News Archive
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – Drive Housing Co-op
Back in 2011, we were pleased to support The Drive Housing Co-op as they purchased property in Walthamstow – our first loan to a housing co-op in many years. The co-op aimed to provide a home for ten people, aged between 30 and 68, with a shared interest in co-operation, sustainability and gardening. The plan […]
Ten years of The Globe in Newcastle
We are delighted to share that a music co-op we’ve worked with in the past is reaching a fantastic milestone next year. Newcastle’s award-winning independent music venue, The Globe, on the western edge of the city centre, will be celebrating its tenth anniversary of community-ownership with the 10 YEARS A CO-OP festival on 26-30 April 2024. In […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Tim Blanc
In our interview series exploring memories from our fifty years so far, today we’re talking to Tim Blanc. Tim is one of the founder members of Bristol based Essential Trading Cooperative and has been an ICOF Trustee “I’ve been with Essential for over 40 years and I was a Trustee director of ICOF for many […]
Finance available to help co-ops and community businesses in England save on energy
We are proud to be part of the Energy Resilience Fund, a new, time limited pilot project aiming to help co-operatives, community businesses and social enterprises retrofit energy generating or energy saving technology on community owned or managed buildings In partnership with the Key Fund, and with funding and support from the Access Foundation, Power […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – Lamarsh Lion
According to local history, there has ben an inn or pub on the site of the The Lamarsh Lion, or “Painters Pub”, since 1305. Our history with the pub stretches back to 2017 – not quite 1305 – when we supported the purchase of the pub by a community benefit society through the More Than […]
An Equality Agenda for Co-op and Community Finance
After a year on our Board, Trustee Owen Dowsett writes on the progress we are making towards an equality agenda. He recognises progress made so far, identifies priority areas to work on, questions to ask and explores how our work sits within a wave of change across our the sector. Just over a year ago […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – meet Andy Love
In our series interviewing our friends from the last fifty years, today we meet Andy Love. Andy was a Trustee from 1993 to 2022 and was the PLC shareholders representative on the board for most of this time. “In many ways, I’ve been a lifelong co-operator. I’ve been involved in various sectors of the Movement over many years. Some of […]
Celebrating ICOF 50th birthday – looking back at our loans – Sutcliffe Play
It’s lovely to share stories with you of businesses that we’ve worked with, who are thriving today We supported Sutcliffe Play with their employee buyout and they are proudly displaying an Employee Owned Manufacturer logo on their website today, alongside their ‘Manufactured in the UK’ badge. Through creativity, innovation and conviction, Sutcliffe Play try to […]
Fifty years of friendship and finance – introducing Alain Demontoux
Today in our series of interviews looking back at our first fifty years in business, we meet Alain Demontoux who many of you will know. After starting with us as a Trustee in 2002, and joining as staff in 2006, Al is now a key member of the team as our Operations and FCA Compliance […]
The Co-operative and Mutual Economy 2023 – new report
Co-operatives UK has launched the Co-operative and Mutual Economy 2023 – the only examination of a combined, comprehensive dataset on the democratic economy. It reveals – among many other things – that: New-start coops more than twice as likely to survive the first 5 years of business as ‘regular’ businesses The democratic economy is made up […]