The glass is 1/3rd full for our Member Investment Campaign!

 

As a sitting board member  it’s easy to forget that not everyone is “in the know” about all the activities taking place behind the scenes these days at Flying Bike.  Your board is working their behinds off right now managing several activities at once, among these are:

• Build Team - in the middle stages of negotiating a space for your brewery, meeting with designers, and solving problems.
• Finance Team - in the middle of the current Member Investment Campaign and coordinating a calling campaign to support it.
• Marketing Team - planning events for Meetups and the incomparable Tour de Pints and other events during Seattle Beer Week.

 

After a particularly grueling training ride (cycling - yay! the sun is out!!) this weekend, I was sitting with our group enjoying a pint of Black Raven’s finest (in my case, the Tamerlane Brown Porter), and was asked where we are in the Investment Campaign by another member who happens to be in my same rec cycling group and a friend of mine.  I told him we were about a third of the way there, having just crossed the $100,000 threshold the previous week.

He said, “is that really only a third of the way there?”

I answered, “yep, for the brewery that we want to build.”

“Well, what is the minimum total  amount you need to raise?”

I replied: “the minimum amount WE need to move forward with the brewery is $200,000.  Anything less than this, and we have to return the money and regroup and start over”

“Have you considered a Kickstarter?”

“Well, yes, but the problem is that we are a Cooperative - and our bylaws only allow for member investment in our brewery - and that is what was decided and voted on by the membership.”

“Oh”, he said.

Now my friend is a member, but he’s not an investor - yet.   And I think maybe he might have been irritated that I kept answering back "we" - but hey, that's the truth, we are a co-op.  And honestly, I’m not sure he’s going to become an investor - and it’s got me to wondering why.  (for the record, I am an investor).   Some possible reasons are:

1. He doesn’t think we’ll make it, and he’ll lose his investment
2. He needs to invest his money in something with a better than 4% return
3. He hasn’t got the money to invest or risk for this sort of thing.

These are all valid reasons, or concerns.  This is an investment, and as such it may not be right for everyone.  As they say, YMMV (your mileage may vary...)

So why did I invest?  Have I got the money to lose, or don’t care about the return?

No, that’s not it at all.

I invested because I believe in the model of a democratically run, member owned brewery.  I invested because we all get to have a say in how this brewery will be run, and can contribute as a member-owner through our sweat or funding ability.  I invested because we all have a say in what we brew, and how we grow.  I invested because we all get to share in the work, and share in the success.   I invested because we all can learn and have a good time doing it!  I invested because I believe in building community, through beer.

In the end, we will all have a brewery that we built together, that we all have a say in.  I like that idea, messy as it may be at times (ever seen an unmessy democracy??).  The cool thing about the Co-op model is that you don’t have to be a millionaire, or even a ‘thousand-aire’ to help out, and OWN A PART OF A BREWERY.

If these are things that you think are important, and can afford to do so, please invest in YOUR brewery.  $500 gets  you a stake in it, not just as a member-owner, but as a financial enabler of our brewery coming to fruition.

And I’d be tickled to death if we funded with a majority of small donors, instead of counting on a handful of larger ones.  C’mon, help out YOUR brewery - it’ll be fun!

- David Wiegand,
Member-owner #446

if you have any questions at all, please email me at davidw@flyingbike.coop

 

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For more information:

Click here for more information on the Member Investment Campaign

Click here for more information on volunteering at Flying Bike

Click here to Sign up as a Flying Bike Member-Owner!