Fundraising to build and grow a community sharing scheme for Falmouth and Penryn. Committed to sharing, reusing/recycling & buying less.
by Kernow Library Of Things - KLOTH in Penryn, England, United Kingdom
We're committed to helping the environment as much as possible. So, we'd like to invest in an E-Cargo Bike. This means we can start to deliver items locally to people who need them, and also work towards cutting down car use whenever possible.
A Library of Things works like a normal library. But instead of borrowing books, you can borrow tools, kitchen equipment, camping gear in fact, pretty much anything. The kind of things that you might not own, only use occasionally, or perhaps, can’t afford.
We may live in challenging times but that doesn't mean we're powerless to act. Tackling the ongoing climate crisis means changing the way we think about everything we do. A Library of Things creates a place for community to come together and really start to make a difference.
We want to move away from the idea that in order to use things we have to own them and having a Library of Things means that everyone in a community shares stuff as and when they need to, instead of storing things away in homes.
This year has shown more than ever how important community is. And supporting our project also helps as we hurtle ever closer to climate breakdown. Because a Library of Things also means buying less, repairing more and having greater respect for resources, our environment and our planet.
This is the start of the journey. Now, we need your help to build and grow.
We're a small team of volunteers from the Falmouth and Penryn area who've been working on this idea since 2017 and this year, the plans took shape.
In September, with help from Penryn Town Council, we opened the first KLOTH branch in Penryn. Local people have already donated some incredible items. Now, we’re crowdfunding to keep the project running and build up the library with some really useful, but expensive, things.
Our original plan was to fundraise before opening and fill the Library with Things people in the community said they'd like to borrow. But, as we all know, 2020 has been a roller coaster of a year! So, we made the decision to open as soon as possible and start to serve the local community.
An incredible team of volunteers and local businesses stepped up to donate time, materials and skills to transform the Old Gentlemen's Hut on Quay Hill in Penryn.
In just one week, we turned the Hut into a Library filled with storage space.
On 12 September, 2020, we launched KLOTH in Penryn. We were honoured to welcome Penryn Mayor Chaz Wenmoth to cut the red ribbon and declare us officially open!
Since then, we've been lending Things that have been so kindly donated by people and support for the project from our community has been incredible.
It's now the perfect space for high-quality Things, bigger Things and important Things for us to share with our community. That's what your pledges will help us to do.
KLOTH is run entirely by volunteers and registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC). Each and every penny raised from this Crowdfunder will go straight back into the project to benefit our community.
Here's what we're planning to do with funds raised:
Exciting Things: Most of the funds raised (60%) will go towards stocking the library with a range of exciting new Things. For example, high-quality power tools that are too expensive to buy if you only need to use them once. Before opening, we reached out to our community* to see what they'd most like to borrow. We'll continue to do that on our social media platforms throughout this campaign so that we can build up stock of the Things that you decide are most useful. We'll hold on to some of the money so we can wait and see what gets loaned a lot, or what we're missing to make sure that we can meet your needs as we continue to grow.
(*Most children we've spoken to said they'd like to borrow a chocolate fountain, so that's a promise we'd like to keep!)
Boring but important Things: Now that we're open, we've got a better idea of how much income we need to keep things running. We were fortunate enough to receive £1000 seed funding from the National Lottery in January 2020. But, most of this went towards paying for insurance to keep our customers and Things safe. With your help, we'll put aside 25% of the money raised so we know that we can cover the insurance bill next year, pay for utilities like water and electricity and cover other boring bills from the bank and our website.
It's also important that we can maintain all the tools and equipment so that they're safe for everyone to use. For example, every item we loan has to be PAT tested and £300 of pledges means wee can buy a PAT tester and train all our volunteers.
Other Important Things: The remaining 15% is for the little things that all start to add up. Not everyone uses computers or social media, so we'd like to know we can afford to print leaflets, posters and make sure that we can let everyone in our community know who we are and what we're doing. We'd also like to work towards delivering items to people who may not be able to access the Library in person and have a small pot available to develop the logistics of this plan.
