Action Porty
However, the board recognised that the building had limitations and needed to be renovated to make it fit for purpose, meet growing demand for community services and secure financial stability through increased rental income.
So, Bellfield’s Big Build was launched to transform the underutilised Celebration Hall, and part of the funding for the space was to come from issuing a community share offer.
Working with the Democratic Finance Scotland (DFS) team from DTAS, Action Porty ran a successful share issue in April 2025 that raised £190,000 from 1,064 shareholders, building their membership from just over 400 to an incredible 1,400. This enabled them to secure a further £748,000 in funding to help convert the Celebration Hall (the old church building) into a more accessible and useable community space.
“The share offer brought us together in a community campaign, got everyone out on the streets and generally was community building in nature, making us more resilient.” Action Porty, Board Member
Community Engagement in action
How Action Porty engaged the local and wider community was pivotal to the success of the share offer and they were able to utilise a £3000 microgrant from Democratic Finance Scotland to fund their activities. A campaign sub-group was formed by the committee to focus on communications such as:
- Regular social media updates on the share offer progress, including ‘shout outs’ of thanks to local businesses or community groups/organisations who had bought organisational shares. These posts snowballed in the last 2 weeks of the campaign.
- Gently humorous social media posts (which received good feedback on striking the right tone)
- A huge Big Build thermometer was placed on the side of the building for visibility
- A well-attended launch party & other events to publicise the offer & encourage in person investment on the night
- PR such as STV news & other local press helped gained traction
- A promotional video was created with lots of shorter videos used for social media Link to this?
- Flyering & chatting to people on main thoroughfares at busy times on weekends & outside the local primary school at drop-off & pick-up times, handing out stickers.
- Printed 4 page A4 leaflet hand-delivered by volunteers to nearly all households within community membership boundary and targeted neighbouring streets.
- Running stalls at local events run by supportive organisations where volunteers wore a striking ‘yellow brick road’ costume which caused people to stop and ask ‘what are you supposed to be?’ providing opportunity for further conversation.
- Full page advert on back of a free magazine delivered to 5,000 households in area.
- Large eye-catching banners hung on main thoroughfares (roadsides and pedestrian areas) and posters displayed in shops and on lampposts.
- All campaign materials used consistent graphics and their brand colours to achieve a cohesive and recognisable ‘look’ across the various modes of communication.
- Featured episode on a local podcast just before launch
The group were also relentlessly positive in their messaging and made the ask to potential investors multiple times to give people plenty of encouragement and opportunity to invest.
Our support
The varied activities that the group undertook highlights the importance of having multiple methods of engaging with your community to get your message across and how vital good community engagement is to any share offer.
The Democratic Finance Scotland programme can support groups with all aspects of a community share offer including development of a community engagement plan. Our Micro Grant fund can provide up to £5,000 to market and promote an engagement campaign, funding launch events, promotional videos, marketing materials, website updates, social media and PR campaigns.
Get in touch to find out more about the support available.
