The Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper Challenge (LQC Challenge) is a new challenge grant program from Patronicity. Changemakers with projects that use Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper strategies to make improvements to communities that are inexpensive, flexible, and quick to deploy are eligible to participate! Have a brainstorming session and fill out the prescreen form, which should take about 5 minutes, to join for your chance to win up to an additional $5,000 grant for your project!
Not quite ready to jump in? Join us for a group coaching webinar! If you
want ideate on project
possibilities, or learn more about crowdfunding and building your outreach strategies, join us in the
webinars before or after you complete the prescreen form! Webinars are scheduled for August 28th and September 11th
at 1:00 PM Eastern Time.
RECORDINGS BELOW.
Challenge Grants are a new program from Patronicity where participating changemakers crowdfund for their projects at the same time, and one project will win the Challenge Grant–a bonus up to $5,000 in prize money to add to their project budget. The campaign that has the highest number of unique Patrons at the end of the program will win the Challenge Grant allowing them to add up to an additional $5,000 to their project budget and make it even bigger!
Almost any public facing project that uses Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper strategies is eligible to participate.
Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper is a mindset and strategy in placemaking that prioritizes flexibility, speedy implementation, and maximizing tight budgets. These grassroots-style strategies are perfect for testing ideas and concepts or making small but meaningful improvements to public spaces.
Projects that fit the Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper mindset cover a wide variety of places and spaces. You can
concentrate on getting people out to enjoy Winter Places or adding to
existing spaces to make them more accessible or inviting. Find even more inspiration over at Project for
Public
Spaces with articles and
case studies on Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper projects from around
the
world. Check out Patronicity’s Lighter,
Quicker, Cheaper Pinterest board for inspiration straight from fellow project creators!
Click the images
below to see project page examples that showcase the lighter, quicker, cheaper mindset.
The project with the highest number of unique Patrons (donors) will win the Challenge Grant. The winning project must have at least 10 patrons raise at least $1,000. Dollars will be matched up to $5,000.
Almost anything that is public facing! If you meet the criteria listed above, which are primarily budget based, you can participate! New raised beds for a community garden, an outdoor seating area for a cafe, refreshed flower planters for a storefront, a crosswalk mural, benches for a trailhead, a temporary street closure event, a series of public lectures, signage improvements - all of these ideas fit with Lighter, Quicker, Cheaper strategies!
Nope! You can launch at any time during the campaign window, but campaigns must finish by the December 7th deadline. Campaigns can end and time before the December 7th deadline.
To align with best practices, most crowdfunding campaigns are between 3 to 6 weeks in length. This is our recommendation as well.
No! We will be reviewing and approving prescreen submissions throughout the campaign window. We suggest having at least two weeks to run your campaign, which means having your page GO LIVE by November 23, 2024.
That’s OK! If you select a partial funding model when building your campaign page, you will receive any and all funds you raise, minus any platform and processing fees.
For this program, only online contributions processed through your Patronicity Campaign Page are accepted and counted toward your goal.
This depends on the end organization receiving the funds. If the organization running the individual campaign is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit entity or municipality (as verified on the campaign page), then contributions to that campaign will be tax-deductible through that organization. Patronicity is treated as a pass-through entity.
You can send an email to challenge@patronicity.com.
If you are interested in sponsoring a future Challenge Grant program aligned with your brand or mission, reach out to challenge@patronicity.com.
