KEVRANNA ST IVES CIC
St Ives Community Foodshare Group is soon to be registered as a Community Interest Company (CIC)
Company name: KEVRANNA ST IVES CIC
Trading as: KEVRANNAST IVES CIC
Company number: TBC
Company type: Private Limited by Guarantee
KEVRANNA ST IVES CIC is limited by guarantee and is a ‘not for profit’ company, this means that it does not operate for private profit. Any profit generated is used to grow and develop its aims.
MEMBERS
Volunteers within our group are invited to become Members of the CIC. Members have voting rights at meetings and can elect / remove Directors from the company. Members support and guide the future development of the organisation, to ensure that it’s aims to benefit the community are followed and to be part of a team sharing the same passion to help people. A huge commitment of time is not expected but Members are expected to attend a minimum of 2 general meetings a year.
DIRECTORS
Directors oversee & direct the company, ensuring that it’s run smoothly. It’s important for the Directors to have a wide variety of life skills, experience and expertise in various areas including education, arts, health & safety, social services, marketing, sales, finance, admin, business management, grant funding, working with volunteers etc. CIC directors (and, for collective decisions the members) are responsible for ensuring that the company is run in such a way that it will continue to satisfy the community interest test, which is overseen by regulation to do an annual return to Companies House.
Being a Director for Kevranna St Ives CIC is a volunteer, not paid positions however
A huge commitment of time is not expected but Members & Directors are expected to attend a minimum of 2 meetings a year.
VOLUNTEER / PAID POSITIONS
Kevranna CIC have various roles within it’s company. Many of these roles are volunteering positions and are not paid for their services. When funding or income permits, individuals in the group may be paid for services rendered when agreed. Directors are not paid for their services to the Company as directors, but are entitled to reasonable and proper remuneration for any services they supply to the Company in addition to their service as directors.
Visit www.stivesfoodshare.co.uk/documents for our CIC articles of association and policies.
Who will benefit from KEVRANNA ST IVES CIC:
The local community of all ages and abilities in St Ives and surrounding areas as well as the wildlife in the orchard and nature reserve area.
WHO WE ARE:
We are a volunteer-powered initiative and a non-profit group, focused on recycling and saving waste. Saving food from landfill to feed our community. Bringing people together to eat socially, share food and to learn / share skills.
We run ‘St Ives Community Foodshare‘ but thanks to wonderful volunteer input and partner support we also run or support various other projects – Skill Share at our Wednesday, ‘Kevranna Social Club’, Clothes share, Seed Share and Meal Share, bringing the community together to eat socially in various settings.
We chose the name ‘Kevranna‘ to encompass all we do, it means ‘to share’ in Cornish and we are currently setting a community interest company ‘Kevranna CIC’ which will be the umbrella company for all our various projects.
OUR AIMS & WHAT WE DO:
- Collecting, recycling and redistributing food waste from local supermarkets, bakeries, restaurants, farms and businesses. Offering collection points for this free food 6 x per week at various locations around town.
- Bringing the community together to eat and cook socially and distribute free and affordable meals using waste food when possible. Delivering freshly meals directly to people’s houses and offering communal meals regularly.
- Offering safe, creative environments to share skills and learn together. Providing a weekly social club which offers various craft workshops and sharing of skills.
- To promote sustainable and locally produced food growing and retailing and raise awareness of environmental issues.
- Offering volunteering and self-employed hours in our projects as well as upskilling them with training opportunities
- Collecting, signposting and disseminating information on other services and projects available.
- Being responsive to the local community’s needs and acting to the benefit of the community.
HOW WE BENEFIT THE COMMUNITY
- Supporting those who are struggling financially to access free food.
- Bring pride to community that their town is actively stopping food from going to landfill, reducing harmful methane emissions.
- Giving local businesses and residents a place to take their surplus food so that it doesn’t go to waste.
- Combatting loneliness and isolation.
- Promoting well-being
- Providing common ground for local people, projects and professional healthcare support initiatives and networks to work together, sharing skills and knowledge.
- Raising the awareness and understanding of the social, environmental and economic importance and subsequent benefits of buying local produce.
- Strengthening local food security and sustainability of local food supply.
