On January 26th we shared the news that Findhorn Foundation (FF) and Ecovillage Findhorn (EF) were in discussion about an options package that would support moving most of the FF assets in The Park to EF. The idea was/is to support EF’s intention for democratic and inclusive community ownership, governance and planning; while also supporting the FF’s intention to wind down the Trust, and to focus its attention on the education component of its charitable purpose and explore what plans may be possible to continue the work through a SCIO.
We want to give you an update on progress and where the discussions currently sit. After a meeting of Foundation Trustees at the beginning of February the possibility of a faster transfer of assets to EF was put forward, rather than the 18 months timeline laid out in the options package. The new proposal from FF offered a much faster timeline (3–6 months) at a very significantly reduced cost from the options package. An accelerated timeline presents challenges for the community in taking responsibility for these assets, but whatever timeline is eventually agreed, the community needs to have full insight into all the costs and liabilities of running the Park so it can make its choice from a well-informed perspective. FF and NFD are working hard to provide EF with the extensive granularity of costs needed, so that the EF has the necessary information to make an informed proposal to its members.
The map shows in green the areas of the Park which FF and EF are discussing (note that discussions do not include properties within zones which are not owned by FF, and that FF
is separately discussing transfer of the brown area “W” to Findhorn Hinterland Trust).
Over the coming weeks all Park organisations are invited and welcome to contribute their skills to what will be a large shift of responsibility. We hope that with these parts of the Park under community ownership and a clearly defined democratic governance framework, site planning can be done in a more effective and strategic way than has been possible in the past.
The next steps are to fully understand the financial implications of both options, and find a practical way forward which has the active involvement and, we hope, support of the
membership and leadership of all organisations impacted.
For EF
Mari Hollander
Rupert Davis
For FF
Mark Anderson
Terry Gilbey
