Help the Coop 4 Directors seek the return of members funds
Donation protected
The Coop 4 Board is asking members for a donation of £15 to support the board and its efforts to achieve the return of our money.
Ripple Energy sold approximately £10m of wattage fees for Ripple Coop 4 towards the Whitelaw Brae Wind Farm. However none of that money was transferred to Ripple Coop 4 and Ripple Energy is in administration. This is a fundraiser to support the Coop 4 board in its efforts to achieve the return of members money.
There are two particular areas which need funding in the immediate term. The first is insurance for the directors. This insurance was provided by Ripple Energy. It protects the directors while acting for the Coop. Without that in place, none of the directors feel able to take the personal financial risk that comes as a result.
The second is to pay for legal advice to the board. Once Begbies receive their legal advice and share it with the board, we may need to take advice and possibly challenge it. At that point we will need to pay a barrister and almost certainly solicitors as well. We will work to keep these costs to a minimum. Note that it should be understood that this would be legal advice for the board acting in the best interests of members and should not be expected to be available to members. This would be necessary to maintain any legal privilege and to not jeopardise the board’s efforts.
The money received will be held in a Coop 4 bank account and be controlled by the Coop 4 board. It will be used to pay for directors insurance and for legal advice. We will consider reimbursement of some other minor expenses that the directors have already paid out of our own pockets. These are items such as the domain name, email services, and registered office/mail forwarding.
We estimate that we need to raise a total of £35,000 for the directors’ insurance and for possible legal expenses. To put this in context, there are approximately 7000 members in Coop4. If every member donated £5, we would raise that sum. However, we appreciate some will not be able to spare this amount and others may be able to give more. We also need to factor in fees charged by crowdfunder and that some members may not contribute.
Therefore, we are asking for a donation of £15 to support the board and its efforts to achieve the return of our money.
Please give what you can and understand that:
- If the board determines the money raised is not needed at all, all of the money can be refunded. However, this is unlikely as we need to pay for directors insurance at the end of June for the board to continue to work for the coop’s members.
- If some donated money remains after the payment for insurance and legal expenses, gofundme doesn’t allow us to easily refund part of each member’s donations. In that case, we would either hold that amount for continued activity of Coop4 until it is no longer active, or donate it to an appropriate cause in line with members’ wishes..
- Any money donated is separate and unrelated to any other payments such as your wattage fees and Ripple arrangement fees. It is not an additional purchase of wattage amounts.
- The £35,000 target is based on initial estimates of our immediate costs. If our estimates are low or the legal process takes longer than we hope, we will need to raise additional money. We hope that won’t happen, but it is a possibility.
Two of the other Ripple initiated coops, Graig Fatha and Kirk Hill have wind farms that are already operational and generate electricity which is sold and generate savings for their members. Both coops have temporarily suspended savings payments to members to build up funds for their Coops’ needs. Unfortunately, the Coop 4 board does not have that option. At the moment, Coop 4 has no funds under the control of the board. A fundraiser via crowdfunding is our only option to pay for the directors insurance and anticipated legal costs.
Organizer
The Coop 4 Board
Organizer
England