An entrepreneur from Brunswick is hoping to save a lighthouse and keep it in the hands of the locals reports Mainebiz.
Bob Muller, a consultant with a background in IT and high-tech image mapping, is scrambling to crowd fund between $75,000 and $150,000 in individual $49 donations in order to buy the lighthouse in Casco Bay, which the U.S. General Services Administration is currently selling at auction. He launched a website yesterday and has begun a social media marketing blitz.
His challenge is raising the money in a matter of days. The government has set a preliminary auction end date of Thursday, but will roll it back if higher bids continue to come in. Getting between 1,500 and 3,000 people to donate $49 each is a tall order, but Muller thinks it’s possible if he can convince people to buy into his idea.
One of Muller’s main goals is to keep the lighthouse, which was built in 1903-04, under local ownership.
Muller’s vehicle for this experiment in social entrepreneurship is Landicity-Maine LLC, a company he founded in early 2008. He has spent the last two years working on its business model, founded on the principles of community, sustainability, green commerce and technology. The Ram Island Ledge Lighthouse Community is Muller’s first project using the company’s model.
Photo from GSA