Frequently Asked Questions

The Findhorn Foundation is a charitable trust which was founded in 1972 to provide a way for the growing community at The Park in Findhorn to own property and provide education and other activities on a charitable basis. In the decades since, the Foundation has grown to include a wide array of programs and initiatives across a broad spectrum, but with most of those activities taking place in Findhorn or at Cluny in nearby Forres.

The Findhorn Foundation SCIO intends to provide educational experiences that allow participants to experience the Findhorn spiritual impulse and core principles on a broader geographic basis. By providing education beyond northeast Scotland, we hope this will reduce the ecological impact of people having to travel to experience our programmes. A SCIO is also a more modern and appropriate legal form for these activities than a charitable trust (see next item).

The decision to change from a charitable trust to a SCIO (Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation) was made several years ago by trustees, as a SCIO is a more modern and appropriate legal structure for a charity with the Foundation’s activities. This legal form was introduced with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005.

The fundamental difference between a charitable trust and a SCIO is that a SCIO is a legal entity in its own right, whereas a trust has no legal identity of its own. This has two important consequences. Firstly, property is owned by trustees on behalf of the trust, and contracts are made by trustees on behalf of the trust, not the trust itself. This makes many things more complex for an actively trading charity. A SCIO, however, can directly own property and other assets, and can enter contracts directly.

Secondly, because legally trustees are acting directly on behalf of the trust, they are personally liable for the activities of the trust. In an increasingly complex and litigious world, this has made it harder to find new trustees. A SCIO, on the other hand, is a limited liability legal structure so they are not personally liable unless they are negligent in fulfilling their duties as trustees. This limitation of liability is essentially the same as received by directors of most private companies in the UK.

The first SCIO was established in 2011 and in the short time since then, the SCIO has become by far the most common structure for new charities.

We will be focusing on providing experiences that allow participants to connect with each other and nature and explore our core principles as a way of being in the world. This year we are planning to offer spiritual retreats at our facility on the Isle of Iona and an Experience Week at our community on the isle of Erraid where participants will explore our core principles in the company of our island community.

Registration for programs will begin in May. Please sign up for our newsletter here to receive the latest information and notification of when registration opens.

One of our core principles is “Love in Action”. Engaging with the local communities where we run our programs will be an important part of what we offer participants. We are looking forward to creating opportunities for our participants to support local community projects while they connect with each other and nature.

Although we are doing everything we can to keep our costs to a minimum, we recognise that many people face a financial challenge in affording programs like the ones we offer. We will shortly be opening a restricted fund for donors who would like to support people to have a Findhorn experience through scholarships and bursaries covering some of the cost of our education programs. Please sign up for our newsletter here to receive the latest information and notification of when the fund opens.

Our initial offering is based on the very successful Experience Week that has been offered by the Foundation for decades. We are still in the process of defining our long term education offerings based on the feedback we are receiving through an open consultation process. The first phase of this process, “Why?” was concluded in March and we will shortly be starting to look at “What?” and “How?” we bring the Findhorn Experience to a diverse global audience.

Inner listening and attunement is at the heart of what we offer, and it is also at the heart of how we work. We are coming together once a week and bringing into silent listening any questions that we would like support with, and anything that has a particular impact on how we move forward.

Any donations generously made to the Transition Fund will be transferred to the SCIO to help define our education programmes going forward and set up our new experiential offerings. The remaining balance of the Foundation’s Education Support Fund will also be transferred to the SCIO to support those with a financial challenge to participate. All General Need donations to the Trust will continue to support the wind down of the Trust.

If you have been supporting Findhorn Foundation with a regular gift, THANK YOU and someone will be in touch soon to discuss redirecting it to support the SCIO.

The Foundation owns a number of properties at the Park Ecovillage which are no longer used for educational purposes. We are working with a number of Park community organisations to transition these assets to more direct community ownership so that they can be better used, cared for and developed by people in the Park community. A number of properties at the Park Ecovillage will be retained for Findhorn Foundation SCIO, including the Original Garden, the site of the old Community Centre, some accommodation and education space which we plan to use as the site of a mini campus at the Park.

Yes. After carefully looking at what would be needed for Cluny to be operated sustainably, and multiple attunements to seek guidance on what we should do, we have decided that it is time for a new owner to be found for Cluny. It is for sale and we are hopeful that we can find a buyer that will continue to hold Cluny for the benefit of the local area community.

Our first relaunched programmes will be hosted on our west coast campuses. Traigh Bhan on the isle of Iona will host a retreat program supporting participants in a 6 day experience centred around practising our core principles in everyday life. This will be available in July 2024.

In late summer we plan to offer a revised and renewed program in Erraid. The Erraid program will be based on the roots of ‘Experience Week’ and will offer participants the opportunity to learn how to apply the core principles in a community setting. We are exploring additional locations for 2025, including returning to the Park Ecovillage in Findhorn.

Over the decades the Foundation has hosted many different workshops and amazing teachers. In order to deliver the best quality programmes which are most relevant to today’s world, we have decided to focus on our core “living education” programming, and specifically Experience Week. We will be focusing on providing experiences that allow participants to connect with each other and nature, and to explore our core principles as a way of being in the world. This year we are planning to offer spiritual retreats at our facility on the Isle of Iona and an Experience Week hosted at our community on the Isle of Erraid where participants will explore our core principles in the company of our island community.