co-finance

Beco­me part of the coope­ra­ti­on and supo­ort krakelee.

jump to the down­load of the decla­ra­ti­on of membershiparrow-down-black

Our foun­da­ti­on will incur high cos­ts (for con­ver­si­on, purcha­ses, depo­sit), which we will finan­ce via coope­ra­ti­ve shares, mem­ber loans and crowd­fun­ding .

On this page, we will explain how you can help finan­ce the pro­ject with co-ope­ra­ti­ve shares and mem­ber loans and high­light the dif­fe­ren­ces bet­ween the two finan­cing methods. If you wish to sup­port us in eit­her of the­se ways, we will enter into a legal­ly bin­ding agree­ment, the drafts of which you can see below. We take the con­tent of the­se agree­ments very serious­ly and endea­vour to com­mu­ni­ca­te cle­ar­ly and unam­bi­guous­ly. Of cour­se, we are available to ans­wer any ques­ti­ons you may have.

Option 1 – Buy Shares!

Beco­me part of krakelee: Join the coope­ra­ti­ve and buy one or more shares of € 250 each. Antei­le wer­den bei der krakelee eG grund­sätz­lich do not bear inte­rest and have a can­cel­la­ti­on peri­od of two years. The coope­ra­ti­ve can only honour the can­cel­la­ti­on and pay out the shares if it does not get into finan­cial dif­fi­cul­ties as a result. It is pos­si­ble to trans­fer shares to other per­sons. A dis­tri­bu­ti­on of sur­plu­s­es is also pos­si­ble – but the­se will not be made in the first few years and befo­re the loans are repaid. Basi­cal­ly, you should know that our pro­ject aims to sup­port cul­tu­ral cau­ses and crea­te secu­re jobs. Dis­tri­bu­ti­ons to share­hol­ders are the­r­e­fo­re not a pri­ma­ry pur­po­se of our cooperative.

Conditions at a Glance

  • Amount of a share: 250?
  • Num­ber of shares: 1–100
  • Dura­ti­on: unlimited
  • Can­cel­la­ti­on peri­od: 2 years
  • Inte­rest rate: 0%

Als För­der­mit­glied von krakelee eG you sup­port the foun­ding of the club finan­ci­al­ly and ide­al­ly.  You will recei­ve regu­lar infor­ma­ti­on and can take part in the annu­al gene­ral mee­ting wit­hout acti­ve voting rights. Ordi­na­ry mem­ber­ships with acti­ve voting rights at the Gene­ral Assem­bly are reser­ved for employees of the club. You can find out more about the coope­ra­ti­ve and its struc­tu­re here.

How do I buy shares?

If you are alre­a­dy sure that you want to beco­me a mem­ber and would like to sub­scri­be to one or more shares, you can her­un­ter­la­den, aus­fül­len, unter­schrei­ben und uns (im Ori­gi­nal) per Post zukom­men las­sen. Wir bie­ten auch an, dir die Bei­tritts­er­klä­rung inkl. Rück­um­schlag zuzu­schi­cken. Auch die Sat­zung las­sen wir dir ger­ne pos­ta­lisch als Aus­druck zukom­men. Schreib uns dazu oder bei Fra­gen ein­fach eine Nachricht!

Hier kannst du unse­re sta­tu­tes herunterladen:

Satzung herunterladen Down­load statues

Wer Mit­glied wer­den möch­te, muss unse­rem mis­si­on state­ment zustimmen:

Leitbild herunterladen Down­load mis­si­on statement

Hier kannst du die Bei­tritts­er­klä­rung herunterladen:

Beitrittserklärung herunterladen Down­load decla­ra­ti­on of membership

Option 2 – Grant a Member Loan!

