the project, John discussed how the matched funding element was “certainly an incentive to donate.” The appeal of the charity increasing the total amount raised, especially considering the amount that was needed to fund the project, was a significant consideration. Ensuring the message of the matched funding is clear and obvious, can be a major incentive to convince the public to support projects through crowdfunding.

To find out more about Nottingham Heritage Vehicles, and the project more specifically, visit the charities website.

Simon, CEO of Nottingham Heritage Vehicles charity: [email protected]