A new round of grant funding designed to help community businesses thrive is to be managed by County Durham’s experienced business service provider, BE Group.
Power to Change is an independent charitable trust set up in 2015 to support, develop and grow community businesses across England using £150m of Big Lottery Funding over the next nine years.
Community businesses give people the power to change their local spaces and places and improve the social and economic prospects of their communities in the long-term. Collectively they represent £1bn of assets in England and Wales, with 4,500 businesses employing 24,000 staff.
Independent business services firm BE Group will administer funds from Power to Change’s new community business fund programme, which opens in April. It will be accessible to community businesses to support their sustainability and accelerate their growth. Power to Change’s Initial Grants Programme will have committed £9m of funding and support to more than 40 community businesses across England by the end of this month.
Alastair MacColl, Chief Executive at BE Group said: “Working with Power to Change is a real recognition of our pedigree in administrating funds designed to help businesses succeed and grow.
“The community businesses that Power to Change fosters will be in an excellent position to make a real, lasting change around England, and we are delighted to be able to support that.”
“The tender for this community business fund contract was highly competitive. BE Group won out thanks to their strong customer relations track record and experience supporting small businesses. The fact that they shared our commitment to communities helped them clinch it for us,” said Kate Stewart, Director of Funds at Power to Change.