Du kannst uns außer­dem durch ein soge­nann­tes qua­li­fi­zier­tes Nach­rang­dar­le­hen unter­stüt­zen. Damit sind Geld­be­trä­ge gemeint, die krakelee eG von mem­bers . In order to grant us a loan, at least one share must first be bought. Qua­li­fied sub­or­di­na­ted loans are pos­si­ble from mini­mum amount of 500€ , can bear inte­rest and, depen­ding on the agree­ment, can be lin­ked to a fixed dura­ti­on .

Conditions at a Glance

  • Type: Mem­ber loans with qua­li­fied sub­or­di­na­ti­on agreement
  • Len­der: Mit­glie­der der krakelee eG
  • Mini­mum amount: 500?
  • Inte­rest rate: 0–1% (devia­ti­ons are sub­ject to negotiation)
  • Unsche­du­led repay­ment: pos­si­ble at any time
  • Maxi­mum amount: 25.000?
  • Dura­ti­on: fle­xi­ble

What exactly does »qualified subordinated loan« mean?

A so-cal­led qua­li­fied sub­or­di­na­ted loan (»Qua­li­fi­zier­te Nach­rang­dar­le­hen«) is a spe­cial form of loan that can be gran­ted to a coope­ra­ti­ve by its mem­bers under cer­tain con­di­ti­ons. Sub­or­di­na­ted means that in the event of pay­ment dif­fi­cul­ties, loans with prio­ri­ty (bank loans) and other lia­bi­li­ties must be hono­u­red first. The term qua­li­fied means that the co-ope­ra­ti­ve may only honour claims (repay­ment and inte­rest), if it does not suf­fer finan­cial dif­fi­cul­ties as a result.

Which risks are involved in this type of loan?

Mit dem qua­li­fi­zier­ten Nach­rang­dar­le­hen trägst du im Ver­gleich zu einer uns ggf. Geld lei­hen­den Bank grund­sätz­lich ein höhe­res Risi­ko. Im Fal­le einer schlech­ten Finanz­la­ge der krakelee eG kann das Dar­le­hen nach Ende der Lauf­zeit mög­li­cher­wei­se nicht aus­ge­zahlt wer­den (»qua­li­fi­ziert«). Soll­te die Genos­sen­schaft insol­vent wer­den, hat der Bank­kre­dit bei der Auf­tei­lung der Insol­venz­mas­se Vorrang.

On the other hand, co-ope­ra­ti­ves are regard­ed as a very safe invest­ment opti­on with a high level of resi­li­ence, even in times of cri­sis. The inter­nal struc­tu­re, the embed­ding in regio­nal and social struc­tures, the sup­port from their mem­bers them­sel­ves and, last but not least, the regu­lar eco­no­mic review by the audi­ting asso­cia­ti­on lead to extre­me­ly low insol­ven­cy rates: less than 1% of all Ger­man co-ope­ra­ti­ves go bank­rupt.1

Why can only members grant loans?

krakelee eG can only accept loans from pri­va­te indi­vi­du­als if they are mem­bers of the coope­ra­ti­ve. This is a result of the Ger­man Ban­king Act: the accep­tance of finan­cial resour­ces (such as loans) is reser­ved for banks as so-cal­led »depo­sit busi­ness«. The gran­ting of loans of up to €25,000 by mem­bers of a co-ope­ra­ti­ve is an excep­ti­on to this rule.

What is the duration of the loan?

You deci­de whe­ther the loan should be fixed-term or open-ended. Fixed-term loans end auto­ma­ti­cal­ly after the agreed peri­od. Open-ended loans have a can­cel­la­ti­on peri­od. As we are par­ti­cu­lar­ly reli­ant on plan­ning secu­ri­ty at the begin­ning, all loans have a Mini­mum dura­ti­on of 3 years. As a pro­ject with soli­da­ri­ty as a core prin­ci­ple, we would like to devia­te from this regu­la­ti­on in indi­vi­du­al cases, if neces­sa­ry and if pos­si­ble. So plea­se cont­act us if you have any questions!

Does the loan bear interest?