- Supporting Climate action
- Supporting people to progress to sustainable employment and self-employment
What happens to any surplus profit:
Any surplus will go to reinvesting in the company and the local people; paying for new projects, educational providers, community events and staff.
What is a CIC ?:
A community interest company (otherwise known as a CIC) is a limited liability company created with the specific aim of providing benefit to a community. It combines the pursuit of a social purpose with commercial activities. A community interest company shares many of the features of a limited company, in that it is incorporated and the financial liability of its Directors is limited to a nominal amount. In the same way as a private company or a charity, each community interest company (CIC) is controlled by those individuals who are appointed to its board and by those who become members. The precise structure that is put in place is a matter for each CIC to determine.
By using social enterprise to achieve public good, it is believed that CICs have a distinct and valuable role to play in helping create a strong, sustainable and socially inclusive economy.
‘Not for profit’ explained:
A community interest company (CIC) limited by guarantee is a ‘not for profit’ company, this means that it does not operate for private profit. Any profit generated is used to grow and develop its business which is benefiting an identified community, or goes directly to benefit that community.
There are two main types of CICs:
Limited by share CICs – where there are shareholders and directors. Directors can receive up to 35% of the surpluses as dividends.
Limited by guarantee – there are directors but it does not have shares or shareholders, and cannot pay dividends.
KEVRANNA ST IVES CIC is limited by guarantee.
Transparent and accountable:
There is transparency of operation as a CIC has to deliver an annual community interest company report about its activities for the public record. This includes details of assets transferred for less than market value; dividends paid; stakeholder involvement; and directors’ remuneration. CICs must annually provide form CIC34 as part of their annual submission to Companies House. This includes some explanation of their social impact or evidence of the social benefit that they have provided over the last financial year.
The Community Interest Test
A community interest company (CIC) has to pass the community interest test by providing an additional statement describing what it will do, who it will help and how. Also if it makes a profit, or surplus, what the company will do with it. If the Regulator decides that the organisation is eligible to form as a community interest company this information, which is provided on a form CIC36 or CIC37, is placed on the public record. This statement sets on the record in a transparent manner the purpose, the activities and desired outcomes for the CIC going forward, which are overseen by regulation throughout the life of the company.
Comparison to a charity:
Unlike a charity, a CIC will typically not be dependent on donations and fundraising as it will also aim to receive income from trading. Some CICs are entirely dependent on grants and deliver projects – but this means they lack sustainability as they have no regular income of their own. A CIC should aim be financially self-supporting; so that all the income needed to run the enterprise is earned through trading rather than via grants and become financially self-reliant.
The CIC has greater flexibility compared to a charity in terms of its activities. It does not have trustees and its directors and members can receive reasonable remuneration. This enables a tight structure to encourage good business decision making in the interests of the community. Unlike charities there are no tax advantages. Many CIC’s including Kevranna CIC has stipulations in it’s Articles of Association that Directors shall not be paid for their services to the Company as directors, but are entitled to reasonable and proper remuneration for any services they supply to the Company in addition to their service as directors.
An organisation cannot be a CIC and a charity. However, some or all of a CIC’s activities can be charitable in nature.
What happens if the CIC discontinues:
A CIC has continuity of purpose once it is incorporated it will continue in existence until it is either dissolved, or converted to a charity. If it is dissolved the residual assets will be preserved for the community rather than distributed to members.
What is the asset lock?:
A CIC has an asset lock to benefit the community it was set up to serve and prevent the CIC falling under the control of individuals, or organisations, who are not members.
The “asset lock” is overseen by regulation and the statutory clauses cannot be removed from its constitution, unlike ‘normal’ companies. It is this that sets it apart from other companies and prevents demutualisation and windfall profits being paid out to its members and directors.
The essential feature of a CIC is that its activities are carried on for the benefit of the community. The asset lock is there to ensure the CIC uses its assets, including profits, to benefit the community it was set up to serve. Once a CIC is incorporated it will continue in existence unless it converts to a charity, or is dissolved. If the company is dissolved, any assets remaining after distribution will be
transferred to another asset locked body, such as a CIC or charity, to be used for a similar community purpose.