Project: The Future of Assets and Enterprise

Grant: £30,000

Locality will use data from its members and programmes over the last 18 months, along with evidence from action research across five areas to produce a research report identifying the challenges and opportunities for community enterprises and how they can adapt their business models to support their recovery. It will also produce practical guidance materials to advise community organisations on how to shape their business models during this phase.

The practical guidance materials produced as a result of this work will support all community organisations, but particularly those reliant on trading income models, through the recovery phase by offering clear advice on how they need to change and adapt, as well as the future implications of different business model strategies. The learning from this work will also inform wider discussions about community assets and enterprise, and hopefully provide solutions to the challenges the sector is facing in terms of its long-term sustainability. Social investment has an important part to play in the business models for many community organisations and Locality is keen to draw on the experience of members that have accessed social investment over the past 18 months, to understand the role it has played in the crisis and how opportunities can be maximised in the future.