News Archive
Join Stir to Action in Bristol for the ABC’s Festival 10-11 July 2024
After many years of supporting Stir To Action, we’re delighted to announce that once again we’re one of the sponsors of this years Festival, with our sister organisation, the Co-op Loan Fund The ABCs Festival will be a two-day interactive event at Bristol’s Arts Mansion at Ashton Court from 10-11 July 2024. Always an inspiring […]
World Social Justice Day
Today, February 20th, is the World Day of Social Justice an international day recognising the need to promote social justice. Adopted by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) on 10 June 2008, approved by the UN on 26 November 2007 and starting in 2009, this day seeks to raise awareness about the importance of creating a […]
10 Years a Co-op – congratulations to The Globe
As we reported back in October, music co-op The Globe is reaching a milestone this year. 10 YEARS A CO-OP is a five-day, multi-genre music festival that celebrates the tenth anniversary of The Globe being community owned. On 30 April 2014 it became the first pub/venue in the UK to be owned and run by […]
Enrolling now for April – the next barefoot Co-op Development Training
Are you ready to join a new generation of co-operative advisors who are committed to democracy in the workplace and local communities? Through Stir To Action, the Co-op Culture barefoot training programme is enrolling now, for an April start. Also available is standalone Finance training on January 30th. Could you apply the skills and experience you […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – Business Development Manager Tim looks back over our 50th year
What a year it’s been! We’re closing our fiftieth year with a final interview, this one is with our Business Development Manager Tim who looks back on his connection with ICOF and this fantastic 50th year that we’ve all shared. “I’ve been here for almost eight years – eight years in January. I first learned […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – Co-op Web
This is the last of our series of articles exploring the loans we’ve made over the first fifty years of trading. We started with Little Women and have met printers and pubs, recyclers and retrofitters, welders and nurseries, shops selling eggs, auto spares, libraries and so much more. The landscape has changed – when we […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Theodora Hadjimichael
We are almost at the end of our series of interviews with friends made over the last fifty years. Today we speak to Theodora Hadjimichael, Chief Executive of Responsible Finance, the membership organisation for not-for-profit lenders, of which we are a member. “We have about 50 members overall that do similar lending to ICOF, supporting […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Ella Smyth
In our series chatting with people who have been part of the ICOF story over the last fifty tears, today we speak to Ella Smyth, Funding and Partnerships Manager for the Co-op Foundation, the foundation of the Co-op Group. “I started work with the Foundation in 2017 and in my first year at the Foundation, […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Matt Fazal
In our series of conversations with people we’ve known across our first fifty years today we met Matt Fazal, Portfolio Manager at Power To Change. “I am relatively new to the sector, I joined Power to Change in 2019, working across various activities on programme improvement. Before that I was working for grassroots charities and […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – Denton West End Library
Communities own business of all shapes and sizes. Community owned pubs and shops are perhaps the most common nowadays, but community owned libraries are in there too. In 2013, hundreds of people from Greater Manchester got together to save their local library, and we were part of the story, providing finance to realise the dream. […]