About Us

The
Caledonian Foundation

We’re committed to promoting the use of Micro Equity Home Ownership. We also want to provide organisations and communities with the tools and support they will need to realise the full potential of this new approach to housing provision.

The Caledonian Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to providing debt-free housing solutions for communities.

Our History

The origins of The Caledonian Foundation go back to 1985 when Richard Lo began buying and letting residential properties. He developed his knowledge of this business and began to make a good living out of it.

Fast forward to 2001 and Richard was becoming increasingly aware of the plight of the homeless. He felt that providing houses and homes was about more than just making money, and he realised that he had to do something to help provide safe and secure homes for people who needed to rebuild their lives.

In 2002, Richard was beginning to develop the specific concept of Micro Equity Home Ownership. This was a model that combined renting and micro share purchase to give tenants on low-income the ability to begin owning their home. One of the objectives was to provide micro share purchase mechanism to encourage homeless clients with self-esteem to maintain their tenancy on a secure footing. This model was made even more appealing thanks to the mechanism that allowed shares to be ‘gifted’ from friends and family to build community good will.

In 2003, with a conviction to provide practical help, Richard worked as a relief support worker in a homeless hostel in Edinburgh.

While he provided care to the clients, he built up an understanding of the challenges associated with homelessness. The MEHO model tallied with the principle of gradually building up responsibility and self-sufficiency as the best way to get a person’s life back on track.

In 2009, Richard faced financial difficulties himself and experienced the burden of a heavy debt. Realising there are tens of thousands of families each year facing the daunting prospect of home repossession, he began to extend the MEHO model with an aim to help people in financial distress, as he believes a safe home environment is paramount.

In 2011 Richard took the next step and began to work with highly experienced not-for-profit fundraiser Douglas Turner on transforming this idea into reality – together they set up the Caledonian Foundation and the Caledonian Land Trust to take the model forward. At the end of 2012, Richard sold his investment properties and raised the seed capital to recruit a motivated team to develop and promote the model. As a result the most interesting part of the Caledonian Foundation’s story is just beginning.

Who We Are

We’re committed to promoting the use of Micro Equity Home Ownership. We also want to provide organisations and communities with the tools and support they will need to realise the full potential of this new approach to housing provision.

The Caledonian Foundation is a registered charity dedicated to providing debt-free housing solutions for communities.

Since the concept of Micro Equity Home Ownership was first launched in 2011, we’ve been working to promote this viable alternative to private or state rented housing.

However we’re not just an advocacy group. Through the mechanism of the Caledonian Land Trust and by partnering with other property owning organisations, we aim to support and deliver projects that will see the vulnerable and disadvantaged have a stake in their own home for the first time.

Our first project will provide six homes using this model. Yet that is just the beginning. As we talk to people in Scotland and throughout the world about the potential of our financial model we’re becoming more and more aware of the need for affordable housing.

Micro Equity Home Ownership will enable communities to build sustainable futures. We therefore need to recruit a wider network of people and organisations to work with the Caledonian Foundation.

That’s where you come in.

Douglas Turner

Chairman
Douglas Turner MInstF is Chairman of the Caledonian Foundation. He is a fundraising, public relations, public affairs and marketing specialist with more than 25 years management experience in the public and voluntary sectors. He is a full member of the Institute of Fundraising.
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He has considerable experience of raising funds for the not-for-profit sector and during the course of his career in fundraising has raised in excess of £20m for employer organisations and clients. For more than ten years he was a senior manager with the RSSPCC, which became Children 1st.

He has extensive experience in all the communication disciplines and has worked with charities on public relations and profile raising campaigns. He has also worked with organisations on re-branding and change of corporate identity including the re-launch of the RSSPCC as Children 1st. He is a proven communicator and experienced in the delivery of training in both fundraising and communication.He is Turner Wording & Fund’s principal consultant.

Douglas believes that the changes to the benefit systems, in particular Housing Benefit, are going hit some of the most vulnerable people in our society. Unless landlords can be persuaded to rule out eviction for rent arrears as a matter of policy, or legislation is introduced to bar evictions, the number of homeless people and the number of houses being repossessed will significantly increase. In this economic scenario the need for organisations like the Caledonian Foundation will become even greater.

See www.turnerwordfund.co.uk for more information.

Richard Lo

Trustee
Richard Lo is a motivated entrepreneur with more than 25 years experience in property investment. He has also worked in a homeless hostel as a relief worker which gave him an insight to the challenges associated with homelessness.
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He is an experienced IT professional with extensive knowledge and skills in system analysis, problem solving, business processes and Internet technology. He has also worked as an IT Manager for a charity.

Combining his experience in property investment, system analysis and fundraising in the charity sector, he developed the concept of Micro Equity Home Ownership with the aim of providing affordable debt-free home for people in need.

Having been through financial difficulties himself, he understands the daunting challenges a household would face with the burden of a mortgage. With a conviction to help provide safe and secure home for many families in similar situation, he sold his investment properties and donated the proceeds to Caledonian Foundation to implement the Micro Equity Home Ownership.

Gill Turner

Trustee
Gill Turner is an academic with more than 25 years experience of teaching. She is the Curriculum Manager of a Further Education College. Gill also delivers training in public relations, media and radio production skills and has co-ordinated local, live broadcasting licensed under OFCOM’s restricted service initiative.
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She delivers personal development courses working with individuals and groups in the commercial and voluntary sector. She has a considerable track record in event management and significant experience in raising funds from European programmes and the management of international partnership and European Social Fund projects.

She has an extensive international network of contacts and has worked on education and training projects involving countries from Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia.

SARah macleod

Trustee

Sarah Macleod is a practising solicitor with more than 30 years experience in Scottish property law. She has volunteered with a Scottish Christian homeless charity for over 12 years and has been a leader with Scouting Scotland for over 11 years.

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Sarah is committed to poverty alleviation and believes in the importance of the provision of sustainable and affordable housing as a fundamental cornerstone for its achievement.