Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications
Trading Up: Match Trading® for Community Businesses as a powerful incentive for regeneration post-COVID
Published: 2020
This report demonstrates the impact of the Community Business Trade Up programme, a five year, £6.5million support programme aimed at strengthening community businesses. The aim of the programme is to help participants increase their trading income, build an entrepreneurial mindset, reduce grant dependency and be financially sustainable. Run b…
Understanding a maturing community shares market
Published: 2020
This paper is the first of two reports by Co-operatives UK reviewing the community shares market. The community shares investment model has become a popular approach to raising finance and since 2012, £155 million has been raised by over 103,000 people to save and create more than 440 vital spaces and services. This report comprises of communi…
Big Local and Community Economic Development
Published: 2020
Residents of many Big Local communities have been seeking to influence and improve their local economies. Community Economic Development (CED) is the process of economic development within a specific geographic area to benefit the community. At its core, it is about local collective action to resolve economic and social challenges identified by…
Housing by the community for the community: An assessment of the value for money of community led housing in England
Published: 2020
This report assesses the value for money of community led housing in England, exploring how community led housing is meeting housing needs that would otherwise not be met, improving the wellbeing of communities and providing high returns. With findings showing that, over thirty years, each £1 of public support delivers £3.10 of benefit (when …
Rapid Research COVID-19 Briefing #5: Volunteering through crisis and beyond: Starting, stopping and shifting
Published: 2020
The contribution of volunteers in the response to COVID-19 has rightly received considerable attention. Media reports have suggested levels of participation are soaring, but behind the headlines lie a series of questions about what volunteering is taking place, who is getting involved and how it is organised. This briefing draws on literature a…
Saving the high street: the community takeover
Published: 2020
Saving the High Street: the community takeover by the London School of Economics and Political Science, reveals how fragmented property ownership; a lack of transparency on who owns high street buildings; and absentee landlords with no vested interest in local places, are a barrier to creating unified high street regeneration strategies that ca…
Stronger than anyone thought: Communities responding to COVID-19
Published: 2020
In the context of COVID-19 and public health-related lockdown measures, Local Trust commissioned a study examining how communities react to, cope with and recover from major crises. The study started in April 2020 and the first two phases are due to conclude in June 2021. It presents a unique opportunity to gain grounded insight into commu…
The Community Asset Transfer of Leisure Facilities in the UK: A Review and Research Agenda
Published: 2020
This paper reviews recent work on community asset transfers (CAT): a transfer of management of facilities from the public sector to the third sector, largely led by volunteers. The review focusses on leisure facilities due to their non-statutory nature, making them more vulnerable to public spending cuts. The experience of CATs is reviewed, inc…
The impact of community businesses on people
Published: 2020
As part of our commitment to evidencing the impact of Power to Change and the community businesses we support, we aim to regularly produce evidence reviews. Our latest research report brings together our evidence base about the impact of community businesses on the people they work with and support. This report is not just about the response to…
Below the radar: Exploring grants data for grassroots organisations
Published: 2020
This research focuses on a group of community organisations that often get overlooked, and yet play a crucial role in bringing people together in local communities, frequently providing activities and services that others don’t. Its principal aim is to explore how this knowledge and evidence gap can be reduced and how better data can provide …
Community Business Market Survey 2020: Impact of the Covid-19 pandemic
Published: 2020
This report is the first of two to be published around the 2020 annual Community Business Market Survey data. These research findings are based on questions relating to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic in the 2020 iteration of Power to Change’s annual Community Business Market survey. This paper provides top-level findings about the impact…
Empowering Places – Interim Evaluation Report
Published: 2020
The Empowering Places programme aims to build more resilient communities by catalysing and nurturing community businesses to provide benefits and opportunities for local people. The programme funds locally rooted ‘catalyst’ organisations in six places – Wigan; Leicester; Bradford; Plymouth; Grimsby; Hartlepool – to help empower communit…