A Big Fat Fundraising Update
Over £14,000 raised so far; Aiming for £50,000 by June 1st; Building secure until August; Huge fundraising party on March 3rd; Big public meeting March 5th; Setup a regular monthly donation…
Dear friends,
Thank you! Thanks to the support you have given so far, we have raised a whopping £14,000+ for the Save the Forest fundraising campaign. Along the way we’ve seen an outpouring of love and support, with people giving vast amounts of time and energy as well as their hard-earned cash. It’s been wonderful to see just how much this place really means to say many people. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
The other good news, which you may not have heard yet, is that we know that we’re safe in this building until the end of August. We’ve had legal advice on our lease, and we know that it’s secure until then, whether or not someone buys the building before then. A number of different things could happen after that point: we could negotiate a new lease with the administrators of EUS’s bankruptcy, someone could have bought the building and either offer us tenancy or give us notice (which would give us a few months at least), or we might have raised enough to buy it ourselves. A lot depends on how well this campaign goes over the next few months, and that depends on you.
So there’s a lot more work still to do. We’re relaunching the Save the Forest campaign with a huge fundraising party on March 3rd and a big public meeting to get everyone going again on March 5th. You can read more about these below. Our target is to reach £50,000 by June 1st: ambitious, but definitely achievable. That’s about enough to pay a year’s commercial rent in this or a similar building, and will put us in a very strong position to get pots of money from other sources, to prove we’ve got the wherewithal to buy this beautiful place.
To do that, we’re going to continue to need your help. Forest is you, and we can’t do it without you. We’re asking for three main things from you, whatever your capacity. Read about them below — and thank you again.
1. MAKE A REGULAR MONTHLY DONATION
You can download a form with information here which will enable you to set up a regular monthly donation from your bank account to Forest. Think of it as buying Forest a monthly pint (£3), or a bottle of cheerful wine (£5), or a family size takeaway pizza (£10). Give what you can afford, and know that it’s the most effective possible way of supporting Forest: it gives as a safe income, which makes us more able to do the stuff you love us for doing, and which puts us in a much stronger position for approaching other funders.
There’s more information on the form - which is available in the Café too — and you can find out more by asking in the café or by emailing fundraising@theforest.org.uk. When you’ve completed and signed the form, return it to the Café. We’ll keep your details secure, and use the form to set up the standing order.
2. BECOME A FUNDRAISING VOLUNTEER
We’re building a strong and varied fundraising campaign, but we need more people! We need people to help run events, to work with the press, to smooch celebrities, to do research admin, to make art, to plan strategies, to offer legal and financial advice, and to bring their own ideas forward. Whatever you’ve got, we want to hear from you. You’ll become part of the regularly-meeting Fundraising Team (great experience, great skill-building, great CV-fodder), help plan and execute our campaign, and be entitled to oodles of love and discount/free food when you’re working.
Email fundraising@theforest.org.uk to tell us about how you’d like to be involved, or just to express an interest. We want to hear from everybody!
3. COME TO AN AWESOME EVENT AND A MASSIVE MEETING
THE SPRING FLING: A Forest Carnival
Thursday March 3rd, 7pm-3am at Studio 24, £7
A Mammoth Night of Madcap & Gleeful Dance!
Read about the event here, and the callout for volunteers here.
PUBLIC MEETING: SAVE THE FOREST RELAUNCH
Saturday March 5th, 4.30pm-6.30pm at the Forest Café
A place to hear the news, offer your ideas, get inspired and get involved.
Come if you’ve got something to say, want to know what’s been happening, or what to be part of the fight to save Edinburgh’s most awesome, free, varied and wild arts venue and social centre.