The Leading the Way programme aims to increase the skills, confidence, and networks of community enterprise leaders. This report evaluates it's impact, including on their enteprises and communities.
All Analysis
Scoping and analysing community business’ role in the transition to a fairer, greener economy
A strategic partnership between North of Tyne Combined Authority and Power to Change has been reviewing the challenges and opportunities facing the social economy in the North of Tyne to understand how best to design support for the sector in the region.
Community businesses can transform the progressive social intentions of younger generations into meaningful and sustainable community action. This report showcases the many ways young people came to be and are involved in community businesses.
New report exploring the 'Year Zero' approach to understanding the impact of Power to Change's investment
The Next Generation programme supported survey research with 205 members of three community energy groups to explore the difference that community energy made to their lives.
Looking at performance in meeting the needs of minoritised ethnic communities and reviewing what is already known about those needs from existing research.
Power to Change commissioned LSE Consulting to explore the role that private sector developers can play in supporting greater community involvement on our high streets and in our town centres.
The Power to Change report Take Back the High Street set out the case for the greater involvement of communities in the oversight and revitalisation of their high streets.
Power to Change’s Homes in Community Hands (HCH) programme provides grants to help build and refurbish affordable housing. Specifically, the programme is supporting the development of community-led housing (CLH) in England and has been allocated £7.6 million to do this. Between 2016 to 2018 £1.8 million in grants was disbursed in a vanguard phase of the programme. Between 2019 and 2021 up to £5.8 million additional funding will be made available. These funds will be predominantly targeted at five areas in England, but funding will also be available to support innovative projects anywhere in the country. The programme is being evaluated by a team of leading academics in this field. Over the course of the next three years the evaluation team will assess the impact of the HCH programme on various stakeholders and beneficiaries, whilst also capturing important learning to inform the practice of CLH enablers, CLH groups and other organisations including funders like Power to Change. This report presents findings from Year One of the evaluation, setting a baseline picture for the programme, and sharing early lessons on the formation and activity of enabling hubs.
This paper presents interim evaluation findings about parts of the Next Generation programme, covering the processes used and early outcomes.
This report reviews the existing evidence on the importance of volunteering to community businesses and derives estimates of the overall economic value of volunteering to community businesses.
This paper explores the funding landscape for community businesses. In doing so, it also explores what is distinctive about Power to Change’s offering, so that it can plan for its eventual exit from the market.
This report explores how high streets have declined and puts forward our recommendations for greater community ownership.
Better business support will have a positive outcome on the community business sector and increase not only
the number of community businesses, but also their success.
This working paper was produced as part of an evaluation and learning review of Power to Change’s Community Business Fund, led by Renaisi. This paper takes some of the learning from the evaluation of the Community Business Fund, and other work, and applies it to wider questions about community businesses, the places that they exist in and how those two things interact.
Power to Change commissioned a team from the University of Westminster, Delft University of Technology and Stockholm University to carry out a comparative study of community-based social enterprise (CBSE) in England, the Netherlands and Sweden. National policy was reviewed and three case studies were selected from each country, in order to provide an evidence base for making comparisons and drawing out more general conclusions about the development of the sector.
A common feature across community businesses in different sectors is for their business model to be heavily reliant on and/or driven by Community Asset Transfers (CATs). A CAT is the transfer of the ownership and/or management of an asset from its public-sector owner (usually a local authority) to a community organisation for less than market value. These transfers are made in order to achieve social, economic or environmental outcomes in the community in which the asset is located.
This report will help community businesses understand the factors through which they can measure their success.