The Old Forge Community Benefit Society Ltd, a group set up to take forward a community ownership bid of The Old Forge on the Knoydart peninsula, has smashed their first fundraising appeal target in record time. The group set out to raise a minimum of £204,500 through a community share offer, and the target was met and exceeded in only seven days of the month-long campaign, and continues to secure more investors.
The community shares appeal offers residents, and supporters out with the peninsula, the opportunity to invest in shares in the Society. Shares start at £25 for local residents, with non-resident applications having a higher minimum investment amount of £10,000.
Stephanie Harris, secretary of the Society says, “The support over the last seven days has been incredible. We raised over £90,000 in the first 24 hours and applications continued to come in consistently – so much so that we met our minimum target in one week.”
With three weeks still to go, the share offer will remain open and the Society is now aiming to reach their maximum target of £240,000.
Stephanie continues, “The speed at which this has taken off, and the generosity of our new member shareholders, just goes to show how much people want this to happen. Our supporters want to see the pub under community ownership and we have now reached a huge milestone in making that happen.
“We really hope to continue edging closer to our maximum target of £240k. The more we raise, the more security we have in our overall fundraising plan, and the more we can achieve once the pub is secured for the community.”
The society has submitted an application to the Scottish Land Fund, with a decision expected in the next week, and if successful the share funds will be combined with the land fund grant for acquisition. They also plan to launch a crowdfund campaign in the near future which will be an opportunity for many more people to get involved in the project.
The share offer will run until 8th October, and the documents associated with the offer are available to view on the society’s website [www.theoldforgecbs.org/invest]