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Last update : January 2007
CIGALES means "Club d'Investissement pour une Gestion Alternative et Locale de l'Epargne Solidaire" (Investment Club for Alternative and Local Saving Management for Solidarity). CIGALES is an investment club which invests in the equity of small companies whose purposes have social, cultural or ecological aspects. The CIGALES is created for 5 years and is composed of 5 to 20 members. The Fédération des CIGALES aims to co-ordinate and develop the network of "CIGALES".
Background
The first CIGALES was founded in 1983, and the fédération des CIGALES was created in 1985 by the "Agence de Liaison pour le Développement de l'Economie Alternative".
Since then, over 400 CIGALESs have been created, 100 of which are currently active, this represents 1500 current or former members. The total CIGALES investments since the first CIGALES represents around 2,7 million Euros.
Structure
The assets of each CIGALES are mainly composed of monthly payments by every member. The Fédération des CIGALES co-ordinates represents and provides technical support to the CIGALES network. It is managed by a Board of 13 Directors who are elected for the year. The committee consists of three members and the administration council, which meets three times a year is made up of 10 members of the federation.
Activities
The CIGALES gathers and manages a collective portfolio composed of shares. The funds are invested only in collective companies and co-operative societies whose activities and purposes contribute to the fight against social exclusion and promote sustainable development. Most of the investments are made in non-listed securities. The CIGALES also helps companies through advice and sharing of know-how. The CIGALES allows the investor to deduct 25% of his investment from his individual income tax provided that he invests in start-up companies or in companies created after 1988.
Key Figures
In 2005, the federation had 83 active members with about 1 300 savers. During this year many new clubs were created. The total number decrease is due to the fact that a lot of clubs arrived (2) to their term (5 years) 13 passed in management.
23 clubs were approved in 2005, and 7 were created during the year 2005 but were not counted by the federation because they received their approval in 2006.
In 2005, 35 clubs invested Eur 129 185 in the equity of 59 enterprises, contributing to the creation or maintenance of 96 jobs. The average CIGALE investment by job created is Eur 1 345.
| Year | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 |
2002 |
2000 |
1999 |
| Nr of CIGALES | 83 | 76 | 95 |
110 | 111 | 104 |
