There is a great way for Sidmouth community and voluntary groups and other not for profit organisations to be awarded a share of more than £100,000 of funding available from the district council for projects that will benefit the local community.

Crowdfunding enables community groups and other not for profit organisations, including town and parish councils, to raise money all in one place to make their project happen quickly rather than completing lots of application forms.

If you have a project in mind, the district council is running a free 'Introduction to Crowdfunding' session in Honiton on Thursday, August 1, from 4.30pm to 6pm.

To book your place at the event which is being held at the council's headquarters at Blackdown House, please email [email protected].

Places are limited and will be allocated on a first come first served basis.

The £100,000+ available from East Devon is in addition to a large amount of county-wide funding from Devon County Council and from Devon and Cornwall Police as part of the Crowdfund Devon partnership. The Crowdfund Devon partnership is working with the website Crowdfunder to provide crowdfunding opportunities.

Groups can put their project onto the Crowdfunder website and start raising money if they:

Have an idea for a project. This applies to constituted voluntary and community groups, town and parish councils, registered charities, and registered community interest companies, constituted not for profit organisations.

Complete a form on a crowdfunding website and make a simple video giving details about their project. Their idea is published on the online crowdfunding website.

Publicise the project and its presence on the crowdfunding website as widely as possible; they tell their 'crowd'.

The crowd can include the local community, visitors, businesses, users of the service, local and national organisations and funders, East Devon District Council, Devon County Council and Devon and Cornwall Police.

The 'crowd' pledges cash to the project, and shares the project more widely.

If the project reaches its target, it receives all the funding that has been pledged to it.

Councillor Ian Thomas, East Devon District Council's portfolio holder for finance, said: "We're excited to be part of Crowdfund Devon. It's a way to help our communities support each other and help great projects happen.

"It will make the limited money we have as a council go further and go towards projects that the community and crowd themselves feel are most important. There's support to help you through the process of crowdfunding, so don't delay, come along to our workshop and find out more."

If you would like more information click the red button below to go directly to the Crowdfunder website.