News

I am writing to introduce myself as the New Business Development Manager at Co-operative & Community Finance. You may be aware that there have been a couple of changes to the team this year and I have been recruited to take over Ian Rothwell’s role as he moves into the Investment Manager position. This follows Ian Taylor’s pending retirement after over 25 years at ICOF and CCF.

My role is to help raise the profile of the organisation, build partnerships and develop finance packages. I have worked as a social and community enterprise adviser for over 10 years prior to taking up this position and bring experience of working with a range of charities and community and co-operative businesses.

As a development worker or adviser in the co-operative/community business sectors I am keen to make contact with you. Firstly to let you know I’m here and secondly to make myself available if you would like to discuss any opportunities to work together in future. CCF has always worked closely with development workers and advisers in the sector and I am eager to maintain these links and promote co-operation. Perhaps you have clients that would benefit from loan finance or need interim finance to support a community share issue or perhaps you have funds that require management through our FCA authorised back office facilities. Perhaps you are considering a bidding opportunity that could benefit from a lending partner? Whatever your circumstances it would be great to talk to you.

CCF has a range of finance options available with loans from£10k – £150k for organisations that are democratically controlled by their members; across a range of community and co-operative sectors. We pride ourselves on quick investment decisions, low loss rates and flexible finance arrangements for your clients.

If you wish to contact me to find out more about my role or a chat please email me at: tim@coopfinance.coop or call me on 07342 674673.

A major new support and finance programme to help people take control of their local pub for the benefit of the community has been announced by Community Pubs Minister Marcus Jones MP.

More than a Pub: The Community Pub Business Support Programme is a £3.62 million, two-year programme that will see a comprehensive package of business development support, advice and loan and grant funding being delivered to community groups in England to help them establish community-owned pubs that can clearly demonstrate how they will bring significant social, economic and environmental benefits to their communities. Jointly funded by the Department for Communities and Local Government and Power to Change, the programme will be led by Plunkett Foundation and delivered in collaboration with leading organisations within the sector including Co-operative & Community Finance.

The programme aims to support 80 community-owned pubs to open over two years and will offer a flexible package of support including access to an advice line, events, workshops, peer-to-peer study visits, and business development advice. It will also offer flexible bursary awards to fund very early stage activity, such as community consultation work, and a grant and loan package.
Forty communities have already successfully taken ownership of their local pub under community ownership, and a further 1,250 have been listed as ‘assets of community value’ under community rights, highlighting the important role that pubs play in local communities.

Co-operative & Community Finance has helped several communities save their local pubs by providing long and short-term loan finance and by underwriting share issues (via the Community Shares Fund).

One example is The Fox and Hounds in Denmead on the outskirts of Portsmouth which reopened under community ownership In December 2014, after it had been derelict for over two years. The local community raised nearly £500,000 to buy and refurbish the 150 year building. The community share issue attracted £326,000 from 190 investors and the remainder came from loans from Co-operative & Community Finance and The Co-operative Loan Fund and a grant from Solent Local Enterprise Partnership.

Business Development Manager Tim Coomer said: “We are delighted by the launch of this long-awaited support programme. It should make a big difference to many local communities. We have worked with Plunkett on a similar programme to support community-owned shops and so we are confident that this one for pubs will be popular and successful.”
Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of Plunkett Foundation, said: “This programme will significantly increase the number of community-owned pubs open and trading, bringing far-reaching benefits to local people. For many communities, pubs are not just a place to drink; they are central to peoples’ sense of place and identity, they provide an important place for people to meet and help to build community cohesion.”

To find out more about the programme please call the programme advice line on 01993 810730 or visit www.plunkett.co.uk.

Ethical finance groups work together

Two long-established ethical finance organisations have agreed new arrangements that will make more money available to democratic enterprises in disadvantaged communities.

Ecology Building Society has lent £500,000 to Co-operative & Community Finance, and under the terms of the government Community Investment Tax Relief (CITR) scheme this money will be used to stimulate enterprise in deprived parts of the UK.

Co-operative & Community Finance, established in 1973, is the oldest Community Development Finance Institution in the UK and one of the few that is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority in the conduct of investment business. It normally has £4m to lend to member-owned enterprises but following a record year of lending in 2014 more funds were needed to meet the increasing demand.

Ecology Building Society was set up in 1981 with the aim of using members’ savings to provide mortgages and loans to properties and projects that have a positive impact on the environment and communities. It has over 9,000 members with a total of £138m savings.

The two organisations had worked together before in the joint funding of housing co-operatives and community-owned shops, so a closer partnership which benefited them both and helped them deliver their objectives made sense.

Ian Rothwell, Development Manager at Co-operative & Community Finance, said: “When we realised that we may need additional funds to meet the demand for our ethical finance it made sense to approach Ecology Building Society. We share similar values and are keen to invest in the same projects and enterprises.”

Paul Ellis, Chief Executive of Ecology Building Society, said: “We are pleased to be strengthening our links with Co-operative & Community Finance who have an excellent track record in working with start-ups in the community sector. We strongly believe in finance organisations pooling their respective skill-sets for the common good, enabling us to amplify our impact. This collaborative approach is something that our members welcome.”

In a further display of the growing closeness between the two ethical finance organisations, Ian Rothwell was invited to address Ecology Building Society’s well attended AGM in Liverpool.

The CITR scheme, launched in 2002 and revised in 2012, was devised to stimulate the flow of private finance to support enterprise in the UK’s deprived communities. This rare case of two member-owned enterprises using the scheme for mutual benefit is a pragmatic example of the co-operative value of self-help.

A new package of funding and support for ‘real farming’ will be launched on 13 July.

The Just Growth programme aims to nurture the development of community enterprises that are farming and producing food in an environmentally and socially responsible way. Co-operative & Community Finance is working in partnership with the Real Farming Trust and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to deliver the programme in England, Scotland and Wales.

Over the next 18 months Just Growth plans to help up to 14 community-based farming projects to either start up, expand or develop new activities that make them more resilient and sustainable. Up to eight of these projects will receive a funding package made up of one third loan finance from Co-operative & Community Finance and one third grant funding from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation. The remaining third has to be raised from the local community either through crowdfunding or community shares. The minimum loan amount is £15,000 and this must be matched or exceeded by the amount raised through community finance. The grant will match the loan but will be capped at £20,000. The eight projects receiving funding will also get three days of specialist advice. The other projects will receive one and a half days of expert support to help them develop their business plans so they are more ready for future investment.

Clare Horrell has been appointed to manage Just Growth. She has over seven years’ experience of working with community-supported food and agriculture projects for Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming. She said: “We believe that agriculture needs to be just and fair for people and the environment. Just Growth aims to nurture a just agricultural model through encouraging and supporting small scale farming. We are particularly keen to see more community ownership in food and farming and we will be looking for organisations with strong co-operative principles embedded in their structure.”

The three-pronged approach to funding the projects using an equal mix of loan, grant and community finance has been used very successfully in the past by Co-operative & Community Finance and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to support community-owned shops.

Ian Rothwell of Co-operative & Community Finance said: “We are very excited by the Just Growth programme. We are using a funding model that has been tried and tested with great success, so we are as confident as we can be that it will work with community-supported agriculture.”

Projects interested in applying to the Just Growth programme should visit feanetwork.org/our-projects/just-growth for more information and an application form.

Just Growth is a project of the Funding Enlightened Agriculture network which itself is a project of the Real Farming Trust. The mission of the Real Farming Trust is to enable the growth of farming and food production practices that are economically sound and democratic, socially just, humane to animals, and promote the long-term protection of natural resources.