Our history
Power to Change was established in 2015 with an endowment from the National Lottery Community Fund (then the Big Lottery Fund). We were created to support and grow community business in England, because the role and impact of enterprising community businesses that benefit their local place was increasingly recognised.
Our goal has remained the same since that time. We want to see more communities in England run businesses that give them power to change what matters to them. Because we know community business works to create more resilient places. Communities that are better to live and work in for everyone.
What we’ve learned since 2015
In our early years, we focused on growing the community business movement. Since 2015, we have supported community businesses directly through funding and capacity building programmes totalling £107 million. We also developed a robust research programme to gather evidence about the role and impact of community business for the people and places they serve. We uncovered what community businesses need to make the greatest impact.
As of last year, £45 million of our spend has contributed to bringing an additional £210 million into the community business sector, in the form of matched and pooled funding, crowdfunding, government funding, community shares, loans and mortgages, additional grants and investments, refinanced debt and social investment. This means that for every £1 contributed by Power to Change, an additional £4.68 has been leveraged into the sector.
Through our research and the experience gained from our support programmes, we invested in ‘market development’ to reduce barriers and open opportunities. This included developing and growing innovative forms of finance that are better aligned to the community business model and opening up new areas of opportunity, like community energy and high street renewal. We also began making the case for community business with government, regional and local authorities, and social investors.
In 2023, as we looked ahead to the future, it became clear that there was a lot more work to do. We heard from community businesses that we have a key role to play in dismantling the barriers they face and unlocking more funding.
In 2023, we developed and refined our business model
Now we can continue to support community businesses now and in the future. We reflected on our strong track record and what we’ve learned from past funding and interventions.
We consulted wide and deep with community businesses and the external world to see whether and how we should continue to back community business. This process led us to conclude that we are sticking around for the long-term, that we need to re-ground ourselves in community business and work alongside them to achieve change. It led us to refresh our purpose, with our focus now on shaping the conditions for community business to thrive.
We now shape the conditions in which community businesses operate. We continue to advocate for policy change, partner with local and regional authorities and shape the funding and finance on offer to community businesses.