The following article by Thierry Bogliolo was first published in One Earth Magazine Issue No 15 Autumn 1994.

 

New Findhorn Directions Ltd (NFD), a limited liability company, was formed in 1979 and is wholly owned by the Findhorn Foundation. Originally created as a holding company to permit commercial activities initiated by members and ex-Foundation departments to be carried on outside the umbrella of the charitable trust, it has also provided a framework through which the spiritual work of the Foundation could be extended into the world of business.

The original strategy for the company had always envisaged a movement of enterprises ‘from the greenhouse of the Foundation, into the cold frame of NFD, and then out into the metaphorical garden of business as independent concerns’. Thus, in December  1992, the Trustees of the Foundation, as sole shareholders, requested that the company ‘explore the desirability and implications of widening the share ownership’. Earlier this year, the Board of Directors of NFD submitted a proposal to the Trustees and members of the Foundation, recommending that it would be mutually beneficial both for the Foundation and for NFD if certain of the businesses held as divisions within the company were sold off and became independent, particularly those whose interests are not necessarily tied either to the foundation or to Foundation-owned land.

Regrouping (Re-Potting?)
The Board had examined the structure of the company and had decided that, instead of the rather haphazard structure in use, it seemed more logical to re-group the company’s divisions under four major headings, based on activity – Housing, Trading, Manufacturing, and Communications – to include:

Housing
The Findhorn Bay Caravan Park, which rents out caravans and caravan sites for the holiday period (1 April -30 September) and also year round; The Wind Park, which sells electricity generated by the windmill, and Park Energy, which buys and resells LPG gas and oil, both to residents in the Park.

Trading (retail & wholesale)
The Phoenix Centre which sells books, crafts, wholefoods and natural cosmetics and also includes the Apothecary, selling homoeopathic medicines, herbs, herbal tinctures, oil and flower essences and health-related literature, the Mail Order section and Helios Arts Café (previously known as the Green Room Café).

Manufacturing
Appropriate Energy Systems (AES Ltd) which manufactures solar panels.

Communications
Findhorn Music and Findhorn Press who publish and produce books, tapes, CDs, greetings cards and distribute other products like The Transformation Game; Gnosis, which provides computing services and consultancy, and access to the Internet communications system.

New possibilities for the Cold Frame
Taking the concept further, the Directors had also perceived that other areas of potential development at some point in the future, either as part of or in collaboration with NFD, might include: expansion of the Phoenix Centre to include a Bakery and perhaps an Organic Garden Centre, the formation of a Housing Development Company (to oversee development of the Park and to provide a structure for asset management and maintenance), the development of a ‘business park’ (providing purpose-built accommodation for existing and/or new businesses) and a ‘business nursery’ to encourage and support new businesses, and the provision of some sort of central reception and secretarial service for those Foundation members or businesses who might require this.

Out into the Garden
From a business point of view it had become clear that divisions like Findhorn Press and AES would be better served by becoming independent organisations, so allowing the managers more freedom to explore their own inspirations and the material incentive to stay committed to the task. It had also become clear that for the Foundation, benefits would include receiving income from the sales and possible spin-offs in the form of increased rents from having a more dynamic business culture at the Park. It was also clear that those divisions directly connected to land use and housing, such as the Caravan Park and Energy divisions of necessity must remain closely tied the Foundation which owns the land. At the time of going to press, negotiations are underway for the creation of a Housing Company but no further details are available just yet.

The Board’s proposal, with some modifications, was approved in April. Since then, Findhorn Press & Findhorn Music, the first division to be sold, has become a trading partnership owned by Karin and Thierry Bogliolo, AES (Appropriate Energy Systems), currently a 75 percent owned subsidiary of NFD, is exploring ways of widening its share ownership, while the Phoenix Centre is looking to adopt some sort of co-operative structure which may buy the business gradually over the next five years.

