The Green Party's new crowdfunding campaign
The Green Party’s crowdfunding campaign. Image: Green Party of England & Wales.

The Green Party hit a milestone on Sunday, after raising nearly £75,000 towards standing in as many constituencies as possible in England & Wales.

The money was raised through the crowdfunding site Crowdfunder, with nearly 3,000 people pledging in just 16 days.

After already having candidates in place in 75% of seats – more than the Lib Dems – the £75,000 will enable enable the national party to support local branches struggling to raise their deposit in the 25% of seats which do not yet have a Green Party candidate. At £500 per constituency, standing for parliament is an expensive affair.

While it is not expected that there will be a completely full slate, the money will go a long way to making sure as many people as possible get a chance to vote Green in May.

The money also frees up local parties to spend their own funds on campaigning for the candidates themselves. But it also builds on the £300,000 donated by Vivienne Westwood to the party’s General Election campaign. The party also announced a generous donor pledged £10,000 to add to the final tally.

Every saved deposit out of the money handed down to local parties will go towards future election campaigns.

The Greens have led the way in terms of crowdfunding, with dozens of successful projects run via the Crowdfunder site, while local parties (including north of the border) have also embraced the model as a form of clean people-powered funding. They’ve also got a cracking new website…