Annabel Litchfield

Understanding impact for community businesses – Challenges and good practices for community businesses and funders

Repository entry 1 July 2022

This paper explores what community businesses can do to understand their social impact, reflecting on the challenges and building on some of the good practices identified through three Power to Change-funded programmes (Bright Ideas, Trade Up and the Community Business Fund). This is presented following the three main elements that community bu…

Valuing the contribution of volunteers to community businesses supported by the Community Business Fund

Repository entry 1 September 2021

This research seeks to understand the value of volunteers to community businesses supported by the Power to Change Community Business Fund (CBF). To do this, the report looks at:

the types of roles that volunteers fulfil;
why community businesses decide to engage with volunteers and why some roles are fulfilled by volunteers;
the type…

Bright Ideas, Trade Up, and Community Business Fund: Year 2 Evaluation Report

Repository entry 1 May 2021

This report outlines evaluation findings from Renaisi’s evaluation of Power to Change’s Bright Ideas and Trade Up programmes, and its Community Business Fund. Each of these is different from the others and specifically targets different stages and support needs in the community business life cycle. However, they were all designed to supp…

Evaluation of Bright Ideas, Trade Up and the Community Business Fund: Impact on people and place learning paper

Repository entry 1 April 2021

This report builds on Renaisi’s interim evaluation report of Power to Change’s Bright Ideas and Trade Up programmes,  and its Community Business Fund, as well as contributing additional evidence to existing research around the impact of community businesses on people and place.

Amongst other things, it finds that:

Communi…

Growing Community Businesses – An interim evaluation of Bright Ideas, the Community Business Fund and Trade Up

Repository entry 1 October 2020

Power to Change commissioned Renaisi in April 2019 to evaluate three programmes: Bright Ideas, Trade Up and the Community Business Fund. The overall aim of the evaluation is to help Power to Change draw lessons about the impact of the funding, and to measure whether the three funds have met their aims to: (i) understand the impact of Power to C…

More Than a Pub programme evaluation – Interim Report

Repository entry 1 September 2019

The main aims of the evaluation were to develop a better understanding of the economic, social and environmental impacts of community controlled pubs, and to identify the key conditions for success of community owned pubs. The evaluation was developmental, designed to respond to the evolving needs and interests of both the More than a Pub progr…

Community Business Fund evaluation – Interim Report

Repository entry 1 March 2019

Power to Change commissioned Renaisi in October 2016 to evaluate the Community Business Fund. This is the first interim evaluation of the programme. The Community Business Fund is aimed at community businesses who need funding for a business development project that will make them more sustainable, making grant awards of between £50,000 and £…