Gardeners’ Club
With NFD no longer performing the function of such a large umbrella organisation, the vision for the future is for independent businesses trading on Foundation land to become bound together by a commonly agreed ‘code of ethics’, replacing the legal ‘one shareholder’ principle with a structure which is less tangible but, hopefully, no less aligned with spirit. The ‘code’ is still at an embryonic stage, but current proposals include: agreeing to make a commitment to employee involvement in decision-making and the allocation of profits, agreeing to an ethically acceptable ratio of wage differentials, agreeing to a standard of ethical as well as ecological conduct (what is done and how) and making a commitment to tithe (donate a tenth of business profits) towards worthy causes and/or a ‘venture capital’ fund to support the growth of new businesses.

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‘3b’ or not to be
– Alex Walker, Chairman of NFD, interviewed by Betsy van der Lee

What currently, do you see as NFD’s function in the context of the wider global picture?

One Earth 15 - 3bNFD used to be one of the very few New Age experiments in the business world. During the last ten years there has been a proliferation of individuals and companies here who are attempting to balance the needs of commerce with the spiritual inspiration of the Foundation. I believe that NFD continues to maintain its position 0n the leading edge of the ‘spirit in business’ movement or, as Anita Roddick puts it, ‘love in business’. In relation to other businesses, NFD’s purpose is essentially to lend moral support and to advise where our successes and failures have been. Thierry refers to a ‘code of ethics’ and the Board of NFD have recently set up a group to examine this concept more fully. Over time I would hope that a wide variety of entrepreneurs and business people will be drawn to adopt it. At present it is so embryonic that it doesn’t have a name, only a number and a logo! ‘3b’ was its original position on an agenda, and that has stuck. The logo is displayed above. If you don’t know what it means, you can’t join (laughs).

What is NFD’s present relationship to the Foundation?

In relation to the Foundation I think the central purpose of providing a structure through which to carry 0n business activities closely linked to the parent charity remains intact, although the company may find that its unique posilion in this regard becomes eroded. I hope so, as that would indicate a generally healthy commercial environment.

Briefly, what lessons have NFD and the Foundation learned during the last ten years, with particular reference to financial stability, financial diversity, debt reduction and the creative use of capital?

The Foundation is much more financially stable now than it was ten years ago and NFD has made a signifcant contribution towards diversifying its economy. NFD has also enabled the Foundation to reduce its indebtedness to a considerable degree, although policies have varied there. To some extent this has been at the expense of NFD becoming a large borrower. Part of our next phase has got to be to stabilise and reduce the company’s borrowings. The current phase of management buy-outs of divisions is the way we are exploring the last of these ideas at present.

What do you see as the advantages and disadvantages of the current changes for NFD?

The main advantage in structural terms is ‘leaner and meaner’. The company had become a sprawling collection of small organisations with little in common with one another. Soon I expect we will have two main arms – the provision of housing and related services, and retailing. Diversifying the ownership in retailing will further focus our attention, although the main disadvantage of this trend is that the company obviously becomes smaller, perhaps too small to continue risking new experiments. But by then perhaps it will be up to others to do that.

What does the future hold? What is there that is new, different, or ‘cutting edge’ about NFD as a business?

I think Thierry has outlined the main commercial trends within NFD at present, and l certainly look forward to our continuing efforts to bring organic foods, ecological housing techniques, and appropriate computer technologies to the market place.

I also think there are two other factors that I would stress. First of all, NFD has become a place where a small but significant number of local people with no serious interest in the Foundation’s spiritual work have found employment. That to me is a very healthy sign, and it forces the company to make its activities relevant to mainstream belief systems. If those individuals see the benefits of what we are trying to do, then that is a considerable success. It’s easy to preach to the converted.

Equally, I would like to see the company, or possibly the forum of ‘3b’, taking a more active role in supporting other local non-Community organisations. As time moves on it seems to me that the barriers between the ‘town’ and the ‘ashram’ are no longer as great as they once were. As New Age ideas become ever more commonplace in the discussions of academics, management consultants and philosophers, it’s very important that they don’t simply become the preserve of a middle class élite. Part of the ideal of ‘Busines as Sacred’ is seeing business as service, and that service has to be available to everyone, not just to those who can afford to attend workshops to hear about it.

Alex Walker has been living in the Community for 13 years and is a management consultant working in the local area.

