What happened to my donation?

We are really disappointed to have failed in our attempt to buy the house BUT extremely grateful to you all for being such good friends along the way. We wrote to everyone who gave us their contact details so you should already have been informed of next steps in those emails and hopefully taken action within the window the giving platforms allowed for action. Here is the information again if you missed it. 

At the time of giving, you were informed that some routes (PayPal and JustGiving) were returnable and some tax efficient routes (which make the money irreversibly charitable) could be redirected.

PayPal - PayPal allows for a six month period in which we can refund money directly to you. If you wish to leave your donation with us to fund our work to set up a Oxford centre for fantasy, then you need take no further steps – other than joining in the events we have planned, virtually, and hopefully eventually, in-person when you visit Oxford.

Many of you, though, gave just towards the purchase of Tolkien’s former home and wish to have your donation refunded. We asked you to let us know within 30 days from date of our April email to you so we could refund you (this will be less the PayPal platform charges). If you wished to have a partial refund, that too could be arranged, you only had to let us know what proportion of your donation you would like refunded (again, less the PayPal platform charge), eg one third, half, or two thirds.

If you are arriving late and six months has already passed since you donated, please contact us directly and we’ll see what we can do to direct your donation appropriately.

Thank you whatever you decide – and we hope you will keep in touch with our activities.

JustGiving - A similar process to PayPal was available to you and we hope you have taken action after receiving our email in April. Again, as six months has passed, please contact us directly now and we’ll see what we can do to help direct your donation appropriately.

CAF/Signatry/Stewardship/donations direct or by cheque/workplace giving schemes/other non-refundable routes*

The route you chose to give means that the money is charitable and has to be spent in accordance with Project Northmoor’s objectives. Our charity was established with three objectives. The first was about preserving 20 Northmoor Road – and we haven’t found a way to achieve this - but also equally important to our work is promoting an appreciation of Tolkien, and his fellow Inklings, as well as to advance education in arts and crafts in literature and language. Our aim has always been to take these fantasy works as an inspiration and encourage new creativity, as well as allow fans access to the world that produced such wonderful writing.

In light of this, we would like to ask your preference as to how your money will be directed between the following three options.

Option 1

We have established our literary centre in another location in central Oxford, a home in Oxford for fantasy fans, and are running a full programme of events. Online activities have already started with successful and stimulating online courses, livestreams and a Mythmakers podcast. In-person events in 2022 at Merton and Magdalen, colleges associated with Tolkien and Lewis, are open for booking now for that walking in the footsteps experience we promised. We are also offering scholarships to those living on a low income to bring these within reach of all.

If you wish to fund this work, then you need take no further steps – other than joining in the events we have planned, virtually, and hopefully eventually, in-person when you visit Oxford. Sign up to our newsletter to find out what these are.

Option 2

We can put your donation into a fund to advance the public knowledge and appreciation of JRR Tolkien and the Inklings, for example through the upkeep of charities associated with Tolkien. Beneficiaries could be such non-profit organisations as The Story Museum in Oxford, Sarehole Mill in Birmingham, The Seven Stories Centre in Newcastle. These and other organisations with relevant work to support would be welcome to apply to the fund.

Option 3

We can use your donation to advance education in the arts and crafts including the arts of literature and language, working with charities like Book Aid internationally, and Book Trust, who can then apply to the fund. This will include children’s work in South Africa, where Tolkien was born and lived as a child.

*Non-refundable routes are those which make the donation irrevocably charitable which is why is cannot be returned under the rules.

How did the campaign do?

We started really well, raising over £400,000 in the first month but then things slowed down and it proved difficult to keep in the public eye. In total, through donations, around £600,000 was raised, clearly well short of our target. In addition, the Kickstarter (a pledging rather than donating route) had pledges of around £250,000 but we did not take up these pledges once we would not reach the target.

Big infrastructure projects usually also have funding from foundations. We also applied to a number of these but timing meant that the result of our applications hasn’t come within the three-month timeframe of the campaign. We thought it fairer to draw a line rather than leave donors waiting any longer.

We considered a mortgage and other forms of borrowing to be paid back over a longer term but the ongoing pandemic meant that our projected income was uncertain for at least the first year. We therefore decided that was not possible.

We also pursued the idea of funding the purchase through an historical makeover programme about the house and got quite far with a TV channel. Unfortunately, that process also could not be completed quickly enough before the vendor went with another party.

What has happened to the money so far?

During the campaign period (December 2020 to March 2021), everyone on the team was a volunteer so there were no staff costs. Very little has been spent as we were building up the fund for the house. We made sure after March we had ample funds available as we waited to see how donors wished their money to be directed as returns or redirections.

Professional fees were paid to survey the house and make legal searches (c.£3200). There were also obligatory registration fees to the UK authorities and set-up costs (under £1000). On the running of the campaign, we kept expenditure to a minimum and have spent around £10 000, the majority of which was spent on handling the PR at the beginning of the campaign. We did not make any payments to celebrities or influencers, all of whom generously gave their time for free.

Now we are running courses and developing the work in new and exciting directions, we are employing a half-time director of the Oxford Centre for Fantasy (the name under which Project Northmoor is running these creative projects). We have modest monthly running costs for the social media and public facing aspects of our work (such as livestreams and website). The majority of the donations will be used on establishing the literary centre, make it ready to receive guests and to develop exciting projects on our own and with partners - more details to follow as these come to fruition.

If you’d like to know more about any of these activities, please do contact us on info@projectnorthmoor.org.