Impact of Community Business Weekend revealed

by Campaign Collectivein Campaign Collective Newson 10/08/2018

Research has revealed the positive impact of 225 events which took place over Community Business Weekend.

The Power to Change-led Weekend took place across England from 4-7 May 2018 and saw almost 20,000 people engage with their local community businesses.

Community businesses are organisations rooted in a local area, run by and answerable to members of the community, and which make a trading profit to re-invest in doing more social good. Community-led pubs, libraries, housing, shops, farms, transport, and renewable energy are just some examples.

The Weekend offered a unique opportunity for community businesses to invite local people to see behind the scenes, understand how they can get involved in running a business for community good and have a say in local decision making.

Almost 300 new volunteers, trustees and shareholders were recruited to the community business movement as a result of the Weekend, which also drew widespread media coverage and social media content that celebrated the work of community businesses.

Campaign Collective’s Ian Morton explains:

Every day tens of thousands of people get up and go to work at one of the community businesses in England. Hundreds of thousands of us shop, visit or benefit from them directly but they are still relatively unknown. That’s why Community Business Weekend is so important.

The Weekend shined a light on these community-run gems that bring not only much needed services and spaces to a community but boost local economies and reinvest the profits for the benefit of local people.