Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications
The role of small grants in Big Local: scoping paper
Published: 2022
This paper aims to summarise what Local Trust knows about the small grants funds operating in Big Local areas. Research done in June 2020 found that 140 out of 150 Big Local areas were either currently running a small grants programme or had run one in the past. Small grants funds typically aim to provide money to groups operating at the grassr…
Volunteering and Big Local: Who volunteers in Big Local communities, what they do, and why
Published: 2022
Big Local is a resident-led funding programme providing groups of people in 150 areas in England with £1.15m each, to spend across 10 to 15 years to bring about lasting change in their neighbourhoods. In Big Local areas, resident-led partnerships identify local priorities and decide how the money will be spent in their areas.
This report is a…
Young people in community business: Stories of change
Published: 2022
This report showcases the many ways young people came to be and are involved in community businesses across England. It shows that young people are involved in community skate parks, media companies, pubs, energy and many other types of community-led enterprise. Their engagement ranges from senior leadership, founders and co-founders, boar…
“We need a Right to Buy, not to try”: How more urban communities can take ownership of their pub
Published: 2022
This publication explores how and why more urban community pubs could be developed in urban areas, and the policy changes and support needed to achieve this.
The report considers the opportunities and challenges facing groups looking at community ownership of a pub in urban areas. It also reviews the policy landscape and operating environment …
Helping community businesses be more resilient – Lessons learnt from the Trade Up programme
Published: 2022
One of Power to Change’s three strategic priorities for 2021-2025 is ‘more resilient community businesses’. This paper explores whether the Trade Up programme – designed to support the growth of community businesses and being delivered between May 2017 to March 2022 – made community businesses more resilient. Findings show that while diff…
How can funders support established community businesses? Lessons learnt from the Community Business Fund programme
Published: 2022
Power to Change funded the Community Business Fund (CBF) programme between 2016 and 2021 to support existing community businesses to progress towards greater self-sufficiency by increasing their trading income, securing an asset and / or significantly reducing revenue costs. This short evaluation report outlines the impact that the programme ha…
How can funders support early-stage community businesses? Lessons learnt from the Bright Ideas programme
Published: 2022
Power to Change funded the Bright Ideas programme between 2016 and 2021 to support community groups to develop, test and launch their community business ideas. This short evaluation report outlines the impact that the programme had on community groups and early-stage community businesses, and recommends ways in which funders can support them go…
Better understanding the financial impact of funding programmes through the ‘Year Zero’ approach
Published: 2022
Through funding programmes such as Trade Up and the Community Business Fund, Power to Change supports community businesses to trade for the benefit of their local community; yet how can we understand the financial impact that Power to Change has had on community businesses? The answer is not straightforward, and programme impact can be difficul…
Empowering Places: The impact of the programme on community businesses
Published: 2022
Empowering Places aims to build more resilient and prosperous communities by building the capacity of local organisations to ‘catalyse’ and support the growth of new community businesses. It funds locally rooted ‘catalyst’ organisations in six areas of high deprivation. The evaluation aims to take a realistic approach to understand…
Good Evidence: A guide to help community organisations produce research that gets taken seriously
Published: 2022
This guide is for community organisations undertaking their own research or doing research in partnership with other institutions. It has been informed by consultation with members of the Greater Manchester Third Sector Research Network.
Part I comprises three short sections on Trustworthiness, followed by Ethics and Bias, which are c…
Models of Value that Community Organising Generates for its Adopters
Published: 2022
Over recent years, the principles and practice of community organising have proliferated across a range of organisations and sectors. Keen to understand the impact of community organising and its potential as a tool for communities to tackle local issues, Power to Change commissioned a piece of research in 2020 looking in-depth at the experienc…
Thematic Paper: Sector & Community Businesses
Published: 2022
This working paper explores how the concept of sector can be useful for funders to understand and support community businesses. It also presents recommendations for using sector typologies going forward.
While sector trends in the community business market are not always clear to identify, this research shows that sector typologies can nonethe…