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Celebrating a New Start
– Karin and Thierry Bogliolo  interviewed by Betsy van der Lee

Findhorn Press, first under the umbrella of the Findhorn Foundation, and since 1991 as a division of NFD, has published books spreading the message of hope of the Findhorn Community for over twenty years. Two years ago the business also incorporated Findhorn Music. On 8 July this year the Press was sold by NFD to Karin Bogliolo, Manager of the Press for the past two years, and Thierry Bogliolo, former Managing Director of NFD. All existing agreements with authors, distributors and publishers have been transferred to the new partnership who will continue to work as a team together with long-term editor Sandra Kramer.

What were your reasons for becoming a partnership – were any other structures considered?

One Earth 15 - Celebrating a New Start

Karin and Thierry Bogliolo

K: We considered creating a limited company but in the end we became a partnership.

T: We have had to borrow the money to buy the business using our own house as collateral, so financially the risks involved in being either a partnership or a limited company were the same. For as long as we remain a small business, being a partnership gives us more flexibility and is less demanding in terms of tax and company law. lf we expand, which we’d like to, then we’ll become a limited company or a co-operative or whatever seems appropriate at that stage.

How does personal ownership affect your relationship to the company – does it change the level of responsibility and commitment you feel towards the business or towards the Community as a whole?

K: My experience of working within the Foundation and later NFD, was that ‘big mamma’ was always there to take care of everything. In the end, whatever I was doing, I could always walk away and do something else which was more interesting. Now it’s my responsibility to make this work. l feel a greater sense of accountability both towards ourselves and towards the whole. I was always extremely happy when Findhorn Press was doing well because I knew it was contributing towards NFD and towards the work of’ the Foundalion. I’m not sure yet how I feel about that now with us. I would like Findhorn Press to become successful, not so that we personally can become rich, but so that the company can continue to contribute towards the work of the Foundation. I’ve always felt that whatever we do is for the good of the whole. I will continue to do that always, so that for me hasn’t changed.

T: I feel more empowered to take risks now, knowing that now ‘the buck stops with me’. When I was managing director of NFD each time risks were taken I felt that I was jeopardizing the whole of the Findhorn Foundation. I didn’t feel very empowered and at the same time I had a lot of responsibility. My responsibilities now are as big but they’re more focused and I feel more in control. With NFD I felt like l was piloting a huge airliner carrying lots of passengers. I could only fly it from A to B and had to follow the instructions from the ground. Now I feel like we’re piloting a much smaller aircraft. We can loop the loop, and if we fall, well that’s our problem, but it’s much more fun. The more successful Findhorn Press can be, the more people will read our books and hear about the Foundation and come here and in this way, contribute to the whole.

Are there any disadvantages?

K: A pitfall for me is to feel alone, a bit cut off and no longer part of the group which was NFD.

T: For me there are no real disadvantages. I think it’s a great opportunity for us to choose our own form of relationship with the Foundation rather than simply fit into the given mould. For me it puts the onus on me to do the work that’s needed to be seen and sense that I belong to the Community.

How do you see the business being more progressive, apart from the fact that your products are ‘New Age’?

T: We may not have chosen the most original structure but what we do want is to be part of NFD’s paragraph ‘3b’. The philosophy behind ‘3b’ is that it should be a collection of businesses from the most revolutionary to the most classical, showing that everyone can belong if they so choose. In this way, ‘3b’ becomes relevant to the rest of the world by incorporating classical as well as new structures, so that anyone can work with it.

Plans for the coming year?

K: We have some controversial and exciting books coming out. Astral Sex to Zen Teabags pokes fun at some of the New Age’s sacred cows; The Kingdom Within, a new serious work about the Foundation, gives information about what is going on here and why; and we are bringing out a European edition of a book by two ex-members called Spiritual Politics [see next article]. We’re planning reprints of some of Eileen’s work and are editing a lot of David Spangler’s old books which we hope to bring out as a one or two volume work. We’re also hoping that David Spangler will bring a manuscript called Pilgrim in Aquarius with him this summer.

T: Other possibilities include a new book by Eileen Caddy and David Earl Platts, a UK edition of Danaan Parry’s Warrior of the Heart about his EarthStewards network, a book about Deva messages and a new Findhorn Cookbook. We’re also looking at a story from the Tibetan oral tradition which has been illustrated as a cartoon by a Tibetan Lama. On the music side, we may record some new Eileen tapes and we may publish and/or distribute some tapes of music which artists in the Community are thinking of pulling together.

