Food Connect Shed
Age of company:
< 1 year
Sector:
F&B / Social
Annual Revenue:
$0
Campaign link:
Total Raised:
AUD $2.1 million
Number of Investors
513
Country:
Australia
Background
Food Connect connects local buyers with local producers.
The Food Connect Shed was officially formed as a public unlisted company just two days before their equity crowdfunding campaign launched on PledgeMe. While the concept had been in the works for longer, it was the first that their community had heard about this new Food Connect initiative.
The background: Emma-Kate Rose met Robert Pekin in 2007 at a Climate Change conference. A whirlwind romance turned into her joining his nascent social enterprise, Food Connect, and eventually becoming their General Manager. In the past fourteen years, theyโve won environmental awards and been recognised for their ethical trading practices, all while paying farmers and workers a fair price, shortening food miles, and incubating small food businesses in their commercial kitchen.
Their work led the Food Connect team to launch the Food Connect Foundation, to support their advocacy and research on best practices in local food hubs. One tactic they found proven by overseas social innovators was community owned infrastructure. When their landlord signalled he wanted to sell their warehouse, they decided to go to their community to buy it.
“In order to fix our broken food system, the infrastructure needs to be owned by the public.”
Timeline
What worked well?
It was good for business
During the campaign, sales increased and staff morale was boosted.
It gave their crowd different ways to help
They had everyone from Griffith University providing a film crew through to Costa, a famous TV presenter, hosting Facebook Lives through to architects supporting with their warehouse plans.
It got media interest
The campaign had Channel 9 news coverage the day before it launched and Courier Mail coverage the day it closed (as well as interest from media in between).
It worked
They raised the money they needed to buy the warehouse and showed it could be done ethically.
What didnโt work
It was hard to educate their crowd
Equity crowdfunding was so new, that the first 30 days was mainly spent explaining what equity crowdfunding is to their crowd (and that, yes, it is legal!).
Financial language was hard
They had to explain financial concepts and the risks around investing in early stage companies.
The launch of their campaign felt rushed
They spent a lot of time on the documents, but didn't have time to prime staff.
Extended the campaign three times
In hindsight, they would have spent more time on the lead in on crowd activation. (Note: extensions are no longer allowed!)
The Golden Share
How they baked the social mission into their constitution
Their constitution outlines their social mission and effectively gives Food Connect Foundation Limited a veto right over any matter that limits or detracts from the Food Connect Shedโs ability to pursue that social mission.
By setting up a separate entity as the head and giving it the power of veto, it means that Food Connect Shed has governance around staying true to its mission.
(Pssst...their constitution is publicly available so check it out if your organisation is driven by a social mission.)
Conclusion
Food Connect Shed raised $2.1mil and has 513 Careholders.
Though the PledgeMe campaign ended in November 2018, it was just the beginning of the relationship between Food Connect Shed and its Careholders.
In May 2019, over 500 Careholders were invited to celebrate in the Food Connect Shed with a giant potluck dinner. There was something beautiful about food connecting all the humans who wanted to see the warehouse owned by the community, rather than by one individual.
Costa Georgiadis from ABCโs Gardening Australia, who also came on board as a Careholder, MCโd the night, with other Careholders hosting seed art drawing tables, donating craft drinks, and dancing until late in the evening under one Careholderโs sponsored lighting rig.
Your action plan
Putting it into practice
Ask for help
Make it clear what youโre doing, where youโre going, and how people can help.
Make the most of media interest
News coverage for TV and print makes a massive difference. If you know your launch date and closing date, pitch it!
Have an education plan in place
Equity crowdfunding is new to most people so have a plan for communicating it to your crowd in plain language.
Activate your crowd before the campaign
Avoid having to extend your deadline and the stress that comes with it. It saves a lot of stress!
How can PledgeMe help?
If youโre considering an equity crowdfunding campaign, weโre ready to help. Contact us for a chat.
You can also learn more about creating crowdfunding campaigns in Australia or New Zealand on our main website.
