Blogs

Our Chief Executive, James Alcock, reflects on Plunkett’s experience at Anthropy, an annual gathering of leaders held at the Eden Project. What started in 2022 as a 3-day national gathering at the Eden Project in Cornwall, is now a membership body facilitating year-round collaboration promoting responsible practices within business, fostering new [...]

At our Rural Community Business Awards, the ‘Investing in Local People’ category celebrates how community businesses are transforming lives through employment, training, and volunteering. In rural areas, job opportunities are limited and declining. However, community businesses are well-placed to provide diverse opportunities for both paid work and volunteering, which [...]

Honouring the women who drive Plunkett UK's mission forward and inspire community resilience March marks Women’s History Month, dedicated to celebrating and raising awareness of the social and historical contributions and achievements of women. At Plunkett, we proudly celebrate the women in our organisation. This year, we are thrilled to announce [...]

At our Rural Community Business Awards, ‘The More Than’ category celebrates how community businesses go above and beyond for their communities. Community-owned businesses stand out from other enterprises by going beyond their traditional service, offering a diverse range of services and amenities to benefit local people. For example, a community pub, [...]

Our Communications and Marketing Officer, Michael Wolverson, shares how groups are kick-starting their journey towards transforming assets into community ownership with support from the Combined Authority. It has been over six months since I wrote my blog about Cambridgeshire groups bidding to save their pubs. During my recent visit to Cambridgeshire, [...]

Misty Bower, Plunkett's Community Business Adviser, highlights the key takeaways from our recent webinar, 'Community Business: From Idea to Reality.' Ever thought about starting a business that benefits not just you, but your whole community? A business that alongside trading helps, reduce loneliness, improves the environment, or even catalyses community [...]

Plunkett's Community Business Manager, Alison Macklin, offers valuable insights on what your community business should prioritise as we enter 2025 Alison running an interactive workshop at The National Community Business Conference  After all the disruptions, challenges, and stressful situations of the past few years, it's understandable if training [...]

Reflecting on a jam-packed and rewarding 2024 at Plunkett UK It has been an incredible year for the community business sector and a particulary busy one at Plunkett UK! As more rural communities face the loss of vital core services, an increasing number of groups are turning to Plunkett [...]

As 2024 draws to a close, we want to express our gratitude to our corporate partners and funders for their support It has been another incredible year for the community business sector. Thanks to the generosity of our partners, we have supported the opening of 26 new community-owned businesses and [...]