I’ve been thinking about the kind of world that we are moving towards in 2025. I’ve been reading about the rise of fascist and authoritarian government policies. I’ve been witnessing the inaction of world leaders, failing to withdraw support for war and genocide across the world. I’ve sat through successive heatwaves in the driest spring in 132 years, with the knowledge that this is the new normal.

Like most people, I’m worried about our future. Sometimes it feels hopeless.

But, there is also a lot of hope out there. I am privileged to live day-to-day in a community-led housing co-operative, where kids play out in the garden under the watchful eye of a village of friendly neighbours. I share an office with people who care deeply about making a wholescale transition to clean energy. I’m also inspired by the newly established Community Sauna Network (related to the Community Sauna Baths in London) who are providing a support mechanism for more community focused wellbeing social enterprises to start across the country.

Talking to the London lot as well as other saunas near York, Hebden Bridge, and Sheffield has been beyond useful in the creation of Leeds Community Sauna. We are working to create an accessible, affordable sauna space, with two saunas and multiple cold plunge options at our peaceful and nature-abundant location within Kirkstall Valley Farm.

‘When organisations see people as citizens rather than consumers, and treat them as such, everything changes.’ – Jon Alexander, Citizens

Recently I have been reading Citizens by Jon Alexander and Ariane Conrad. The book serves as a kind of manifesto to doing society differently. Creating a society in which everyone has the power to contribute to building a future together, through participation and democracy. Whilst I was reading, a few lightbulbs switched on in my head, and I couldn’t help but reflect on how well Leeds Community Sauna fit into this model of doing things differently.

From the moment I set out to build the business, back in October 2024, I just assumed it would be a co-operative. On my 9-hour plane from London to Mexico, all I did was read, from start to finish, the book I had downloaded for the journey - ‘How to set up a workers' co-op’ by Radical Routes. I had just visited the community baths in Stratford and thereby confirmed to myself that this random idea that I’d had was not only possible, but that others had already paved the way.

Working for a co-op allows us to make a difference, here and now, by building better ways of making a living and better ways of working together - Radical Routes, How to Set up a Workers Co-op

Being a co-operative means that the “members” of the business – usually the workers - own the business, and that the way we organise will strive to be non-hierarchical, democratic, and integrate the wider community as a fundamental stakeholder. We have already demonstrated a commitment to involving people through running focus groups on accessibility and disability, values and strategy, and our branding, as well as running a market research survey which had 500 respondents - resulting in a co-production of key business decisions by workers and potential future users. We plan to continue to engage in this way.

In a few weeks we will be releasing our Community Share Offer, which is yet another step towards making our business unequivocally rooted in the people it hopes to serve. In short, community shares offer people the opportunity to put money into our business in return for:

• a set interest rate,
• ownership over the business alongside other investor and worker members,
• a vote at General Meetings and on important issues facing the business.

The amount that you can put in will range from £25 upwards, but regardless of the amount, each shareholder has an equal say. We will try to keep the minimum investment as low as possible, so as to make the offer more inclusive. Although this lower entry point will create a greater administrative burden for us, it is a vital ingredient to ensuring that it departs from prevailing exclusionary share models. Finally, the shares in the sauna are withdrawable, but cannot be resold, guarding against them being speculatively traded for profit.

As a team we carefully considered which method of fundraising we should prioritise to gain the ca. £61k necessary to start-up. Community shares offered us a pathway of crowdsourcing this funding whilst distributing power into the community. I believe that this relatively simple financial model is actually a radical and powerful tool for treating the people we engage with as citizens and not just consumers.

'What we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system.' – adrienne maree brown, Emergent Strategy

I believe that this shift in mindset does hold the power for change. When we view each other as fellow humans who can work together, support each other, and have a say in how we run things, we can do amazing things. Sister Midnight have raised £350,000 from more than 1,000 investors in community shares to open a community-owned arts and music venue in Lewisham. Closer to home, Headingley Development Trust raised over £480,000 which enabled sustainable community ownership of HEART café and community center, and taking the Headingley Greengrocer into community ownership. What they are achieving through these efforts is greater than their single enterprises: they are working to completely shift the underlying economic philosophy of business – from one which celebrates individualised profit and hierarchical decision-making, to one that holds people at heart and includes them in the production of the things which sustain us.

It may seem odd to be tying this kind of bigger picture thinking to the establishment of a community sauna. But as adrienne maree brown says, “what we practice at the small scale sets the patterns for the whole system”. It may be small scale, but by modelling democracy, they set an example for how we can live together. This isn’t to say that by creating a co-operative business, we are not making tangible change in the real world. Wellbeing is a sector which is rampantly capitalised on by profiteers whose main agenda is to make you feel bad in order to sell you something. Pivoting the consumer-business relationship when it comes to matters of health and wellbeing is so important.

If you are interested in helping us raise funds by becoming an investor member, we are collecting interest before we officially open the share offer window. You can let us know via email, and if you are interested in recieving information about the share offer, you can sign up to our mailing list here. Any support from you will be massively appreciated, and will contribute to building a community sauna that is rooted – in a structural and financial sense - in community.