CuparNow - Supporting Cupar and its Community

by Simon Baldwin in Cupar, Fife, United Kingdom

CuparNow - Supporting Cupar and its Community

Total raised £95

£10,000 target 56 days left
0% 3 supporters
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 7th April 2025 at 10:20am

CuparNow is a unique project that supports local businesses, organisations, community groups and more. Please help to support our work.

by Simon Baldwin in Cupar, Fife, United Kingdom

CuparNow is a unique project that launched in 2018 following a Scottish Government programme that explored how small towns could best use 'digital' in support of their communities. 

Cupar - an historic market town, atypical of many small towns across Scotland - was chosen as a demonstration project to prove the concept of a 'digital improvement district' - supported by the town's business association.  

Our company (Destination Digital) undertook the research for the government programme and we were awarded seed corn funding to run the pilot - on the understanding that, if it resulted in a successful ballot of businesses, we would deliver the first five year term (2019-24) funded via an improvement district levy that would apply to non-domestic rateable properties. We worked closely with local businesses to ensure the levy would not be onerous: for the vast majority, it was just £100 a year to deliver an agreed plan of business and community support.

And that is precisely what we have done - uninterrupted since winning the ballot in December 2019 - delivering managed, integrated digital communication and services using our 'hub and spoke' model in support of businesses, community groups, culture and tourism initiatives, education and training providers, environmental projects as well as health and social care partnerships ... all combining to deliver sustainable economic development for the town. 

CuparNow has built an engaged digital audience of more than 130,000 people. Since 2020, we have created and posted over 15,000 pieces of content across our core social media channels. In the last month alone, our Facebook page – followed by 36% of the town’s population – has had more than a quarter of a million views.

Since we launched amid Covid in early 2020, we have:

  • Published more than 400 blog stories in support of businesses and community groups
  • Helped to share job opportunities and thousands of local events and activities
  • Provided categorised listings enabling tens of thousands to search for and find businesses and organisations in the town
  • Issued over 170 e-newsletter to subscribers – more than 3,000 people signed up to receive regular updates from the town. 
  • Sent more than 250 e-shots to those on our business database - sharing news, support, access to grants and many other business-related matters
  • Issued more than 70 e-shots to community partners – sent for and on behalf of the town's Development Trust to help promote projects involving the Trust and local stakeholders
  • Published over 600 videos on our YouTube channel
  • Recorded 20 podcasts that are live on Spotify (and other channels) featuring a mix of businesses and community partners
  • Filmed and broadcast a TV commercial (for which we triggered matched funding) which has been viewed by approaching half a million people
  • Created, printed and distributed 20,000 town guides
  • Sponsored community stalls at the Cupar Market, enabling local associations, clubs and societies to raise funds, awareness and membership

We had planned a second term (to run from 2025-30) and that would have seen us reducing the annual levy for 95% of businesses (halving it for 89%) - supplanting the income by selling advertising. Our longer term ambition was to then run ongoing beyond 2030 - having created a self-sustaining model with no levy.

Through the last 12 months, we have tracked analytics and insights across the channels we manage. The continued audience growth, reach and levels of engagement and interaction have been exponential. The success of CuparNow means we are confident we can continue without a ballot, scrapping the need for a levy on businesses and organisations - instead, inviting those who value what we do to subscribe to the service as well as offering advertising opportunities to those wishing to access the project's audiences.

Building on success ...

And so the decision has been taken to jump straight to the ‘third term’ model. 

We are offering businesses the opportunity to subscribe to packages of support - starting at just £100.00 + VAT per year. Subscribers - and any business in Cupar and across the town's catchment - also has the opportunity to advertise with us by buying space on our channels to engage with our ever-growing audiences. 

But just as in 2018 when we created our unique 'hub and spoke' model, we want to continue breaking molds - hence the launch of this Crowfunding page. 

As mentioned, we have built an engaged combined digital audience that tops 130,000 across all of our channels - not bad for a town with a population of under 10,000!

The majority of of our most engaged audience – followers, readers, listeners and viewers – live within an hour’s drive time of Cupar. Analytics enables us to monitor and evaluate key data relating to more than 100,000 blog readers across the world. As a result, we know we have advocates in more than 135 countries covering every time zone  … all helping to amplify Cupar’s message. 

So if you are a follower, a reader, listener or viewer of our content and you like what we deliver in support of Cupar, please consider supporting our work. 

We make no bones about it. We are NOT a charity. We are a small, local business building on success - dedicated to creating a sustainable model of support for Cupar, its amazing community and the town's rural catchment. 

Thank you!

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