Financing the project

Initial work was carried out to determine how the project could be funded. The bulk of the investment will come from a mix of these sources:

• Loan Notes where people loan the Trust money in multiples of £500, knowing that the loan is for an unspecified period, and that they may receive interest in the region of 3%, which would be generated by the rent charged to the football club
• Major donor investment where wealthier fans of the club would contribute a larger sum, and would, as with the loan notes and community shares, receive a return on their investment. This is a varient of the loan note scheme, but targeted at a smaller group of people and companies, for example club sponsors, executive box holders etc.
• Regular giving for fans who can’t provide £500 up front, but want to be part of the scheme, where they can give a regular amount each month by direct debit, with the possibility of their donations being converted into a loan note / community share once it reaches £500.
• General fundraising including a comedy night / dinner, etc, to raise funds for specific elements of the project, for example to build a state of the art academy facility within the training ground.
• Other forms of financing primarily a short-term measure in the event that a suitable site is identified which is currently on the market.

As the Trust is regulated by the Financial Services Authority, it complies with key measures which will safeguard fans’ money.