The third Leeds SOUP microfunding event was held at The Tetley on Thursday 4 March and raised almost £2,000 for charity.
The winner of the night’s £1,915 funding pot was CATCH (Community Action To Change Harehills), a registered charity made up of individuals who live and work in Harehills. The charity was initially established to manage and develop a large disused piece of wasteland into a sports and recreational space and has since grown to support and develop many other community initiatives based mainly around youth work and inclusion.
Ash, the founder of CATCH, had used his 5 minute ‘pitch’ slot to deliver a passionate and enthusiastic outline of the history and benefits of the project. A young Polish man, Dawid, then told the story of how he had benefited from the organisation and was now part of the leadership team.
Other popular pitchers on the night included Inkwell Arts (a project run by Leeds Mind), and Simon on the Streets (who offer street-based support to the hard-to-reach homeless). Representatives of each delivered impassioned and informative pitches for support.
The SOUP idea, based on a similar concept from Detroit, is that attendees each pay a minimum of £10 to attend the event and, while eating a meal of soup and bread, listen to 4 people each given 5 minutes to pitch on behalf of their chosen project, with the only requirement being that the project needs to benefit Leeds.
For each ticket bought the whole value is added to the funding pot. Each SOUP attendee is given a voting token, to vote for the project they like the most. The winning idea is awarded 100% of the evening’s takings to make their idea happen. This was the most successful Leeds SOUP yet and as such had the largest funding pot.
The next Leeds SOUP event will be held in May as part of Leeds Indie Food Festival and will therefore undoubtedly attract more attention. This would be a great opportunity for community organisations and/or individuals from South Leeds to bid for funding and raise the profile of their projects.
Anyone who who has an idea they’d like to be considered for the event can submit it in writing to hello@leeds-soup.co.uk. The organisers will review the ideas submitted and confirm which have been chosen as one of the four pitches to be considered at the event.
Further information is available at www.leeds-soup.co.uk
