Palmers Brewery taps into local community projects with Crowdfunder Connect
Over the past nine months, Palmers Brewery has helped local projects in Dorset raise over £90,000 for vital community initiatives. By collaborating with community-led project leaders, they’ve strengthened the areas around their business—providing support, match funding, and their own fundraising efforts.
Thanks to their commitment, every pound they’ve contributed has been amplified more than six times by the general public, creating an even greater impact for local communities.
Palmers Brewery’s challenge: “How to discover more local community projects to support and engage with their wider community?”
Palmers Brewery, a family-owned brewery based in Bridport, Dorset, has long been committed to supporting its local community through charitable initiatives. However, they found that their traditional funding approach faced challenges in reaching a diverse range of grassroots projects, engaging their wider community, and ensuring transparency in how their funds were allocated.
The brewery sought to find a different way to strengthen its corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts to make a measurable impact on the communities they serve, while also enhancing its local and regional reputation as a business.
Luke Machin, Palmers Brewery said: “We wanted to concentrate on community groups and not for profit initiatives by supporting projects that are improving our local community, making it a better place to live, a more attractive place to visit, and somewhere where people want to work. We want the people who live in Dorset, who are our regulars, to have a positive view of us and (for us) to be involved in projects that matter to them”.
“Palmers has donated money to various local causes for years, considerable amounts of money in some cases”, Luke added, “We would find those people through fairly traditional means. So it was either that they would write in and apply with a form or it would be through word of mouth or personal contact which some would just drop in the door. But we always knew there was a lot of other stuff that we were missing out on that either people didn't know about us or they weren't aware that they could get the funding or perhaps they thought if they would apply to us we'd say no.”
Solution: To create a simplified and more effective funding approach
Working alongside Crowdfunder Connect, Palmers Brewery were able to design and launch a community fund that would attract community projects to request their support by creating a crowdfunding page and a simple application process. Enabling Palmers to select community projects to support and provide live match funding to these projects in real time. Creating a sense of collaboration and shared ambitions between Palmers and the projects in their community.
As part of this approach, it’s allowed Palmer Brewery to discover projects that they were previously unaware of. It also streamlined their funding processes, by allowing them to centralise applications and funding decisions via Crowdfunder Connect and maintain an instant overview of the donations they make. This simplification of their grant management has ensured a more efficient and transparent process, saving time and resource levels.
Luke said: “Crowdfunder Connect has allowed us to support projects that matter to our community in a way that’s transparent and engaging. The instant match funding model means the team can see the impact of their contributions right away. It is sometimes difficult to gauge how much impact a project will have and which initiatives are really important to the wider community Crowdfunder has that sort of built-in fail safe, that enough people have to want it to happen for it to happen. Plus the ability to match pledges in real time, so that when someone donates pledges, they get that instant recognition that Palmer's has match funded them. That was really important for us”
Impact: Seeing the results instantly in the community
The partnership between Palmers Brewery and Crowdfunder Connect has delivered significant results in just nine months, with a range of community projects being supported.
Palmers were able to support Precision Football as they aimed to create an indoor football training space for children in Bridport to play and teach football to local children. Working with Sport England, they raised over £33,000 and quickly highlighted the brewery’s ability to support non-traditional initiatives.
In collaboration with the Bridport Round Table, Palmers Brewery helped raise over £8,138 to help fund the distribution of (hundreds) of Christmas dinner hampers for families in need, demonstrating their commitment to supporting vulnerable members of the community at a vital time of the year.
Another key impact of the fund saw the brewery’s staff volunteer their time to run fundraising events, such as the beer festival, which raised significant funds which were added to the community fund total and helped bring their team together through actions and volunteering. Proceeds from their 230th Beer Festival were donated to the fund. This was a great opportunity to invite the local community into the brewery, as well as a chance to involve the team and stakeholders with the company's CSR efforts.
Key benefits seen by Palmer Brewery since launching their funding
Funding has been amplified by x6: For every £1 that Palmers has invested £6.58 has been raised in addition to the funding
Increased continued community engagement: Projects like Precision Football, have not only achieved their funding goals but also fostered stronger connections between the brewery and the community that will continue on into the future.
Enhanced employee involvement: Staff members have actively participated in fundraising events, such as a beer festival where all proceeds were donated to the community fund, boosting morale and fostering a sense of pride in the company’s CSR efforts.
Positive public sentiment: The brewery has seen a noticeable increase in positive feedback from the community, with locals acknowledging and appreciating their contributions to local projects.
More awareness: The fund page on Crowdfunder, showcases all the projects that Palmers Brewery is supporting. Allowing Palmers Brewery to promote their impact more clearly to the community and their employees
Easier to manage: The Crowdfunder Connect platform has enabled Palmers funding to be efficiently rolled out to projects that they have chosen to support.
A success that will continue:
The collaboration between Palmers Brewery and Crowdfunder Connect has proven to be a powerful model for community engagement. By leveraging Crowdfunder Connect’s platform, Palmers Brewery has not only expanded its reach and streamlined its funding processes but also deepened their connection with their local communities. This partnership continues to demonstrate how businesses can use crowdfunding to create meaningful, measurable impact while fostering goodwill and positive public sentiment.
Find out more about Palmer Brewery’s Community Fund: https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/funds/palmers-brewery-community-fund
If you wish to find out more about becoming a Crowdfunder Connect Partner just like Palmers Brewery, get in contact to have your own demonstration of the Connect Platform. Book here.
