Co‑operatives UK has today (6 August) announced plans for a new dedicated investment fund for community shares, building on its decade-old Community Shares Booster Fund and unlocking a new avenue for communities to raise capital to save, build and grow community-based co-operatives.
Co-operatives UK and its Community Shares Unit par tners, Locality and Plunkett UK, have joined up with Community Shares ICOF (CSI) to move the Booster Fund investment function from Co‑operatives UK into CSI, a fund managed by Co-op and Community Finance.
The fund will be launched later in 2026 and will see the returns on Co-operatives UK’s £5m community shares investments re-invested in new share offers through CSI. Existing Co-operatives UK investments will remain with the organisation for the time being – with only the return on investments moving to CSI for re-investment.
The fund will also seek further and significant additional capitalisation to support and grow the community shares economy – and contribute towards the government manifesto commitment of doubling the size of the co-operative economy.
John Dawson, head of market development at Co-operatives UK, said: “Over the past decade, the Booster Fund has become the ‘go-to’ place for support in England with community shares. It has tested and evolved a unique model of match investment that has proved hugely successful for many communities and raised millions of additional pounds of investment.
“Now we want to do more – and we know the appetite is there from communities. We are looking forward to continuing to boost community enterprise with the new fund and invite others to support us with these plans.”
Jo White, chair of CSI, said: “We are delighted to agree on a joint vision to develop this new fund, to continue to grow this most impactful way of communities raising their own investment and building their own movement of invested members in community-based co-operatives.”
The original Booster Fund evolved from a pilot scheme established in 2016, which aimed to support community enterprises in raising finance through community share offers. This is a unique form of finance that enables people to invest directly in businesses that benefit their community and give them a say in how the businesses are run.
Almost 10 years ago, Future Wolverton was one of the first organisations to receive support through the progarmme, launching a community share offer in 2017 to raise capital to restore the Old School building. Future Wolverton’s fundraising target was £120,000, which was reached with £70,000 invested by local people and £50,000 match investment from the Booster Fund.
Today, the community business is a local success story – having become a catalyst for the regeneration of Wolverton in Milton Keynes, rescuing historic buildings, creating new opportunities for local people and inspiring communities to take ownership of their future.
CEO Marie Osborne said: “The Booster Fund investment was essential in us reaching our target. It gave people confidence that this was legitimate. Having Co-operatives UK behind us was a really important marketing message, and every pound invested through the Booster encouraged local people to invest too.
“Wolverton was seen to be an area in need of intervention by the public sector and what we’ve proved is that by coming together we can make things happen ourselves. Now, if there’s a ‘boho’ part of Milton Keynes, it’s here.
“We’ve become the catalyst for people to take action to tackle the issues that needed addressing in their community, for people believing they can make change happen. Success breeds success.”
To mark the Booster Fund’s 10th anniversary, Co-operatives UK has also launched a report sharing some of the stories of how the investment programme has helped community businesses across England access millions of pounds of investment, rescue valued assets and create lasting social and economic impact.
The report highlights how Co-operatives UK invested £5m in 98 community share offers over the decade, unlocking a further £20m from more than 26,000 community investors – which has enabled and empowered community businesses to set up and thrive. The Booster Fund has also awarded more than £1.25m in development grants to over 184 societies to prepare share offers.