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Phoenix Rising
– by David Hoyle

Somewhere to pray, somewhere to learn, somewhere to gather and somewhere to trade. Village life was ever thus and as I sit here in the Phoenix after another hectic day at the food till it is clear to me what an integral part of this particular village we are.

This week we will serve upward of five thousand customers through the various enterprises that make up The Phoenix. Foundation members, guests, visitors, associates, tourists or locals, the ‘categories’ vanish as each stands in line at the checkouts. It is very satisfying to be fulfilling this village gateway/crossroads function. Whether it be through answering the phone in Mail Order, making up a remedy in the Apothecary, cutting up cheese in the Deli, attuning to a tarot deck in the Bookstore or serving espresso in the Café, the practical opportunity to serve is with us every day and there is a real sense of being able to make a difference. It is inspiring to know that every time someone buys a packet of organic cornflakes a worm in a field somewhere says, ‘Thank you’ and that every time someone buys a book it might be the one that changes their life, does provide the inspiration that is motivating this NFD business alone.

The Phoenix Centre is at present holding the Trading focus within NFD and we currently employ about twenty people and have a turnover of around £750,000 per annum. Our main activities are a bookstore, crafts, gifts and music, foodshop, apothecary, mail order and office services, café and we do some wholesale trading within the Community.

As with all NFD divisions we are currently looking at the road to independence but because of our size and complexity the journey will inevitably be a little longer. Our major choices as we consider the future revolve around the key issues of who owns the company and what need to be our primary activities and locations.

The ownership issue has so many permutations that at this time I have no idea how we will end up but what I know is that we want as many sectors of stakeholding as we can encompass. Suppliers, employees, customers and people who believe in what we are doing here, all need to be able to belong and participate in our evolution if we are truly to do things differently and be a model for other centres and communities. There would naturally have to be limits on how much control any individual shareholder could have and we would want a split between participating and investing shareholders, but other than that, all is open for discussion.

One Earth 15 - The Phoenix shopOur intention would be to see our retail activities very much in the spirit of a buying club, with us playing two major roles. Firstly, evolving our existing trading activities so that we become an interactive space between suppliers and consumers: I want our customers to know as much about our suppliers as possible and vice versa; information creates conscious shopping and I believe that informed business can change the world in a very efficient and practical way. Our second role would be around sourcing and competitively pricing goods and services for members that we cannot or will not supply. With upward of a thousand members we potentially have a buying group second only to the RAF in this geographical region. By creating a coherent demand for high standards of goods and services, we can create a positive economic situation for both ourselves and local industry.

Our trading standards are obviously complex and there will always be a dynamic tension between what we want to sell and what all of our customers want to buy, but our major considerations will always be consistent. Does the product or service celebrate life? ls its production sustainable and can it be made or purchased in the region or under a Fairtrade agreement? As long as we can find the goods, then our trading philosophy takes care of activities. So for the future I see no reason why in ten years’ time we will not have a bakery, garden centre, houseware section, restaurant, blacksmith, soyfood maker and art gallery – and we already have the candlestick maker.

The final question for the future is around location. Our present size and expertise makes us a large and influential shop within our current trading sector and region. North of Edinburgh there is nothing comparable and one of the key decisions we have to make is whether we focus on providing a diverse range of products and activities for the Foundation Village or take the areas with the most potential out to other locations in the Highlands and elsewhere. Opening a Phoenix Shop and café in Inverness would be a logical expansion but the challenges and costs are high. However, our type of shop can really be a creator or focus for urban community and I believe every city needs a Phoenix type store that offers people a real alternative to the soulless shopping mall or chain store. The Body Shop is obviously an inspiring example of how things could be and including customer ownership into their formula would be a very exciting development. By the end of this summer we intend to have an outline of a Business Plan. If you would like to participate in our future in some way, or have views on our direction, please let us know.

David Hoyle is Managing Director of the Phoenix Centre and a Director of NFD. He has spent the last 20 years working with alternative business in Europe and North America.