LEAP Together Local Economy Impact Report

At LEAP, our charitable aims focus on making a positive impact on environment, community and wellbeing, but the work we do has a number of secondary benefits for the local community. We analysed what LEAP as a whole spent with local businesses and economy across the 2024/25 financial year - this came in at an incredible £123,890 across our main project areas:

• Renfrewshire Climate Action Hub (RenCAN Hub)

• LEAP Car Club

• LEAP Together

  • Lochwinnoch Community Larder

  • The Feel Good Festival

  • Diggin' It

Not represented here would be other costs which indirectly contribute such as core Staff Salaries; with our nine team members largely based within the local area, who invest their salaries into local services, shops and cafes.

When we looked at the LEAP Together projects in isolation, the information we were really interested in was around where we had invested in local economy. So we looked specifically at businesses based in Renfrewshire, with two small exceptions from close-by in North Ayrshire, as we consider this to still be very much local, and our total local expenditure came in at £59,219.

Despite taking in wider Renfrewshire and a couple of North Ayrshire suppliers, the figures turned out to be more than 90% spent with organisations based in Lochwinnoch.

This is how our spending for LEAP Together broke down. This is specific to the Community Larder, Feel Good Festival and Diggin' It.

Facilities & Maintenance - £9485

This category includes all money spent on maintenance jobs from local local trades people. It includes handyman and joinery services, electrical and gardening work. Looking at where these services were based, it is one category which is 100% made up from Lochwinnoch businesses and sole-traders.

Artists & Creatives - £12812

A lot of the work we do around wellbeing and environment engages creative people who are able to deliver workshops and teach skills in a wide range of specialisms. This also includes fees paid for entertainment at the Feel Good Gathering. The Halloween Parade at the end of 2024 really boosted this category; we heavily invested in working with Artists from the immediate area to help bring to life our vision of lanterns, choreography and the fire picture.

Therapists & Wellbeing Practitioners - £6295

Likewise, the Feel Good Festival really allows us to bolster the incredible local industry of wellbeing services. The Feel Good Fortnight and Gathering events rely on our army of local experts to deliver high quality workshops and therapies year-on-year.

Marketing, Design & Printing £2118

This category includes money spent on printing our programmes for the Feel Good Festival and cross-projects posters/literature with independent printers, as well as advertising in local press. It also includes some costs for signage we had made for the Larder.

Venues - £4294

Our work takes place in a number of venues from around Lochwinnoch including the Community Annexe, the Bowling Club, the McKillop Institute, and more.

Equipment & Retail - £5834

This category looked at money spent in local shops. We did not include costs for Morrisons, Lidl & Aldi in Johnstone, but focussed on local Lochwinnoch retail spaces.

Catering - £597

For this category we looked at money spent within the village on catering for volunteer training sessions and meetings.

Third Sector Services - £2080

While we recognise that third sector is not made up of businesses, we felt it was important to include it here as the extensive work we do with other partners. This reinvestment all contributes to the local economy in sustaining services which provides vital services and employment for local people.

Casual Staff - £15705

Over the course of the year we engage a large number of people outwith our core Staff Team. The types of roles include event staff, holiday cover and some flexible administrative support costs. This flexible Team of people often work for us on a repeat basis and all live within the local area.

Conclusion

The work we do contributes significantly to the local economy by directly investing in local people and sub-sectors. It helps to build resilience here and keep people local.

Looking forward LEAP hopes to join the local retail sector through development of a vibrant community space and charity shop with refurbishment of the Old Bank building. Extensive consultation shows us that there is a strong demand for this among local people who miss our beloved charity shop which closed years ago; a place to donate and purchase secondhand goods helps tackle the lack of affordable shopping choices but it also keeps items out of the bin, supporting climate action. But we really hope this will also become a destination which helps to boost footfall and bring people to Lochwinnoch benefitting all pubs, cafe's and shops. Any profits from this project will be reinvested in the LEAP Together projects to help us move away from funding dependancy and keep the Larder, the Feel Good Festival and Diggin' It going for the benefit of people who live here.

If you would like to speak to us about any part of this report or The Old Bank project, please get in touch.

Email: tori@myleapproject.org

Find us at: 39 High Street, Lochwinnoch, PA12 4AB.

Social Media: www.facebook.com/myleapproject

Website: www.myleapproject.org

Pictures of LEAP Together activities: