A charitable incorporated organisation founded by former Girlguiding leaders has raised enough funds to bid for an activity centre due to be shut down by Girlguiding.
Foxie’s Future was launched to crowdfund to buy the Foxlease activity centre in Hampshire, one of five sites that Girlguiding is selling to secure its financial future.
Announcing the decision in May, Girlguiding said it “cannot afford the level of investment” needed to operate the centres, adding that the net proceeds from the sale would go into a “designated investment fund to support Girlguiding activities”.
The decision was met with criticism from former and current Girlguiding leaders and sparked a number of campaign movements, including a petition urging the charity to reconsider that received nearly 40,000 signatures.
The Charity Commission also opened a regulatory compliance case into the charity in September, after concerns about its decision to sell the centres and end the operations of British Girlguiding Overseas.
In a post on LinkedIn, Foxie’s Future said it had raised enough funds to put in a purchase bid for the Foxlease centre before GirlGuiding’s deadline, which for Foxlease is 21 March.
The post said: “Thanks to everyone’s wonderful fundraising and support we will be submitting a bid to purchase the Foxlease activity centre site.”
Hazel Warwick, a trustee of Foxie’s Future, said that through a combination of large- and small-scale fundraising it had raised more than £1m since August.
“This has been achieved through local fundraising efforts by charity volunteers and supporters, including a wide range of local fundraising events by uniformed group units, such as Brownies, Guides, Scouts and Trefoil Guild members, all of whom want to see Foxlease saved for the community,” she said.
A large portion of the secured funding is from private trusts, individual donations and pledges and from capital grant-funding from organisations such as the New Forest District Council, she added.
The CIO also has a range of grant funding still pending, she said, and it will submit a bid based on a “combination of funds raised and partnership opportunities”, the details of which are still being finalised.
Warwick said Foxie’s Future understands that there is other interest in the site from third parties, due to a number of viewing days being held at the centre, so it “expects to be up against other bidders”.
She said: “We would like to say that we are confident in acquiring the site but that element is unfortunately outside of our control as, although we will be in the running for consideration, it will ultimately be for Girlguiding UK’s trustees to determine their preferred purchaser from those bids submitted – we do not have any right of first refusal or priority in the process.”
Warwick said that, if successful in its bid, Foxie’s Future plans to “re-open the site as an activity centre for youth, uniformed and school groups with camping and residential opportunities, as well as ensuring that the site is a more community-focused space to ensure its viability and to try to fill some of the gaps in other provision which we know there are locally to the site”.
She added: “We will be crossing everything that the sellers choose us, to allow us to deliver our aims for the thousands who have supported us to this point.”
Girlguiding declined to comment.