Community Co-operative Awards

Once again we are proud to be a sponsor of the Community Co-operative Awards.

If you have a community-run business in your area that you feel goes above and beyond to support the community then please persuade them to enter (communityownershipawards.com). It’s free to apply and entrants get good publicity. Applications close on Friday 27 October at 5pm. The winners will be announced at a special awards ceremony in London on Wednesday 6 December.

The Community Co-operative Awards are run by the Plunkett Foundation, a national charity that helps communities to set up and run community co-operatives. Nearly 400 community shops and over 50 pubs have been saved as community co-ops, with an increasing number of other businesses also choosing the model, from cafes and local hubs to farms and broadband projects.

Co-operative & Community Finance has worked closely with the Plunkett Foundation for many years. Investment Manager Ian Rothwell said: “We were one of the partners in the Village Core programme that was responsible for the start up of hundreds of community-owned shops and more recently we have been working with Plunkett in the More Than A Pub programme. We are delighted to sponsor this awards scheme that celebrates community ownership.”

The picture shows volunteers at Radley Village Shop in Oxfordshire celebrating 10 years of community ownership. Loans from Co-operative & Community Finance helped them to start up in 2007 and then in 2011 to buy the premises.