Pennine Community Power turbineCommunity Energy Support

Co-op Culture has a track record of working with the community energy sector of the wider co-operative and community business movement. We have advised and supported organisations and groups at all stages of their development journey, from a small group who have just had an idea to a Community Benefit Society or Co-operative Society raising hundreds of thousands from a community share offer. Our clients have been involved in the full range of activities from community owned energy generation to retrofit and energy advice.  Past client groups include organisations of national significance such as Big Solar Co-op and People Powered Retrofit.

We are able to provide our services nationally, using remote working as a default to reduce transport costs, emissions and barriers. However, we also provide face to face support where appropriate or desirable. Our headquarters in Hebden Bridge enables us to cover the North of England and Scotland. Our regional office in Southampton covers London, the South East and most of the South West.

The support we provide is informed by decades of experience, direct involvement in the sector as practitioners, active involvement in a professional network of co-operative and community business specialists and good practice, such as that provide by the Community Shares Unit.

We are providers to Co-operatives UK’s Business Support for Co-ops programme.  Our whole team are Registered Community Shares Practitioners and 2 members of the team are Licensed Community Shares Practitioners able to award the Community Shares Standard Mark.

This non-exhaustive list identifies some of the support we have provided to community energy groups

  • Support with strategy – Clarifying Vision Mission and Aims
  • Theory of Change development
  • Feasibility and viability
  • Support on sources of finance, including community share capital
  • Advice on governance and legal form
  • Incorporation
  • Business plan development and reviews
  • Share offer document development
  • Assessment of share offer documentation against Community Shares Standard Mark
  • Ongoing advice, support and training around governance, management and growth
  • Strategic reviews

 

We provide services on behalf of infrastructure bodies such as Co-operatives UK and Plunkett UK and also contract directly with groups spending their trading reserves or have accessed grant funding to pay for support e.g. Community Shares Booster, Reach Access, GBE Community Fund (coming soon!).