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The final piece of the jigsaw is the recent ‘crowdfunding’ campaign to fit out
the building with furniture and gym and canteen equipment. Those of you on
email should have recently received notice of a Special General Meeting on
January 9 ,th to discuss proposals to make a significant donation to add to
their fundraising. This notice is also included in this DLN.

Here are a few notes on how crowdfunding works, and why I think De Laune
can make a big difference to the Velodrome’s future:

· A target is set, in this case £75,000, with a target date. If the
amount is reached, the bid is deemed to have succeeded and the
money is collected. If not, the donors are not charged.

· HHVT set a target that would cover the basic fit-out, but left out
some high-cost items just in case the target was not reached.
Items such as a directional PA system (so as not to annoy the
residents); a drinking water supply in the track centre; a
timing/judging hut and a track-centre WC also.

· Different crowdfunding strategies are available, the one chosen was
where rewards, such as T-shirts and cycling jerseys are offered. This
is known to create much more interest, but the downside is that
HMRC charges VAT on such donations, and the cost of the rewards
must also be met (plus VAT), so a larger total is needed to cover
these.

· The initial £75,000 target was, quite amazingly, met in just a week,
and a ‘stretch’ target of £100K was added, with the target date
brought forward to 24th December. A total of £86,000 was achieved
by then, though the useful funds are some way lower than this and
won’t cover much more than the basic fit-out.

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