SHRUB's Wind-Down Process and Membership Meetings

We are currently facing significant challenges due to the end of major grant funding, which has resulted in a severe financial crisis.

Unfortunately, this has led to the difficult decision to close the Zero Waste Hub at 22 Bread Street, as it is no longer financially sustainable. While there is a potential funding opportunity for the Wee Spoke Hub, its future also remains uncertain. Without securing new funding, SHRUB faces the possibility of dissolving or becoming dormant.

Our primary focus now is to preserve the core of SHRUB: our community and our valuable resources. We are actively exploring ways to continue our mission and support our community without relying on the physical location at Bread Street. Your voice is absolutely essential in this process.

Situational Report: 

To provide you with a full understanding of the situation and the scope of the challenges we face, we have prepared a detailed situational report.

Feedback Form: 

To ensure your voice is heard and to help shape SHRUB's next steps, we have launched an online feedback form. We urge you to take the time to share your thoughts and ideas.

Please fill out this feedback form.

In this form, you can:

• Share what SHRUB means to you.

• Tell us what you'd like to preserve within our community.

• Suggest ideas for how we can continue, even without a physical hub.

Accessibility Options:

• The form can be completed at your own pace.

• Audio/video responses can be emailed to ruby.kelsh@shrubcoop.org.

• Alternative formats, such as translated versions, are available upon request.

Your thoughts will directly influence how we move forward. Every response matters, regardless of length. Together, let's work towards preserving what matters most to our community and explore how we can continue to thrive in these challenging times.

Week 1: Membership Dialogue Meetings

During this week, our dedicated staff, Trustees, and Governance & Policy teams shared proposed scenarios for our future—ideas carefully crafted by reflecting on our financial challenges and the broader fundraising landscape. This is a time for open dialogue, a chance for you to contribute fresh perspectives and alternative plans. The meetings were communicated to all members and were scheduled as follows:

• Friday, 14th February | 18:00–21:00 Zero Waste Hub, 22 Bread Street.

• Saturday, 15th February | 16:00–19:00 Online via Google Meet.

• Sunday, 16th February | 10:00–13:00 Zero Waste Hub, 22 Bread Street.

• Sunday, 16th February | 13:00–16:00 Online via Google Meet.

The purpose of these sessions was to invite you to share your thoughts, honor our past successes, and explore viable ways to secure our future.

Week 2: Proposal Refinement Meetings

Building on the ideas shared during our dialogue meetings, Week 2 will focus on refining these proposals. Here, we’ll gather to revisit, critique, and synthesize the initial scenarios into actionable strategies. Whether you attend in person or online, your insights will help ensure that the final proposals reflect the community’s best interests for both the short and long term. The planned sessions include:

• Thursday, 20th February | 17:00–20:00 – Zero Waste Hub, 22 Bread Street.

• Friday, 21st February | 18:00–21:00 – Online via Google Meet

• Saturday, 22nd February | 09:00–12:00 – Online via Google Meet

• Saturday, 22nd February | 15:00–18:00 – Zero Waste Hub, 22 Bread Street.

Week 3: Voting at the Extraordinary General Meeting (EGM)

You can vote in person at the EGM or by proxy (asking another member to vote for you). Voting by proxy happens online by email or before the EGM at the Zero Waste Hub.

Voting by Proxy 

You can appoint someone to vote for you before the EGM by email or in person at the Zero Waste Hub:

• Tue 25th Feb | 11:00-18:00 | Zero Waste Hub

• Wed 26th Feb | 11:00-18:00 | Zero Waste Hub

Proxy voting forms will be made available online and physically in the Zero Waste Hub. More information about the proxy voting process will come soon.  

Voting at the EGM

• Wednesday 26th February | 18:00-20:00 | Zero Waste Hub

Please note, to vote at the EGM, you must arrive before the meeting starts and stay until the end.

Voting System

We will use the Borda Count voting method in which you will rank your scenarios in order of preference. More information here.

SHRUB means a lot to hundreds of people within our membership and wider community; we have had countless pieces of feedback saying that members consider us their 'third space', 'a family', and 'a place of hope'. We are acutely aware of all that SHRUB means to its community now and for the past 11 years, and we are doing all we can to preserve it in some capacity.

During this process we have to act with urgency whilst trying to enable participation from as many members as possible. Please be patient with us as we try to organise this in line with our values and constitution. We ask for your kindness as we all navigate this time of complexity and high emotion and we thank you for your understanding and participation.

Here are some happy SHRUBBY memories <3

The Funding and Financial Situation and What Led Us Here

SHRUB is a charity, which means that most of its money comes from grants received to support and deliver its projects. As funding comes to an end, all charities have to question what to do and how to support their mission forward. SHRUB is also a cooperative, which means participation of as many members as possible in the decision-making process is crucial. This document will highlight the current financial situation of SHRUB, so that you can get a clear picture of where we currently stand. 

There are no circumstances in which we can feasibly maintain the organisation while operating at 22 Bread Street, and thus this process will not be centred around suggestions on how to do that.

