Otley COMMON Share Offer

UPDATE: NOVEMBER 13TH, 2024

We have now raised approximately £180k in online and offline investments! This takes us to half of our minimum target of £360k. Please keep investing to help us surpass this and push on to our optimal target of £571k by 31st December.

We want to bring the Otley Methodist Church into community ownership and seek to raise an optimal target of £571,700 in share capital.  This will be added to the £300,000 grant we have already received from the Community Ownership Fund. This money will be used to purchase the building and carry out Phase 1 of our renovation, as detailed in our share offer document:

• Minimum share subscription per person: £200
• Maximum share subscription per person: £50,000 (or 10% of total raise)
• Up to 6.25% interest paid annually from year 4 onwards
• Withdrawal of capital targeted from year 5 onwards
• Minimum Target to be Raised: £360,500
• Optimal Target to be Raised: £571,700
• Maximum Target to be Raised: £763,713
• Opening date: 7th June 2024
• Closing date: 31st December 2024

If we don't reach our optimal target, the minimum target will still allow us to purchase the building, do minor renovations and cover operating costs whilst we raise more money. Anything over our optimal target (up to £763k) will help us carry out further renovations.

If you would like to support Otley Common but feel the minumum share subscription price is currently out of your reach, then you can either DONATE, or get in touch with us ([email protected]) and we'll see how we can help you invest in the share subscription, either through installments or matching you up with other investors. 

If we fail to reach our target by 31st December, we reserve the right to extend the share offer period. If we ultimately fail to secure the building, all investments will be returned in full. Money pledged through our donation page will be used for running costs immediately and cannot be returned.

Over the past 12 months, our core team and trustees have worked together to produce a Share Offer prospectus and a five-year Business Plan for Otley COMMON, setting out our aims and objectives as an organisation. Both documents are available to download at the bottom of this page or from the fundraising page of our website: www.otleycommon.org/fundraising

What is Otley COMMON?

The aim of Otley COMMON is simple: "To create a space where the Otley Community can come together to thrive and make good things happen"

We want Otley COMMON to be accessible, multi-purpose space that is widely used by the local community.

The realisation of this project will be a COMMON space for all ages, providing a broad range of essential services and projects, that, together, create a vibrant common and shared space to support the local population to thrive.

The different spaces will accommodate:

• Community and social groups, from uniformed groups to yoga and art classes

• Local small businesses, artists, and start up enterprises

• Co-working space encouraging people to work together

• Large events including music, speakers, weddings

• Theatre and performing arts

• Life-long learning opportunities

• A vibrant community cafe and meeting space

• A showcase for decarbonation and sustainability (both the Common and the cottage)

• A Community Action Hub, run in collaboration with our partners, Otley 2030

A COMMON Manifesto

This is a story about our towns, our streets, our buildings and our community. The spaces and places we all share, should share and need to share. They lead us to a deeper sense of place and connect us to each other.

COMMON places that we can meet, learn, teach, work and enjoy.

Places that make us feel proud.

Places that speak to us, that we have helped create,

we can have a stake in, that we build for the COMMON good.

To create a new history — reinvented, renovated and reimagined.

What our old COMMON buildings can be.

These buildings were never constructed to serve the few, they were created in eras of civic pride, constructed for the common person.

This is our collective commission —

to become custodians of the building, to give it a new purpose, a new lease of life and meaning for the future and value to our town and all of us that live here.

An open building that becomes a beacon, an inviting place for us all to use, to communicate, to comment. A place that combines the wealth of a community, its people, its resources and its spirit. Created from a cooperative approach and a true sense of duty.

The building will be a place we all have in COMMON.

What are community shares?

Community shares are a form of social investment. They offer communities a chance to own shares in a local organisation. Community shares are withdrawable shares that cannot be sold, traded or transferred between members, unlike shares in a typical company. Members can be paid interest on their shares, and also withdraw their shareholding, along with any interest they receive. This is subject to the approval of the board. All members are entitled to one vote regardless of how many shares they hold.

Community Shares Standard Mark

The Community Shares Standard Mark is awarded by the Community Shares Unit to offers that meet national standards of good practice.

These standards ensure that:

• The offer document and application form are easy to

understand

• You are provided with all the facts you need to make an informed decision

• The facts are supported by the annual accounts and/or business plan for the society

• Nothing in the documents is purposefully incorrect, confusing or misleading

Societies are asked to sign a Code of Practice requiring them, among other things, to give the public a right of complaint to the Community Shares Unit. For more information about community shares, the Community Shares Standard Mark and the Community Shares Unit go to: www.communityshares.org.uk

Risk statement!

Community shares are a risk. You could lose some, or all, of the money you invest in this share offer, without recourse to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme or the Financial Ombudsman Service.