Business as Usual

or

Community Business

There are estimated to be over 7,000 community businesses in England

They generate more than £1 billion of income each year

The hold £2.1 billion of assets

The employ over 36,000 people

They work with around 200,000 volunteers

Community Business

What is Community Business?

Community led: run by the community for the community

Community controlled: owned by people living and working in the community

Not for personal profit but generate a financial surplus

Socially and (very often) environmentally responsible

Commonly put back into other activities in the local community

Could your idea be a community business?

Strategy (what we want to do)

Structure

(how we organise ourselves)

Delivery (what we actually do)

Form follows function

Vision to Actions

Feedback and Evaluation

Values and Drivers…What are they telling you?

Are you looking to make money for yourself?

Are you driven by the need in your community in a more collective way?

Not for profit

For profit

Understand where your balance is, only you can assess if you should

develop a community business or simply run a business within your

community (which could well be very community focussed).

What is Community Leadership?

What does my community need?

Do you have a sense of what exists and what is needed

Mapping in a nutshell….

• Keep it simple, just have a go

• Do it together: it’s a good way to build capacity

• Don’t forget to have fun, be creative!

Place of value

Service of value

Community capacity

Community Business Play Your Cards Right

One Page Plan

Some more questions …just to start you thinking

1. What’s missing from your community (it could be a service, a facility, or an activity)?

2. What have you got that’s not being used as well as it could be (buildings, land, etc)?

3. Who have you got (other people, organisations)?

4. What other resources do you have (time, money, connections)?

5. What is the first thing to do to make this happen?

£

Resources 1History of communities owning their own assetsThere’s a long history of communities owning their own assets, to find out more and get ideas see: http://locality.org.uk/resources/history-community-asset-ownership

Further resources – the following are all useful places to pick up information on all forms of support needed to develop your organisation, develop you plan and secure funding and finance.

• Community Matters: http://www.communitymatters.org.uk

• Plunkett Foundation: http://www.plunkett.co.uk

• Co-operatives UK: http://www.uk.coop

• Social Enterprise Coalition: http://www.socialenterprise.org.uk

• Social Firms UK: http://www.socialfirmsuk.co.uk

• School for Social Entrepreneurs: http://www.the-sse.org

• Action with Communities in Rural England: http://www.acre.org.uk

• Community Enterprise Scotland: http://communityenterprise.co.uk

• Community Enterprise Wales: http://www.cewales.org

• Community Enterprise Network: http://www.communityenterprisenetwork.org

• Know How Non Profit - http://knowhownonprofit.org

There are lots of good sources of information about choosing the right legal structure and organisation form for

what you want to do. Have a look at the following for starters:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/legal-forms-for-business-a-guide

• http://knowhownonprofit.org/basics/setting-up-a-charity/legal-forms-for-non-profits-1

• http://www.uk.coop/our-work/select-structure-tool

• https://unltd.org.uk/portfolio/3-7-determining-the-right-legal-structure-for-your-social-enterprise

• https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/office-of-the-regulator-of-community-interest-companies

• Law Works - http://www.lawworks.org.uk

Or why not make a trip to your local Council for Voluntary Services, to find out where your nearest one is:

• Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations - http://www.scvo.org.uk

• Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action - http://www.nicva.org

• Wales Council for Voluntary Action - http://www.wcva.org.uk

• National Association for Voluntary and Community Action - http://www.navca.org.uk

Resources 1Choosing legal structure and organisation form

• Power to Change – support for community businesses http://www.powertochange.org.uk

• Big Lottery - Asset transfer and capital programmes http://www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/research/communities-and-places/community-assets

• Heritage Lottery Fund - http://www.hlf.org.uk

• Sport England - https://www.sportengland.org/funding

• Social Investment Business - http://www.sibgroup.org.uk

• Charity Bank http://www.charitybank.org

• Charities Aid Foundation - https://www.cafonline.org

• Community Development Finance Institution http://www.cdfa.org.uk

• Government Funding Database http://govfundingpublic.nics.gov.uk

• Association of Charitable Foundations - http://www.acf.org.uk – see Links to ACF Member Trusts and Foundations

• New Philanthropy Capital http://www.thinknpc.org

• Community Shares http://www.communityshares.org.uk

• UK Crowdfunding http://www.ukcfa.org.uk

Resources 3Some funders

Locality - http://locality.org.uk

Development Trusts Northern Ireland - http://dtni.org.uk/

Development Trusts Association Scotland - http://www.dtascot.org.uk

Development Trusts Association Wales - http://www.dtawales.org.uk

National Community Land Trusts Network - http://www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk

Community Right to Buy – Scotland Only• http://www.gov.scot/Topics/farmingrural/Rural/rural-land/right-to-buy/CommunityCommunity Rights – England Only• http://mycommunity.org.ukCommunity Right to Reclaim Land• https://www.gov.uk/government/policies/giving-people-more-power-over-what-happens-in-their-neighbourhood/supporting-

pages/community-right-to-reclaim-landThe Right to Contest• https://www.gov.uk/right-to-contestMeanwhile Use http://www.meanwhile.org.uk

Resources 4Community Rights and other Mechanisms

Support with planning – Planning Aid offers advice and support:• Planning Aid England: http://www.rtpi.org.uk/planning-aid• Planning Aid Scotland: http://www.pas.org.uk• Planning Aid Wales: http://www.planningaidwales.org.uk• Planning Aid Northern Ireland: http://www.newryandmourne.gov.uk

Other Resources

• Royal Institute of British Architects

http://www.architecture.com/RIBA/Professionalsupport/RIBAOutlinePlanofWork2013

.aspx

• Locality, To Have and to Hold: http://locality.org.uk/resources/hold

• Community Buildings Checker: http://www.communitybuildingschecker.org.uk

• So you want to build a house: http://locality.org.uk/resources/build-house

Resources 5Support with Planning and Feasibility work

Dave Chapman

Triformis Limited

t: + 44 (0) 7825 175 867

e: dave@triformis.co.uk

w: www.triformis.co.uk