Instead, we are working on how we can preserve what is important to our community beyond SHRUB’s physical structure. 

SHRUB’s Money

Most of SHRUB’s money comes from external funding in the form of grants. Some of its money comes from income instead (money made by the cafe, food sharing donations, bike repairing workshops, etc). At the current level of operation, we have an annual budget of £240,000. Over the last two years we have managed to even that out to approx. 50% income, 50% grant-funding. This means that about half the money of SHRUB comes from grants. You can find more detailed information about this percentage in our last AGM report here. 

This funding is found through the active effort of the Funding Working Group. Fundraising is the active process of seeking financial support, while funding is the financial support itself that is provided to an organisation or project. Fundraising efforts are undertaken to secure funding, which is then utilised to meet the financial needs and goals of a particular project, initiative, organisation, or cause. The Funding Working Group actively seeks new funding opportunities, and aims to ensure projects can continue without having to close. 

Over the last two years, The National Lottery Community-Led Programme has funded almost half of the costs associated with the Zero Waste Hub. From March 12th, we do not have any other funding secured for any of the activities carried out by SHRUB, including both the Zero Waste Hub and the Wee Spoke Hub.

This means that as funding ends, SHRUB now has to make double the income to sustain the same costs. Despite all of its efforts over the past six months, the Funding Working Group has not managed to secure continued funding. This is primarily a result of an increasingly competitive funding landscape, a partial consequence of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis. 

Over the 10+ years that SHRUB has operated, the organisation has supported a variety of community projects, all of which are unbelievably important. The amount of funding received over the last two years, in combination with sales and donations, has only just covered our costs. During this time, we invested a significant amount of our reserves into maintaining the projects we have. This means that we are running on the income that we make on a day-to-day basis without much savings for periods of crisis.

As of 11th February, our total money in the bank totals about £24,000. We can make a bit more through income from the cafe, food sharing hub, etc, but our income alone won’t cover our costs. 

We make approximately £12,000 per month through sales and donations. At the current level of operation, we would need to make another £10,000 per month to cover all costs. Where previously this difference was filled by grant-funding, we are forced to find a way to reduce our costs and wind down projects, until more funding or income is secured. As a result, restructuring, and cost-saving measures need to take place -

SHRUB’s Costs

24k may sound like a lot of money but for an organisation like SHRUB, this is not much. In fact, this is only enough for us to survive for about 1.5 months. You can check our current monthly costs and income below.

SHRUB Current Costs 

	Zero Waste Hub	Wee Spoke Hub	Shared Running Costs	Total	Monthly	Explanation
Cost	£152,557	£34,885	£46,810	£234,252	£19,521	> this is what our current monthly costs are
Income	£103,200	£33,600	£0	£136,800	£11,400	> this is what we are making right now
Difference				-£97,452	-£8,121	> this is the additional income we need to make per month, at current level of operation

The difference between our income and costs without funding shows that we cannot keep running on income alone. This requires SHRUB to go through two processes: 

• Reducing all possible costs immediately 

• Increasing income to cover the costs 

Staff and trustees imagined what scenario could be created if we cut most of our costs and we ran as a primarily volunteer-led organisation. Our conclusions are the following: Even if we reduce staff costs, and continue making sales through both venues, we are still making a deficit - meaning our income can’t cover our costs. You can see this data below.  

SHRUB Running on Minimum Costs (only two staff members per venue).

	Zero Waste Hub	Wee Spoke Hub	Shared Running Costs	Total	Monthly
Cost	£128,514	£44,914	£18,500	£191,928	£15,994	> this is what our monthly cost would be after reducing staff costs
Income	£103,200	£33,600	£0	£136,800	£11,400	> this is what we are making right now
Difference				-£55,128	-£4,594	> this is the additional income we need to make per month

Important note: Minimum staff costs cannot be cut without asking staff to work for free (which is unfair and leads to burnout).

To put it into perspective, our main costs for rent and utilities are £760 per month at the Wee Spoke, compared to £6,270 per month at the Zero Waste Hub.

What Does This Mean in the Short Term?

The Zero Waste Hub

In order for SHRUB to survive we need to bring its costs in alignment with our income (which is the money we can make without funding) so that we can pay all our bills, rent, staff, etc while we look for more funding opportunities. If we manage to secure more long term funding, we can stop relying only on income and donations, and be a bit more stable. The problem is, we don’t know if and when that will happen, and - especially - it’s not possible within two months, which solidifies our need to close 22 Bread Street. 

Due to the financial unsustainability and the risks associated with keeping the Zero Waste Hub premises, we couldn’t identify any scenario in which we keep 22 Bread Street open without risking legal consequences. 

There are some extra costs (end of rent fees, staff contracts, licenses, etc) associated with closing a charity, that the trustees are required to cover. Becoming insolvent means being forced to shut down and can create legal and reputational problems. 

The Wee Spoke Hub

At the moment there is one last stream of funding that could be available to us within our time-frame, specifically for the Wee Spoke Hub. This is the Sestrans: People & Place Community Fund (up to £50.000 for one year). We will know whether we receive the funding or not by the middle of April. 

