Our Story
THE BACKGROUND STORY
Our community, like so many others around the world, was badly impacted by Brexit, Covid, and the energy crisis.
We couldn't host visitors or hold educational courses, our nationally treasured Universal Hall had to close its doors and there were no longer events. Our community shop and cafe, along with the Moray Arts Centre suffered too.
On top of this, two of the key buildings at the heart of community life - the community centre and sanctuary (our meditation hall) - were burnt down, which meant that the places we would usually gather to find ways through, share ideas and resources were gone.
The financial impact of all this led to the winding up of FF, which has been devastating to our local economy, with the loss of 150 jobs the Foundation provided, and the £5 million a year of economic impact we formerly had across the Moray region.
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It is more than three years since the fires and one year since the FF paused operations, before stopping altogether in Nov 2023. Now, the community buyout - with full community ownership, oversight and democratic leadership - is using the power of community to get us back on our feet and regenerate our economy.​
It is time to get the community back on its feet, bringing our magic back to the world!
THE BUYOUT STORY
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In May 2023, aware of the financial struggles of the FF and fearing the worst, John Talbott, Durten Lau, Maria Cooper and Michael Shaw, founded Ecovillage Findhorn Community Benefit Society. Our community association then appointed Rupert Davis as their community buyout coordinator, leading community education and engagement on the topic, creating belief in the possibility, and growing membership.
The founding Directors conducted a deeply engaged community nominations and election process for the inaugural election in November 2023, each of them gracefully stepping down, and a new board of six were duly elected. The new Co-Chairs of EF negotiated a deal with Terry Gilbey (FF CEO)and Mark Anderson (FF Chair) and the rest of the FF Trustees in a collaborative, friendly process, focused on the good of the whole .
The EF team grew the membership base further and undertook a huge community engagement process which elicited huge support and raised over £415,000 of community investment. This combination of community democratic backing and community democratic finance allowed the first two stages of the purchase to be completed on Nov 18th 2024, 62 years and a day after Dorothy, Eileen, Peter and the family arrived in the Park (click here for that story!)
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This first elected board stepped down in November 2024 as promised, and ran a similar election process to the prior year, also ensuring that non-Resident members had representation on the Board.
As of December 2024, the team are busy partnering with Moray Council, the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR) and the Scottish Government (Scottish Land Fund),as well as building our young team and continuing to engage with and consult the community!
Page last updated 2nd Mar2025