The insurance giant AXA has launched the UK’s “first road safety crowdfunding initiative” and has committed an initial £20,000 of funding to the project.
The campaign has been set up to enable local communities to source funds and help pay for road safety initiatives.
AXA has launched the initiative in partnership with the established crowdfunder BloomVC.com. AXA says the launch comes at a time when “Government road safety education budgets have been cut by £3m in the past four years”, with “cutbacks to continue for at least a further three years”.
James Barclay, AXA Car Insurance, said: “Since we launched our RoadSafe schools campaign last year we have been inundated with calls from parents, schools, local action groups and even local councils requesting support that will help them achieve their goals of making their local roads safer.
“This is such an exciting campaign and we are very much looking forward to working with many different communities to help make the roads around schools safer for our children. The little things we can do to improve road safety in the UK have the potential to mean a lot for local communities.”
Road safety projects can be put forward by any individual or organisation including schools, local campaigners, local authorities or businesses. Once approved, projects will go live on the crowdfunding website for 100 days, or until fully funded.
AXA will contribute 10% for each project up to the value of £1,000. This will be for a maximum of six months and to a maximum budget of £20,000.
The money raised will go to the associated local authority or school in conjunction with the community project leader, to ensure the money is used towards the road safety project
Amanda Boyle, founder of BloomVC.com, said: “It is brilliant to see AXA leading the way by recognising crowdfunding’s unique potential for positive social change and we look forward to being a part of that journey.”
People donating money to the road safety projects will receive recognition such as a thank you note from a local school, or having their company logo on campaign materials.
For more information about the project contact Andrew Pink on 020 7785 7383.
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