Knoydart Foundation
Facts & Figures | |||
Organisation Name: | Knoydart Foundation | ||
Individual Name: | |||
Area Served: | Most of the Knoydart peninsula (17,000 acres) in the West Highlands of Scotland. | ||
Population: | 120 approx. | ||
Sketch: | The Foundation was established in 1997 and with the help of many supporters bought out the remains of the Knoydart estate in 1999.Since then it has created significant assets for the whole community and we have 11 properties which are rented out at affordable rents, support community development, operate a ranger service and provide support for tourists and visitors, run a hydro-electric scheme (no grid connection here) and other services, run a bunkhouse, operate a small shop, have a venison butchery business, lease land and buildings, and manage the wild deer herd. With the support of its trading subsidiaries, The Foundation has become largely financially self-sufficient, and is now looking towards its next series of developments.
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Legal Form: | A company limited by guarantee with charitable status: it has two trading subsidiaries, Knoydart Trading and Knoydart Renewables. It has established a separate community interest company (Community Maintenance Company Knoydart) which is now an independent company in its own right, and in 2016 will establish another trading subsidiary to focus on merchandise and venison processing. | ||
Volunteers: | - | ||
People Benefitting: | The immediate community and visitors to the area. | ||
Staff: | 13 [KF - 8 KT – 4 KR – 2 ( some posts very part time)] | ||
Turnover: | 236k for the Knoydart Foundation; also approx. 93k for Knoydart Trading, and 114k for Knoydart Renewables. | ||
Earned Income: | Initially supported by the lottery and HIE, the Foundation has become self sufficient for its day-to-day activities, but still seeks grants for capital improvements. Presently it has grant funding for local development officer whose activities cover the whole community and a grant from SNH towards its ranger service | ||
Assets: |
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Value of assets: | 1m plus | ||
Roots & Links | |||
Origins: | The Foundation was established in 1997 in case the Knoydart Estate should be put on the market. In 1999 the Estate went into receivership and the community was able, with help from supporting organisations, to raise the funds to buy it. A Development Manager, Angela Williams, was appointed in 2001 and a growing range of projects have been implemented. | ||
Governance: | Membership is drawn from the community, and the Board of Directors includes five elected residents as well as appointed Directors from Highland Council, the Chris Brasher Trust and the John Muir Trust. We are currently looking to revise our constitution | ||
Community Links: | include: Community Maintenance Company Knoydart | ||
External Links: | include: § HEBNET (community broadband covering small isles and knoydart) | ||
Activities | |||
Physical Hub: | The Foundation’s office acts as a ‘mini-hub’ allowing residents to drop-by; offering office services, e.g. a photocopier; and providing information for residents and visitors alike. | ||
Builds Local Capacity: | See ‘Delivers Services’ below – in particular affordable housing, employment opportunities, leasing land/buildings and local development officer. | ||
Delivers Services: | Knoydart Foundation: | ||
Develops/Manages Property: | see ‘Delivers Services’ above – for leasing land/buildings and affordable housing. | ||
Other: | - | ||
Main Achievements: | 1. Getting the hydro-electric scheme working efficiently: it needed significant refurbishment in the early 2000s, and as we’re not part of the National Grid it is crucial that it works well. 4. Building 3 new rural homes for rent 5. Upgrading sewage and water scheme 6. Establishing a maintenance company to manage community assets 7. Establishing a butchers post to develop our venison products | ||
What Next | |||
Biggest Challenge: | 1. Maintaining financial sustainability: it’s the nature of organisations like ours that we’re operating on a financial knife edge. Things can happen that are unexpected and at anytime – that’s the vagaries of our work. | ||
Lessons Learned: | 1. Getting the right policies and paperwork in place: for instance, having the right policies on housing and having done a housing survey helped us become the only community organisation that was successful in getting funding via Rural Homes for Rent. We were able to demonstrate by showing our ‘audit trail’ that this wasn’t done on a whim but had involved considerable thought and preparation. | ||
Aspirations: | It’s fantastic to get to 15 years since buying the Estate. Now we’re looking to improve and develop so that we’re here for our 100th anniversary! | ||
Contact | |||
Name: | Angela Williams | ||
Title: | Development Manager | ||
Address Line 1: | Knoydart Foundation | ||
Address Line 2: | Inverie, by Mallaig | ||
City: | |||
County: | PH41 4PL | ||
Telephone: | 01687 462242 | ||
Fax: | 01687 462272 | ||
Email: | angela@knoydart.org | ||
Website URL: | www.knoydart-foundation.com | ||
District: | Western Isles |