The loan can bear inte­rest. We offer an annu­al inte­rest rate of 0% — 1%. You deter­mi­ne the exact amount. The lower the inte­rest rate, the quicker and easier it is for us to repay bor­ro­wed capi­tal for start-up invest­ments and stand on our own two feet. It is also pos­si­ble to tem­po­r­a­ri­ly wai­ve inte­rest pay­ments, for exam­p­le while the pre­mi­ses are being reno­va­ted and we are not yet able to gene­ra­te any ope­ra­ting inco­me. Feel free to cont­act us if you would like to take out a loan but would like dif­fe­rent conditions.

What do I gain from giving a loan?

With your sup­port as a len­der, you can make a direct con­tri­bu­ti­on to the rea­li­sa­ti­on of the pro­ject, which would not be pos­si­ble wit­hout the sup­port of (spon­so­ring) mem­bers. We offer you the cer­tain­ty that your money will ser­ve a sus­tainable, demo­cra­tic and socio-cul­tu­ral purpose.

Erfah­re mehr dar­über, war­um es sich lohnt, die krakelee eG zu unterstützen 

? Why beco­me a comrade?

How do I grant a loan?

Our loans are tied to a spe­ci­fic pur­po­se. This means that we only draw them down when we actual­ly need them. For this pur­po­se, we sign a con­trac­tu­al agree­mentwhich you can find here soon. 

If you deci­de to give us a loan, you can alre­a­dy pro­vi­de us with a let­ter of intent for this future loan. This is not legal­ly bin­ding, but it for­mu­la­tes a clear inten­ti­on on your part that will enable us to plan bet­ter and demons­tra­te our sol­ven­cy and sup­port to other len­ders such as banks.

We would be deligh­ted to recei­ve a let­ter of intent from you. You can down­load it here and then fill it out and send it by e‑mail (finanzierung@krakelee.org) or by post. As always, you can cont­act us at any time if you have any questions!

here you can down­load the decla­ra­ti­on of intent (only in Ger­man, sorry):

Beitrittserklärung herunterladen Down­load decla­ra­ti­on of intent

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I subscribe for shares or take out a loan?

By sub­scrib­ing to shares, you actively con­tri­bu­te to the for­ma­ti­on of capi­tal in line with the coope­ra­ti­ve idea. You beco­me a co-owner of the club to the ext­ent of your shares and your money enables the coope­ra­ti­ve to ope­ra­te sus­tain­ab­ly. With a loan, on the other hand, you lend money to the coope­ra­ti­ve. As alre­a­dy dis­cus­sed, howe­ver, you must also be a sup­port­ing mem­ber in order to recei­ve a loan, i.e. you must buy at least one share.

In prac­ti­ce, the­re is litt­le dif­fe­rence bet­ween shares and loans: Shares have no fixed dura­ti­on but a can­cel­la­ti­on peri­od of 2 years. You do not recei­ve any inte­rest, but you can par­ti­ci­pa­te in pro­fits if the gene­ral mee­ting deci­des to do so. Howe­ver, this is not to be expec­ted in the ear­ly years, as the bor­ro­wed capi­tal taken out to open the com­pa­ny must first be ear­ned and repaid. Loans, on the other hand, can bear inte­rest depen­ding on the agree­ment, have a term and can be repaid (pre­ma­tu­re­ly) by the coope­ra­ti­ve at any time. Both have in com­mon that a pay­out or repay­ment can only be made if this does not cau­se finan­cial dif­fi­cul­ties for the coope­ra­ti­ve. In the event of the coope­ra­ti­ve’s bank­rupt­cy, in both cases, the repay­ment of a bank loan and the sett­le­ment of other lia­bi­li­ties take priority.

With co-ope­ra­ti­ve shares you sup­port us the most! If many shares are bought, it will be easier for us to make invest­ments for the foun­da­ti­on. After all, we save on month­ly inte­rest pay­ments. This helps us to stand on our own two feet more quick­ly. Of cour­se, you can also com­bi­ne both models.

