News Archive
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet David Ralley
We’ve been celebrating our fifty years of friendship and finance by talking to the people who have worked with us along the way. Today we meet David Ralley, whose ICOF story goes back to our very beginning “Ernest Bader had built a successful chemical company. It was called Scott Bader as Dora Scott, his wife, […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – The Phone Co-op
Now part of the Midcounties Co-op, The Phone Co-op was an independent consumer co-operative until 2018. It provides landline, mobile telephone and Internet services, including web hosting and broadband, for business and personal users. We supported them in the late 1990’s as they brought in better IT and improved their offices. We can vouch for […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Jo White
We’ve been celebrating our fifty years of friendship and finance by talking to the people who have worked with us along the way. Today we meet Jo White, Executive Director of Co-operative Futures ‘It was about 2010 or 11 when I became ICOF Chair, and I was in that role for eight years. I’d been on […]
Join a new generation of co-op & community business advisors
The barefoot programme is a six-month course to support co-operative and community business leaders to use their experience to become advisors and mentors for other businesses that are planning to start or scale. This support will reach a range of different business sectors in the UK co-operative and community business economy. The next programme starts […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – Ecosulis
Originally Bath based and family owned, Ecosulis are dedicated to recovering nature, by designing and delivering efficient and scalable nature-based solutions for people and planet. We worked with them in 2007 when the existing family sold to a management buyout and Ecosulis become an employee-owned cooperative. At that stage, the company specialised in the delivery […]
New £6m fund partnership set to increase the availability of finance to smaller charities and social enterprises
Launching today, we are incredibly proud to be part of the new £6m fund partnership, the Thrive Together Fund The new Thrive Together Fund will provide unrestricted funding to unlock the growth of small and medium sized charities and social enterprises. This bold new fund is operated through a delivery partnership made up of Social […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Dan and Vic at Unicorn
Today in our series of conversations with people and organisations we’ve known over our 50 years so far, we speak to Dan Holden and Vik Knott of Unicorn Grocery in Chorlton, Manchester. “We needed loan finance in 2003 to buy our building. The opportunity came up unexpectedly and we needed to get a lot of […]
Could you be our new Chair?
We are still looking for a new Chairperson! Could it be you? We are looking for a dynamic new Chairperson to lead our board in providing strong strategic support to the small executive team, chair quarterly meetings, promote high standards of governance, encourage positive change and uphold our strong ethical values and co-operative principles. What […]
500-year-old inn secures new investment for community
A 500-year-old Inn saved by its residents in 2018 has secured a new funding package enabling the community pub to thrive as it enters a new chapter under new management. Located in the heart of Ash near Sandwich in Kent, the Chequer Inn is a country pub that has been serving drinks and its community […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our early loans – Unicorn Grocery
Manchester based Unicorn Grocery has been supplying the good people of the north west with affordable, wholesome food, ecological household goods and more since 1996 ‘by a small group of people committed to social change’ Twice named the nation’s ‘Best Food Retailer’ at the BBC Food & Farming Awards, they have also been named as the […]