A company supporting groups and communities undertaking community share issues has been launched.
The Community Shares Company – which comes on the back of a boom in the model, has been founded by Dave Boyle, a co-operative development specialist and former chief executive of Supporters Direct.
The organisation aims to assist community share schemes at all steps of the process, from feasibility studies and grant applications to the share issue itself and beyond.
Mr Boyle says: “I’m a huge believer in community ownership, so it’s a development of the experience I’ve had and my own values.”
He adds that the new organisation aims to help communities with “writing, campaigning and communication skills and insights from behavioural economics and persuasion science.
“These disciplines have an awful lot to offer co-operative and community benefit societies looking to raise capital, especially when allied to the communication tools available through the internet. But they work just as well door-to-door and face-to-face.”
Join the Conversation