Sydney Buddhist Centre - Newtown
Funding Success!
We are happy to communicate we’ve just raised the capital for the Sydney Buddhist Centre Project in just three days!
We are however, still taking investments since there are a few shares available. This is a great opportunity to invest in the Pingala project portfolio, growing our capital base and contributing to the expansion of our impact.
Subscribe and invest below!
Hello to all!
Welcome to Pingala’s investment and membership information page for the Sydney Buddhist Centre (SBC) community solar project, created especially for you!
We’ve crafted the information on this page so that you have everything you need to determine if investing in Pingala is for you, or not. Whatever your decision, we’d like you to know that we’re excited that Pingala will be forming a long-lasting and positive relationship with SBC and we not only look forward to supplying clean solar power, but also we’re stoked that we’ll be joining each other’s broader community.
We are also happy to invite you to the launch event on December 8th at 9:30. There will be meditation (beginners and experienced welcome), presentations and tea and cake. Check the Facebook Event here.
We like to do things differently. At Pingala we want to do energy differently because we believe the old way of making energy is fundamentally broken and unfair.
Read on – we hope you find this information easy to understand but, if you have any problems, please don’t hesitate to reach out and contact us to discuss things further.

The Basics
The project
The Sydney Buddhist Centre (SBC) offers meditation, mindfulness and Buddhism classes, courses and retreats to people from all walks of life. Soon the SBC premises, at 24 Enmore Road, Newtown will be powered by the sun AND the community!
We plan to install a system that will make a big difference to the SBC. No longer dependent on a power system that promotes the use of fossil fuels, we estimate the SBC will make savings of approximately $2,400 each year. The 7.2kW system is set to be generating clean energy early in 2019.
Because much of the centre’s takes place after sunset, a storage battery will also be installed – 9.8kWh, which will give back about 10 hours worth of electricity. Many members of the community have already generously made donations to fund the battery – a crowdfunding campaign that raised around $13,000.
Pingala and the SBC invite you to join a community of investors who can together raise the remaining capital – $12,000 – to fund the solar panels and installation of the system.
Community funded
Solar power for the SBC is being funded by the SBC’s local community, the Pingala community and Newtown locals. The SBC will pay for the solar electricity generated for five years post installation and this revenue stream will repay the community investors with an attractive rate of return between 5 to 8% p.a. through the Pingala Co-operative.
The Pingala Co-operative will offer shares valued at $1 in packets of 250, with a maximum of 4 share-bundles per person. So up to 64 members of the community can be part of this great environmental initiative.
Pingala investors
Community members who invest in the Pingala Co-operative will become members as well as shareholders in the Co-op. This means they become co-owners of the Pingala Co-operative.
The Pingala Co-operative seeks to deliver dividend payments to its members of between 5% and 8% per annum. The Board of Directors of the Co-operative have discretion to determine the dividend to be paid each year and they have fiduciary responsibility for managing the Co-operative for the benefit of member-shareholders.
Public offer
All potential investors are invited to submit expressions of interest to buy between 1 and 4 packets of shares at $250 per packet.
The community is invited to an event at the Sydney Buddhist Centre in Newtown on Saturday December 8th at 9:30am for meditation – beginners and experienced welcome; 11am for presentation and tea and cake!
For more details check the Facebook Event here.
What next?
If you think you might want to invest, here’s how you can get involved:
- Read the FAQ’s below and download and read the Pingala Rules and Disclosure Statement.
- Complete & submit your Expression of Interest (EOI) (in the beginning of this page)
- Send your Investment money within 3 days of the completion of the EOI to guarantee you shares.
- You are welcome to visit the Sydney Buddhist Centre on the Celebration event Saturday December 8th. Facebook Event here.
- Still have questions? Contact our Solar investment team at info@pingala.com.au
Remember, you need to determine your own ability to make this investment and you need to decide if the risks of this investment match your profile and personal circumstances. We cannot advise you on your financial affairs and you should consult a professional financial advisor before you make any major investment decisions.
FAQs
Who is Pingala?
Who is the Sydney Buddhist Centre?
What is a Co-operative?
What is the investment offer?
How many shares can I buy?
Can I purchase more than $1,000 of shares? Can I purchase less than $250 of shares?
How do I invest?
- You will need to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI) to invest. You can do this by completing the EOI form at the bottom of the page. Make sure you tell us how many share packages you would like to reserve; either 1, 2, 3 or 4 share packets (see above “How many shares can I buy?”).
- In this form you will also apply to become a member of the Pingala Co-operative.
- You will need to transfer your money to the Pingala Co-operative via electronic fund transfer (EFT). *IMPORTANT: You will only have 3 business days to transfer funds to Pingala, missing the deadline may mean missing out on the opportunity to invest.
- Pingala will then send you a receipt for your investment and a shareholding statement, along with an information pack explaining how dividends will be paid to you, and other important facts.
What is the rate of return on my investment? When are dividends paid and how often?
What happens after the 5 year project life is over?
What if I need to access my capital? Can I sell my shares? How soon can I sell them?
- Finding another member to buy your shares. This is the preferred method of selling your shares. You can either find a buyer yourself or you can use the Pingala Shares for Sale register. People who are interested in purchasing shares can view the register and request Pingala to put them in touch with the prospective seller.
- Pingala repurchase of shares. This is recommended for situations where a buyer cannot be found and there are urgent reasons for selling shares. You can apply to the Co-operative to repurchase your shares and in most circumstances this will be possible. The Co-operative is not obliged to repurchase shares if it will be detrimental to the Co-operative.
Can I complete a joint application?
How do I pay for the shares?
Who will own and manage the project once it has been installed. Will I be able to contact someone if I have a question about my shares?
Will the dividends be franked?
Essential documents
Rules – our constitution
Co-operatives have a constitution just like companies do, but they’re called Rules. The Rules set out the ways in which the Co-operative operates, the obligations of members, the purpose of the organisation and the way in which meetings are run and so forth.
Disclosure Statement – a bit like a prospectus
Pingala Co-operative is a for-profit entity. Technically this is what is known as a distributing co-operative. That’s just a fancy way of saying we distribute surplus/profit to our shareholders. So, we’re a for-profit Co-op.
Just like a company needing to issue a prospectus if they make a public offer to investors, our Co-operative must always have an up-to-date Disclosure Statement that outlines the financial involvement and liability of member-investors as well as the overall prospects of the organisation into the future.
This is your main document to determine what sort of investment you’ll be making if you were to become a member and buy shares. The document includes a section on risk, which you should pay particular attention to (although all parts of the document need your attention, so don’t just read the risk section!)
You can find the Rules and Disclosure Statement on our Co-op Members page