Community Impact Index

Find out how co-operatives impact communities.

Find out how co-operatives impact communities.

  • Unicorn

    Small co-operative community champions: Unicorn grocery

    Unicorn is a wholefood grocery and worker co-operative in Manchester with a strong focus on organic, regional and fairly traded produce. The co-operative buys preferentially from other co-operatives where it can and has a lot of co-operative suppliers, from the big wholesalers like Suma and Essential to small enterprises like the Handmade Bakery, Moss Brook Growers and Glebelands City ...

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  • Being a responsible community member makes business sense

    For co-ops that wish to invest in their community, there is plenty of best practice advice. And as Andy Melia, community investment manager at Business in the Community (BITC) explains, being a responsible community member is not just the right thing to do, it also makes business sense. BITC was formed following the Brixton riots in 1982, amid growing realisation that social issues were ...

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  • Community impact index: Find out how co-operatives perform

    It is often believed co-operatives give much more support to the communities they operate in when compared to their corporate rivals, but where is the evidence for this? When examined does the sector truly have stronger links with the people they serve? And where those links exist, is the co-operative difference being witnessed in neighbourhoods? This piece of explorative research from ...

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  • How are co-operatives investing in communities?

    The community impact index is not a definitive statement on which organisations carry out more, or less, community activity than others. What it shows is the total reported community investment activity of these organisations, ranked according to percentage of pre-tax profits. There are limitations to this reported data, both in terms of what is reported and how, meaning it is not possible ...

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  • Small co-operative community champions: FC United

    FC United is a community-owned football club in Manchester, set up by fans in 2005. The organisation’s manifesto states that the club will seek to be of benefit to its local communities, with an aspiration that a fan-owned football club would have more of a positive community impact than a privately-owned club. FC United’s community work represents a high proportion of the club’s turnover, ...

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  • Foreword: Measuring the impact of co-operatives on communities

    An introduction to the Community Impact Index from Pete Westall, Group General Manager – Co-operative Social Responsibility, at Midcounties Co-operative. The Midcounties Co-operative is the largest independent society in the UK. Being involved in and contributing to our local communities is a fundamental part of who we are and reflects one of the core principles that co-operatives ...

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  • Small co-operative community champions: Essential Trading

    Essential Trading is a worker-owned food co-operative, based in the south west of England. Set up to provide organic, Fairtrade food at reasonable prices, it is committed to supporting independent local businesses, as well as promoting co-operative and community principles. One of the ways it does this is by encouraging and supporting the set up and running of buying groups around the ...

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  • Community impact index: The view from the experts

    This section of the impact index is based on interviews with experts in the community investment and CSR field. With examples of good practice and thoughts on main trends for the future, it will be useful for organisations and individuals with established practice in community investment. The latter section includes tips on getting started and warnings about some common mistakes to ...

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  • Saith Seren – a hub for the community

    Small co-operative community champions: Saith Seren

    Saith Seren, a community-owned pub in Wrexham opened its doors in January 2012. It offers food and drink downstairs and a range of community services upstairs, including Welsh language lessons and space for toddlers’ groups and other small community groups. “We’re basically a community hub for the Welsh language community in the Wrexham area”, says Marc Jones, chair of Saith Seren. The ...

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  • The co-operative volunteering index

    Volunteering is a particularly problematic part of the index, both in terms of the lack of reported activity and the differing methods used to report. As can be seen from the next table, the majority of organisations either do not report volunteer hours at all or report only a financial value equivalent. Some report only direct volunteer hours; others include management time on top. ...

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  • Midcounties colleagues sharing Fairtrade activities at Campion School

    Case study: Volunteering index

    Co-operatives are reporting links between volunteering and community engagement. At Midcounties Co-operative, 56% of employees participate in a volunteer programme, representing over 40,000 hours of work in 2012. According to Pete Westall, group general manager for co-operative social responsibility at Midcounties, the scheme supports both member and employee engagement. “Our labour ...

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  • The Mobu Ke Khuata Co-operative aims to empower the community of Masemouse

    Case study: How co-operatives are helping other co-operatives

    British co-operatives are supporting their counterparts in the UK and beyond, with Chelmsford Star topping the first Co-operative Support Index. Chelmsford Star allocated £48,400 in cash donations, investments and staff time to co-operative development in 2012, the equivalent of 4.2% of its pre-tax profits. Locally it supports Holdfast Credit Union, Millrace Furniture Restoration and ...

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  • What are co-ops doing in their communities?

    Co-op Group Community groups are being helped by a raft of initiatives which are taking co-operatives back to their roots and building stronger links with the people they serve at a time when their values are needed more than ever. One of the most ambitious developments is the membership offer launched by the Co-operative Group this autumn, complete with a pale blue membership card ...

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