Repository
A curated and searchable collection of community-related research reports, case studies and publications
Rebalancing the Relationship
Published: 2021
In 2018, NCVO, ACEVO and Lloyds Bank Foundation launched a project to address competition and collaboration, particularly between organisations of different sizes delivering public service. The findings from this project and considerations for practice are laid out within this report and are based on significant engagement with organisations ac…
The Value of Small in a Big Crisis
Published: 2021
Three years on from the publication of the landmark independent ‘The Value of Small’ study, researchers from Sheffield Hallam, the Open University, IVAR and the University of Wolverhampton revisited the four case study areas during the COVID 19 pandemic.
The 2018 study found that small and medium-sized charities – those with an annual in…
Community Business Climate Action Programme Scoping Study Literature Review
Published: 2021
This rapid literature review was undertaken by CAG Consultants in late 2021 as part of a scoping study to inform Power to Change’s new Climate Action Programme under development. It takes a wide perspective of available data to provide an overview of development needs/opportunities, funding and support gaps for community businesses …
Empowering Places? Measuring the impact of community businesses at neighbourhood level
Published: 2021
Empowering Places is a programme of place-based investment that aims to demonstrate the role that concentrated clusters of community businesses can play in improving local areas and reducing inequality. To measure the impact of the programme, Power to Change commissioned Kantar in 2020 to conduct six ‘hyperlocal’ extensions of the gove…
The Community Business Market in 2021
Published: 2021
This is the seventh in a series of annual reports published by Power to Change on the state of the community business market. This iteration is the fifth researched and written by CFE Research. It uses survey and interview data to describe a community business market bouncing back financially from the worst of the pandemic, diversifying t…
The Community Business Market in 2021 – Summary
Published: 2021
This report summarises the seventh Power to Change annual report into the structure, size, shape and outlook for the community business market in England. It finds that community business are bouncing back from the impact of the pandemic more financially confident and economically stronger.
Understanding local patterns of volunteer activity during COVID-19
Published: 2021
The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport commissioned The Young Foundation to undertake an initial scoping study to identify some of the ways in which volunteers were mobilised at local levels during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of the research was:
to identify some of the ways in which volunteer groups operated and develo…
Volunteering in community business: a digest of recent research
Published: 2021
Volunteers are critical to how community businesses help to make places better. They help root community businesses in their local communities, and their time is central to community businesses’ financial viability. In fact, some community businesses would not exist at all were it not for volunteers.
This digest summarises three re…
Empowering Places – Change Framework
Published: 2021
This is a working ‘change framework’ for the Empowering Places programme – a five-year programme designed to empower communities to build community businesses. The framework sets out the desired vision and outcomes of the programme, as well as pointing to the elements of the programme that enable progress towards the vision and outcomes. …
How to enable Community-Led Housing: Learning Brief 1 – Enabling and catalysing community-led housing
Published: 2021
As part of the ongoing evaluation of Power to Change’s Homes in Community Hands programme, this learning brief shares key insights on how to enable community-led housing. It draws on evidence from five enabler hubs funded through the programme in 2020-21, revealing how hubs are building an environment in which community-led can grow. This bri…
How to enable Community-Led Housing: Learning Brief 2 – Building Positive Relationships with Hub Stakeholders
Published: 2021
As part of the ongoing evaluation of Power to Change’s Homes in Community Hands programme, this learning brief shares key insights on how to enable community-led housing. It draws on evidence from five enabler hubs funded through the programme in 2020-21, revealing how hubs are building an environment in which community-led can grow. This bri…
Leading to Net Zero – Evidence review of communities pioneering low carbon standards
Published: 2021
The consultancy firm Hoyle and Dean was commissioned by the Community Land Trust Network to undertake a “soft touch” review of the approach various community-led housing development teams take towards sustainability and carbon reduction for housing developments within their operating areas. The purpose of the review was to find the overall …