Which interest rate should I choose?

We have deli­bera­te­ly deci­ded not to fix the inte­rest rate in advan­ce. We are awa­re that with the cur­rent infla­ti­on rates, an inte­rest rate of up to one per cent does not repre­sent a real pro­fit. Howe­ver, our pro­ject focus­ses pri­ma­ri­ly on idea­li­stic values: we have a local cul­tu­ral and poli­ti­cal impact, crea­te space and actively shape the city. Hel­ping to make this pos­si­ble is the real gain, that we can offer you for your investment.

Which duration should I choose?

Terms of a few years pre­sent us as a coope­ra­ti­ve with the chall­enge of repay­ing the loan while we are still in the pro­cess of set­ting up and may have to repay a bank loan. If you are able to bor­row the money for a long peri­od of time, we gain plan­ning security.

Ulti­m­ate­ly, you should also con­sider careful­ly whe­ther and when you might need the money, as the funds are included in our busi­ness plan over the term and can­not neces­s­a­ri­ly be repaid ear­lier at your request.

What does all this mean for me in tax terms?

The gran­ting of a loan and the purcha­se of a share its­elf has no tax impli­ca­ti­ons. Howe­ver, pro­fit dis­tri­bu­ti­ons and inte­rest are sub­ject to regu­lar inco­me tax. Like all other inco­me, you must decla­re them in your tax return, whe­re they can be taxed depen­ding on your per­so­nal circumstances.

Do I have other advantages by investing?

As a sup­port­ing mem­ber, you will be regu­lar­ly infor­med about the finan­cial sta­tus of the coope­ra­ti­ve, you will be invi­ted to the annu­al gene­ral mee­ting and you can take part in events that we plan just for our members.

Our employees, our visi­tors, the Colo­gne club sce­ne and the enti­re city bene­fit from your sub­scri­bed shares or a loan. Your sup­port gives tho­se who work for us a job with the oppor­tu­ni­ty for co-deter­mi­na­ti­on. You can find out more about this in our text: 

? Why beco­me a comrade?

But there’s inflation!

The demi­se of clubs is in full swing and »we« as a socie­ty are loo­sing many places of deve­lo­p­ment, of tog­e­ther­ness, of lived uto­pia. The coll­ec­ti­ve finan­cing of this pro­ject offers the oppor­tu­ni­ty to break this trend despi­te the cri­sis situa­ti­on and the inac­ti­vi­ty of poli­ti­ci­ans in terms of urban planning.

Contact and financial consultation hours

Do you have any questions or just want to get to know us?
Then get in touch with us!

arrow-whitefinanzierung@krakelee.org
or make an appoint­ment by e‑mail for a tele­pho­ne call or a per­so­nal meeting.

arrow-whiteIn our tele­pho­ne con­sul­ta­ti­on hour on Mon­days 17:00–20:00: 0176 952 948 11

Plea­se note that we can­not and may not give legal advice. If in doubt, you should seek pro­fes­sio­nal legal advice.


Foot­no­tes:
1 »Die ange­hen­den Genos­sen müs­sen vor Start ihres Unter­neh­mens einen Busi­ness­plan für die ers­ten drei Jah­re vor­le­gen, der vom Ver­band gründ­lich geprüft wird. Die­se Kon­trol­le macht die Sta­bi­li­tät der Genos­sen­schaf­ten aus, deren Insol­venz­quo­te bei nur 0,1 Pro­zent liegt.« Quel­le: Sil­ke Bigal­ke (15.12.2009): »Wenn Unter­neh­mer zu Genos­sen wer­denHan­dels­blatt, https://www.handelsblatt.com/unternehmen/mittelstand/genossenschaften-wenn-unternehmer-zu-genossen-werden-seite‑2/3327322–2.html (abge­ru­fen am 06.05.2022)