Search Results

Better understanding the financial impact of funding programmes through the ‘Year Zero’ approach

Repository entry 1 February 2022

Through funding programmes such as Trade Up and the Community Business Fund, Power to Change supports community businesses to trade for the benefit of their local community; yet how can we understand the financial impact that Power to Change has had on community businesses? The answer is not straightforward, and programme impact can be difficul…

Empowering Places: The impact of the programme on community businesses

Repository entry 1 February 2022

Empowering Places aims to build more resilient and prosperous communities by building the capacity of local organisations to ‘catalyse’ and support the growth of new community businesses. It funds locally rooted ‘catalyst’ organisations in six areas of high deprivation. The evaluation aims to take a realistic approach to understand…

Good Evidence: A guide to help community organisations produce research that gets taken seriously

Repository entry 1 February 2022

This guide is for community organisations undertaking their own research or doing research in partnership with other institutions. It has been informed by consultation with members of the Greater Manchester Third Sector Research Network.

Part I comprises three short sections on Trustworthiness, followed by Ethics and Bias, which are c…

Models of Value that Community Organising Generates for its Adopters

Repository entry 1 February 2022

Over recent years, the principles and practice of community organising have proliferated across a range of organisations and sectors. Keen to understand the impact of community organising and its potential as a tool for communities to tackle local issues, Power to Change commissioned a piece of research in 2020 looking in-depth at the experienc…

Thematic Paper: Sector & Community Businesses

Repository entry 1 February 2022

This working paper explores how the concept of sector can be useful for funders to understand and support community businesses. It also presents recommendations for using sector typologies going forward.

While sector trends in the community business market are not always clear to identify, this research shows that sector typologies can nonethe…

Research digest: ‘None of us is as smart as all of us’

Blog 25 January 2022

We at the Institute for Community Studies are an ambitious bunch. In the summer of 2021, we embarked on a project to collect in one place everything we know about what’s working in communities across the UK and beyond. Six

‘Empowering young people will drive better mental health support’

Blog 25 January 2022

Having struggled with her own mental health, 16-year-old Eva Woods is currently working as a peer researcher in secondary schools, talking to other young people seeking support.

‘We need to address how we educate young people about money’

Blog 21 January 2022

We offer a platform to our Kickstart team, who have been employed by The Young Foundation to develop peer research skills. Here, they explore financial literacy. 

Kickstart reports – sprint two

Publication 20 January 2022

A report designed and created by young people on the Kickstart scheme, exploring experiences of financial literacy.

‘A time to recharge, renew – and participate in your future’

Blog 19 January 2022

The Young Foundation starts 2022 with a focus on collective energy. Helen Goulden reflects on the challenges and opportunities ahead.

Exploring experiences of Covid-19 in Southampton

Project 17 January 2022

Voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations around Southampton expressed their interest in recruiting peer researchers to explore issues around Covid-19 and support collective action.

Delivering Zero-Carbon Schools: A practical and innovative business model for the community energy sector

Repository entry 1 January 2022

Schools are at the heart of our local communities; they represent a quarter of public sector carbon emissions, so fully decarbonising their energy will be essential. While two-thirds of local authorities have declared a Climate Emergency, many do not have plans in place to tackle schools’ emissions. This report presents a new business mo…