This funding would cover the gap there is between the costs of the Wee Spoke Hub and its income, allowing it to not only survive but to start building reserves. 

If we don’t get this funding to support our costs, the sad reality is that the Wee Spoke Hub will also lose its space. At that point, SHRUB won’t have any options but dissolving, becoming dormant or merging with another charity. 

What Happens if We Cannot Cover Any of Our Costs?

In that case we are faced with two possible scenarios: 

1. SHRUB has to close as a legal entity and be dissolved 

2. SHRUB can become ‘dormant’ as an organisation but remain open as a legal entity

Closing a Charity

As heart-breaking as this is, we can’t keep operating if our costs are too high. If this scenario becomes the most realistic, we could guide SHRUB through a ‘good ending’, ensuring that all costs are paid and all legal requirements are met. If we come to this, we need the community to come together at our EGM to decide together whether to close SHRUB. Our constitution states that, if closure becomes unavoidable, ⅔ of the membership will need to vote on that at the EGM. Trustees ultimately have the responsibility to close a charity if it cannot sustain itself.

Becoming Dormant

We might choose to make the charity ‘dormant’ instead of closing it. A dormant charity has no income nor costs, but it’s not formally closed and its name is still active and cannot be taken by any other organisation. There is a bit more bureaucracy that goes into keeping a charity dormant - someone will need to take charge to keep filing annual returns every year (even if in a simplified version) until the charity is reopened, for example. 

What Does this Mean in the Long-Term?

As bad as this might sound, this is not necessarily the end of SHRUB. We will work hard to collect all of its resources, processes, and successful systems and share them with the community. This means that at any time, volunteers can come together and use all of this information to look for more funding to reopen SHRUB and rebuild it from scratch. 

This is both true in the case of the company being closed or dormant. The only differences are highlighted above, and we will make sure that the process of reopening is as easy as possible. 

We are all worried about losing the community around SHRUB, but we believe two things: 1) Communities do not only exist in a physical space. With SHRUB you have found like-minded people to share part of your life with. These contacts will not disappear, and the SHRUB community will keep existing outside its physical space. We will welcome any idea of how we can ensure the community can continue supporting one another and find similar services within the city, and then start rebuilding projects once funding has been secured. If you have any ideas on how SHRUB can keep supporting its community without a physical venue, please use the meetings as a space to discuss these options.

2) We don’t think this is the end of SHRUB. In fact, SHRUB as we know it, is the third reincarnation already. This means that anyone can put together a group of people, look for more funding and reopen the charity in its fourth reincarnation. Whatever happens, we are going through it all together!

SHRUB's Crowdfunder Success

By Emily Meijaard

For six weeks throughout July and August, SHRUB Cooperative ran a crowdfunding campaign with the ambitious goal of raising £50,000 to secure funding for its Food Sharing Hub. The Hub plays a crucial role in SHRUB's mission to reduce waste, promote sustainability, and build a more resilient and equitable community in Edinburgh. The campaign aimed to cover operating costs and maintain the vital services provided by the Food Sharing Hub without compromise. 

Despite the undeniable social and environmental significance of the Food Sharing Hub, raising the necessary funds proves to be a challenge. The rising costs of maintaining the Hub, including rent, staff wages, and utility bills, require continuous support from donors and community partners. SHRUB's crowdfunding campaign was designed to bridge this funding gap and ensure the ongoing operation of the Hub, which provides affordable, rescued food to those in need and actively works to reduce food waste in the city.

It was truly inspiring to witness the SHRUB community come together in support of this mission. The campaign saw generous contributions from individuals, local businesses, and partner organisations. By the end of the funding period, SHRUB had successfully raised £14,151, including £6,923 of match funding from the Aviva Community Fund, which recognizes and supports community initiatives that drive positive change. Additionally, nearly £660 was raised through GiftAid contributions, highlighting the broad support and generosity of the SHRUB community.

While the total amount raised fell short of the £50,000 target, the funds collected represent a significant step towards sustaining the Food Sharing Hub. These contributions will help SHRUB continue its essential work in food redistribution and community building. The campaign also served as a powerful reminder of the community's dedication to SHRUB's vision of a zero-waste society. 

We are very aware that this Crowdfunder came at a time when a large portion of our community is facing financial hardship so we also very much want to acknowledge the generosity of any donations made, as well as the help we received from people liking and sharing our posts, spreading the word in other ways, and volunteering their time! 

SHRUB remains committed to exploring new funding avenues and engaging with supporters to keep the Food Sharing Hub thriving. The team is grateful for every donation received during the campaign. Moving forward, SHRUB is determined to leverage this momentum to secure the necessary funds and continue making a meaningful impact in the fight against food waste.

In the meantime, SHRUB invites everyone to stay involved, whether by volunteering, donating, or spreading the word about the Food Sharing Hub. Together, we can continue to foster a community that prioritises sustainability, inclusivity, and the well-being of all its members.