We'd also like to build and grow so we've set some stretch goals to help us achieve those things with your help and generosity.
We're committed to the idea of a circular economy. This means moving away from the idea that Things are made, used and disposed of. Instead, we start to repair, reuse and recycle as much as we can. This is one of the driving forces behind setting up a Library of Things.
All money earned from this Crowdfunder, membership and our small loan fees goes straight back into the project. This way, we keep a circular economy growing as well as keeping things out of landfill and consuming less.
So many people own Things that they only use occasionally. “The average drill.' for example, 'is used for only 13 minutes in its entire lifetime.” Houses everywhere are filled with items like this that rarely get used. Meanwhile, too many people can't afford to buy items, or to replace broken things. Sadly, in the current economic climate more and more people are facing financial challenges and having to make tough decisions just to cover day-to-day basics. Our area also has a large community of people who're boat or van dwellers and a vibrant student population. More people who'll benefit from having access to Things that they can't afford or store. So when a community can share these things, we're all taking steps towards a more equal society.
Having a Library of Things also means we're taking steps to help our environment. Supporting us helps to:
The idea for a Library of things first started in the US in the 1940s, they’ve been operating around the world for many years. There's now a growing number of successful ones around the UK. And they work. As the Library of Things in London found:
•They save people money: 90% of borrowers said: “they now have more money to spend on things important to them”.
•They build community: 75% of borrowers said they “feel better connected to their community because of a Library of Things”.
•They help the environment. Having used a Library of Things: “borrowers are 60% more likely to repair or recycle items”
We wanted to keep our membership process as simple as possible and make sure that it's affordable for everyone.
To loan items, everyone needs to be a member. Once you've become a member you can loan items. Again, we wanted to keep hire fees low, and some items are free!
So pledging to become a member as part of this crowdfunder will give you access to loan Things. We're also going to create a special page on our website to add the names of each and every person who's supported this campaign. Your name will always be there as a thank you for your support.
As well as becoming a hub to borrow and share items, our vision is to become an integral part of our community in other ways. To keep KLOTH open and running we want to build and grow our team of volunteers. This means we can open more often to serve the needs of people in the area. But we also want to ensure that we reach out to as many people as possible, especially those who may be long-term unemployed, recently faced redundancy or felt a growing sense of isolation as a result of the current pandemic.
We're committed to working with people who may really benefit from volunteering with a community project to build self-confidence or increase their skills to find new work. Joining KLOTH also creates new opportunities for volunteers to meet other people with shared interests especially environmental issues and working to build a circular economy.
We may have faced a whole new set of challenges this year, but we genuinely feel that working together as a community is one of the most positive ways we can all build a better future together.
We've had incredible support from people in our community. People who've already become members agree that this is a viable and important local resource.
"KLOTH is the project we need right now. In a time of scarcity but also excessive waste and consumption what better way forward than this? Borrowing occasional items with our near neighbours through this community resource makes perfect sense. Between us, we have the resources to build a resilient, cohesive future.
KLOTH is showing us that and I hope our community shows it's support and helps it grow by borrowing, sharing and. if you can, donating."
Anna Gillett, Falmouth Town Councillor
"My partner and I moved to Penryn this year and had lots of work to do on our new place. Space and costs are limited, so Kloth has been a massive help with cheap and easy access to power tools.
It seems like such a good idea that we're wondering why Libraries of Things aren't a longstanding, everyday part of UK life."
Craig, Penryn resident
KLOTH imagines a world where people share things with strangers and individuals move away from the idea of owning items. We're working to bring community together to encourage people to borrow rather than buy things and change the way we do the simplest things.
Ps, at the time of writing, England is about to go back into lockdown. So we're working to devise ways for people to continue to use the Library and keep everyone safe. We'll keep our website updated with details about this in the coming weeks.
This project offers rewards in return for your donation. Please select a reward below.