Resources for Renewal

Power to Change are committed to supporting the community business sector to get back on its feet and adapt to this difficult and ever-changing landscape.

The below resources for renewal have been handpicked by the Power to Change team. Each list begins with our trusted partners at the top. Not everything will be relevant to all community businesses, and given how quickly things are moving some things might not be up-to-date anymore. We will update these lists regularly.

Human Resources (HR)

Change management, restructuring, legal requirements, ethics

Co-ops UK: free guides, guidance and webinars aimed primarily at co-ops, but with general advice for the wider sector as well.
Locality: members-only support for community organisations, including weekly webinars. Legal support on topics including statutory obligations, employment law and governance. Advice line providing two hours of HR support.
Bates Well legal advice: free 30 minute consultations for charities
Cranfield Trust: free business support for charities addressing poverty, disability or social exclusion. Can provide management consultancy, mentoring and HR support.
Croner: free consultation on HR or Health & Safety.
Federation of Small Businesses: guides and resources on redundancy, furloughing, health & wellbeing and mental health.
Lloyds Bank Foundation: Resources and webinars on topics including communicating in a crisis, managing a team in a pandemic and adapting mental health services during lockdown.

Financial planning

Cash flow forecasts, modelling, planning for uncertainty, how and when to update Boards and more

Twine: financial health check available using Twine’s financial dashboard and assessment tool.
Locality: financial risk management advice and a compilation of covid-19 funding available.
Plunkett Foundation: advice and support, webinars covering financial forecasting, cashflow and profitability.
School for Social Entrepreneurs: recover and rebuild webinar series, covering how to manage cashflow in crisis and how to run a successful crowdfunding campaign.
CAF: resources and guidance on raising funds online, borrowing, fundraising and surviving the crisis.
Big Issue Invest: investment support webinar series, with a main focus on investment readiness support.
Good Finance: aims to improve access to information on social investment for charities and social enterprises. Information, resources and tools available to help organisations understand whether social investment is right for them.
NCVO: guidance on contingency planning and financial implications.

Good governance

How to effectively lead

Co-ops UK: free guides, guidance and webinars aimed primarily at co-ops, but with general advice for the wider sector as well.
Local Enterprise Partnerships Growth Hubs: business support and guidance from your local growth hub. Phone/email advice line; referrals and signposting to other business support providers.
The Catalyst: pool of resources covering a range of topics, including training, advice, funding, service delivery, remote working, video conferencing and care.
London Business School: webinar series supporting UK business recovery. Topics include leading through a crisis, making difficult judgments, negotiating losses, and lessons that can be learnt from the Great Recession.

Digital communications

Digital marketing, community engagement and mobilisation, online presence, social media

Media Trust: guides, toolkits, blogs and even digital marketing strategies to support charities develop their communications and marketing skills. Media and communications volunteers available to help with all aspects of communciations.
Design Hops: free workshop that helps you to redesign your website or service for digital access
Comms Volunteers: Comms Volunteers connects communications experts with charities and organisations in the health, social care, education or social housing sector to offer support with employee comms, crisis comms, or lobbying local and national government.
Digital Boost: free digital advice for small businesses and charities, provided by expert volunteers through one-to-one calls, workshops and resources. Offered support includes help with online marketing, design, brand and remote working.

Digital culture change

Understanding your digital needs, culture and strategy

Heritage Fund: range of activities and resources to provide digital skills and support to heritage organisations.
Digital Candle: One free hour of expert digital advice for charities.
Charity Digital Code: free resources covering remote working and digital skills, digital service delivery, digital inclusion, and what to do next with digital.

Moving service delivery and sales online

Product development, marketing, e-commerce platforms and security

Design Hops: free workshop that helps you to redesign your website or service for digital access

Volunteering

Management, policies, safeguarding, retention, diversity and inclusion.

NCVO: advice on involving volunteers, support for volunteers, safeguarding, furloughing and volunteers, and how volunteers are affected by the lockdown. NCVO also hold regular webinars.

Collaboration for community impact

How to work together effectively to assist communities in the recovery from the impact on places from Covid-19

Community Business Mutual Aid group – peer support network set up in response to covid-19. Free, monthly Zoom calls.

Diversity and inclusion: reaching marginalised groups

The business case for diversity – how to improve your reach and why it’s great for community and business

Ubele: webinars, 1:1 support calls, advice and support, case studies, advocacy and campaigning for BAME communities.
Spark & Co: Covid-19 BAME resource hub including a section to support small organisations.
Equally Ours: organisation committed to ensuring response to and recovery from Covid-19 is compassionate and meets the rights and needs of all. Their Covid-19 resource page aims to identify issues/problems that communities are facing them and help find practical solutions.
Charity So White: have developed five key principles to guide the sector’s response to Covid-19, including guidance, resources and case studies to demonstrate how these principles can be applied in practice.

Adapting your community building

Regulations for public spaces including: health and safety, social distancing, changing guidelines

Locality: re-opening guidance for community organisations.
Federation of Small Businesses: template risk assessments, downloadable signage and advice on compliancy.
Ethical property foundation: free property advice for small voluntary organisations. Information on website covering back to work risk assessments, energy performance maximising and property health checks.
UK government: guidance for the safe use of multi-purpose community facilities
Plunkett Foundation ran a webinar on how to create and carry out risk assessments for community businesses.

Re-modelling community business in a changing world

Where to start and guidance in delivering differently, tools to help with business planning and more

Enterprise Nation: advice, guidance and webinars on how you can adapt and keep trading through Covid-19.
Inspiring Impact: Impact support during Covid-19 by supporting organisations to make the most of data and evidence during, and beyond, the pandemic. Online events, webinars, resources and guidance available.
NCVO: advice on how to support staff, volunteers and beneficiaries and keeping safe.
Virtual Volunteers: a project by the School for Social Entrepreneurs where social enterprises are matched with skilled professionals from corporates who will then offer pro bono support.
The Fore: match skilled volunteers with small charities and social enterprises in need of support on topics including trustee recruitment, administration, finance and strategic planning.
Brunel Hive: Brunel for Business webinar series by Brunel University – including opportunities and resilience in crisis, all sessions are live.
London Business School: webinar series supporting UK business recovery. Topics include leading through a crisis, making difficult judgements, negotiating losses, and lessons that can be learnt from the Great Recession.
Barclays: ‘Back to Business’ programme of free online post-covid business planning for SMEs to assess business health and develop a resilience plan for a range of pandemic scenarios.
Co-ops UK: guidance on recovery share offers.
CASS Business School: Tools for success is intended for use by any small voluntary and community organisation wishing to invest in its long-term sustainability.