Power to Change to release £3m for community businesses

Power to Change will reopen its Community Business Fund on Wednesday April  24, offering grants of between £50,000 and £300,000 to businesses in England trading for the benefit of and accountable to their local communities.

To date, the fund has given grants worth over £22m to over 120 community businesses across England.

Yorkshire and the Humber, the South West and the North West have been awarded the lion’s share of the cash with nearly £4,500,000 going to each region. Community hubs have been awarded 45% of grants, followed by community shops or pubs (13%), employment and training support (10%) and sports and leisure centres (7%).

This is the seventh round of the Community Business Fund, which has to date supported over 120 organisations in England to become more financially sustainable. From farms to libraries, canal moorings to cinemas, the Community Business Fund supports a wide range of community businesses, which all operate in a way that delivers positive social impact.

Alex Steeland, programme manager at Power to Change, said: ‘We’re very excited to make a further £3m available to community businesses. Community businesses are doing exceptional work at delivering more cohesive local communities and a stronger civil society.

‘We look forward to receiving a broad range of applications from a wide variety of places and sectors, and we are particularly keen to hear from community businesses in the East Midlands, South East and North East so we can distribute the fund more evenly across the country.’

After opening on April 24, community businesses will have until midday on Wednesday, May 22 to apply. Organisations are encouraged to read the guidance and the FAQs for the fund before making an application and to sign up to the Power to Change newsletter to be kept informed as to when the online application form goes live.

Grant awards will be made to the successful organisations from August 2019.