1. Securing a future for community business
Suzanne Perry
Good morning everyone, I’m Suzanne. I’ve been the research officer at Power to Change since last December. My role is about making the case for community businesses by commissioning and awarding grants for quality research around to all things community business.

2. First I’ll tell you a bit more about Power to Change.
We were set up in 2015 with a £150m independent endowment from the BLF to stimulate the community business market in England.
About Power to Change

3. Social investment advice Funding Policy work
Independent trust aiming to create better places through community business.
Research
Advocacy
Peer networks
Market development
Capacity building
Events
Social investment advice
Funding
Policy work
We are a place based funder, aiming to help make neighbourhoods better through community led business. The work we do broadly fits under three banners which feed in to each other-
we aim to help transform places by funding community businesses through various open and targeted funding programmes, 60% of our funds goes to 30% most deprived neighbourhoods BUT we looking at what deprivation means in different contexts
we make the case for community business by investing in research into many different aspects of community business (sustainability, assets, accountability, health and social care related community businesses). We do policy work and advocate for community businesses through our external communications.
we grow the sector through capacity building and supporting a long term infrastructure at local and national level, running events to enable community businesses to build their own networks and so on.

4. No one better understands the problems of a community than those who live there
Enough about us…. Its communities that are at the heart of all this.
And the idea of community businesses has roots. For many years, under different guises, Community businesses have been succeeding because the people running them understand the problems of a community. Ultimately, this is about localism, its about people coming together to take control and solve problems and issues that matter to them, but by creating ‘community businesses’.

5. What is a community business?
But what is a community business? Although they can be from totally different sectors (from pubs, to shops, to transport systems, to community centers, fisheries (as you’ll see later), they do have 4 common traits.

6. A business run by local people for local people.
Locally rooted
Accountable to the local community
Trading for the benefit of the local community
Broad community benefit
These business designed to make a long term positive difference for a community
Controlled and run by local people for local people
Generate surpluses and build up assets (like other businesses)
But these are applied for the benefit of the community rather than private gain.
No one gets rich, everyone gains
These are the kinds of impacts community businesses tell us they deliver on are around community cohesion, reinvigorating a sense of community pride, supporting the health and wellbeing of local people and providing training, volunteering and employment opporuntiies.

7. Here’s an over view of the England-wide community business market as it was last year.
In 2018 its estimated that around 7000 CBs, although this research is yet to be published. 70% of these are in urban areas. The 30% that are in rural areas show an over representation of rural community businesses (that we’ve funded anyway) as only 17% of the population live in ‘rural’ areas.
CB generate £1.2b income and hold, £.7bn worth of assets
79% received grant funding but 70% get most of their income from trading.
Year on year community business leaders become more confident about their financial prospects, despite all the political uncertainty of the moment. In 2018, the findings are telling us that 65% are positive about the outlook of their year ahead.
And there’s lots of people employed and working at all levels of community buisnesses. This builds their local engagement and enables people to learn new skills and experience and roots into new businesses.

8. Community business in North East
You know these parts far better than I do but I’m now going to focus on some community businesses we’ve funded and supported in the North East and North Yorkshire which I hope will bring what I’m saying to life.

9. Future Regeneration Grangetown
Future Regeneration of Grangetown (FROG) in North Yorkshire has been a PTC success story.
Although they have been established since the 1990s they recently received £10k from our trade up fund. The aim of this fund is to award small grants to community businesses who wish to increase their income from trading. Along side this, community business leaders/drivers are required to take part in an educational programme delivered by the school for social entrepreneurs. Its successful- most of those who take part in the programme do increase their trading income.
FROG has also received a sizeable grant from our flag ship Community business fund for more established community businesses. This went towards helping to establish a community hub which will provide childcare, retail outlets, a cafe, arts and craft and business space, thus creating jobs in the area. This funding was awarded alongside BLF and redcar and Cleveland council totalling over £1m investment.
In this area of high deprivation this investment in FROG is very much needed and will add to the repertoire of great work they’re doing including their offer of training and skills development for young people in the local area.

10. Wharton Trust- Hartlepool Community Catalyst
Wharton Trust are funded by Power to Change as a community catalyst in Dyke House in Hartlepool, one of our 7 empowering places. I won’t say too much as I’m sure Sacha will tell us all about it later.
But I’ll give you a bit of background about how these catalysts and their respective places were chosen. An initial scoping study identified 20 wards identified as deprived on the IMD, which had active community businesses or catalyst type organisations and where there could be potential for those community businesses to flourish and make a real impact in the local community as a result. All were invited to apply for funding and to present to a panel. 14 did so. 7 of these were selected and are located in Plymouth, Wigan, Luton, Leicester, Bradford, Grimsby and Hartlepool. These are what we call our empowering places.
By funding these well connected organisations, who have good relationships with other businesses and organisations, the local authority and individuals in the community Power to Change hope to see real change in these places.
We also fund hyperlocal exploration of the DCMS owned community life survey to monitor these areas so hat we can track, over time, whether they are ‘improving’ what its like to live in the community there. We’ve had no data that we can share from this just yet but when data and reports are released they’ll be shared and uploaded on to our website.

11. Linskill and North Tyneside community development trust
Here we are at Liskhill and North Tyneside develop trust’s Gin Festival.
Borne out of the passion to save the Linskill centre from demolition in the early 2000s, Linskill were one of our very first grantees. Today, there are several community businesses run from the centre and they run community development programmes such as engagement work with older people, skills development for adults, heritage projects and volunteering opportuntiies. They also employ over 60 people. All proceeds raised are absorbed back into improving and running the centre.

12. Community-led housing in Tees Valley
While we haven’t funded housing related work in the North East as yet, we are working with the those involved in the community led housing movement in Hartlepool, Middlesborough, Redcar and Cleveland and Stockton. Community businesses and organisations in these areas are tackling the challenges around unsuitable housing for vulnerable or poor people by Working together on developing affordable, secure and supportive housing for local residents with the view to being empty homes back into use, providing training and work experience to local people and transfering dilapidated historic buildings to provide housing.
With the launch of our community led housing programme imminent, we hope to see and support more of this type of work.

13. Research
We’re also seeking to expand our knowledge of community businesses in the North East and the rest of England. For example, we are very pleased to have awarded grant funding to Tony from Durham University to explore community business to community business interaction in Hartlepool, Middlesborough and Bradford. This research, which is now under way, will directly speak to Power to Change’s hypotheses around how the collaboration of community businesses leads to their enhanced resilience.
We have also grant funded community first Yorkshire and Durham community action to look at the size, scope and potential of Village halls as community businesses in their respective localities. They found that although the term community business didn’t resonate with a lot of people they spoke to, actually when Power to Change’s definition of a community business was explained to them (locally accountable, led by the community, trading and with a broad social impact) 64% felt as though their village hall was in fact a community business, its just that they didn’t want to perceive themselves as profit making organisations. Of course, this is important, not just for understanding the different ways community business is perceived across the country but because there are many village halls who may not perceive themselves as community businesses and are subsequently missing out on grant funding from us. In fact, the North East is where we see some of the fewest number of Power to Change grantees .
Please do take a look at the Research Institute pages of the Power to Change website where you’ll find all of our published reports and associated blogs.

14. Where next?
So while the work we and others like Locality, Plunkett and coops uk are doing to fund, support, advocate and help build the evidence base around community businesses in the North East and across the rest of England, communities need the support and belief of anchor institutions such as local authorities.

15. Thank you
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