As the Community Shares Scotland programme passes its tenth anniversary, a report has been issued, showing it has supported 70 share offers collectively raising £21.8m from over 21,468 investor members.
The programme, launched by Development Trusts Association Scotland (DTAS) in partnership with the Community Shares Unit in 2014, has seen the community shares model “take root and spread across Scotland, giving people a genuine say and stake in essential local community businesses,” says the report from Democratic Finance Scotland.
Projects supported range from ”small but essential community shops raising anything from £15,000 from their community, to community owned solar farms and hydro schemes raising over £2m, multipurpose community hubs match funding capital grants and all sorts in between” the report adds.
It says the £21.8m raised in citizen finance has leveraged in over £32m in additional funding for these projects, with a significant proportion of match funding from the Scottish Land Fund, “instrumental in so many community buyouts across the country”.
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The report also points to the resilience of the community model, noting that only three of the projects supported by the programme have ceased trading since its launch in 2014. And one of those three managed to transfer its engagements into its local development trust.
“This survival rate of 95% is incredible and highlights the resilience and strength of the model,” says the report.
“We know that a lot of the communities we have worked with are tackling multiple challenges on several fronts and things have certainly not been plain sailing.
“We have seen first hand the community and collective ownership approach as a critical factor for these business’s ongoing survival against the odds. The flexibility of community shares as a unique form of equity finance has also been instrumental.”
