Power to Change Trust

Power to Change Trust

Type	Charitable Trust
Founded	2015
Headquarters	London, Bristol, Sheffield
Area served	England
Key people	Vidhya Alakeson - CEO
Website	http://www.thepowertochange.org.uk

Power to Change is a Charitable Trust operating in England, created in 2015 with a £150 million endowment from the Big Lottery Fund.^[1]

The trust is solely concerned with supporting Community Businesses in England over a ten-year period, after which it will cease operating. Its mission states^[2]

At the heart of our vision and mission is the devolution of power to local communities. We want to support people to take action to address local challenges, enabling them to control vital assets and services that might otherwise disappear, or start new initiatives in response to local needs. Putting business in community hands – that makes places better.

Life Cycle

Power to Change’s work is defined by three phases over the ten-year period of its existence.^[2]

1. The first phase to 2018 will focus on growing the community business world in specific sectors and places through capital and revenue grants, and business support advice.
2. The second phase will concentrate on assisting community businesses to make a bigger impact in specific areas on wider issues, such as unemployment, and deploy the learning from the first phase on how best to create conditions for successful community businesses.
3. The final phase will be focused on demonstrating the impact of community businesses and ensuring a legacy to enable the continued future growth of the sector.

Operations

• The trust ran an initial grants programme (now closed^[3]) that awarded £8 million of grant funding to community businesses.^[4]
• £2m has been invested into two blended funding pilots, where non-repayable grant funding is used to unlock appropriate repayable finance. These pilots are hoped to release around £6m of investment that community businesses wouldn't be able to access otherwise.
• In March 2016 the trust launched a £1 million match funding pilot with the Community Shares Unit which will be used to boost the investment that community businesses raise through community share offers.^[5]
• Applications for its £10 million Community Business Fund will be accepted from April 2016, awarding grants between £50,000- £300,000.
• In partnership with the Department for Communities and Local Government, Power to Change set up a £3.62 million community pub business support programme in March 2016.^[6] This will be delivered by the Plunkett Foundation.
• Inception funds for earlier stage community businesses will open later in 2016.^[7]
• The Power to Change Research Institute was set up with a £7.5 million budget as part of the trust's commitment to building a strong evidence base for the positive impact of community business. It released its first report on the size of the community business market in March 2016.^[8]

Governance

The organisation is governed by a board of 11 trustees,^[9] chaired by Stephen Howard, CEO of Business in the Community. Its Chief Executive is Vidhya Alakeson, formerly Deputy Chief Executive of the Resolution Foundation. The trust has offices in London, Bristol and Sheffield.

References

1. ↑ "Power to Change : Big Lottery Fund". www.biglotteryfund.org.uk. Retrieved 2016-03-23. 
2. 1 2

   "Power to Change Strategy 2016-2018" (PDF). 

3. ↑ "Our funding programmes - Power to Change". Power to Change. Retrieved 2016-03-23. 
4. ↑ "Funding awarded - Power to Change". Power to Change. Retrieved 2016-03-23. 
5. ↑ "Community shares programme - Power to Change". Power to Change. Retrieved 2016-03-23. 
6. ↑ http://www.thepowertochange.org.uk/new-3-62-million-support-programme-to-help-communities-take-control-of-their-local-pub/
7. ↑ http://www.thepowertochange.org.uk/grant-funding
8. ↑ "The community business market in 2015" (PDF). 
9. ↑ "Board of trustees - Power to Change". Power to Change. Retrieved 2016-03-23.