Blogs

Sophie Ziegler-Jones explains why partnering with Plunkett and supporting community-owned businesses is a natural fit for the co-operative wholesaler Suma, and describes how she was moved by our 2025 Awards. Back in July, I had the privilege of attending Plunkett UK’s Rural Community Business Awards, held at the Royal Society [...]

This National Inclusion Week (15-21 September), we’re celebrating how Plunkett and community businesses are building inclusive workplaces and creating lasting impact across the UK. Founded by Inclusive Employers in 2013, National Inclusion Week is an annual celebration of inclusion and a call to action for building more inclusive workplaces. As the [...]

George Ogier, Impact Officer at Plunkett UK, shares his reflections on the recent EDI Special Interest Group meeting held on 9 September. Plunkett UK recently hosted the third event in a series designed to shine a light on both equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) and tackling climate change. This session [...]

Misty Bower, Plunkett’s Community Business Adviser, highlights 3 Key Lessons from our Webinar, ‘How to Be Great at Community Engagement’ Did you know that community engagement is essential for a community business to succeed? The Better Business Report 2024 quantifies its significance, stating that ‘the number of people involved’ is a [...]

Hear from Kayla Manga, who spent a week with our communications team, gaining insight into the community business sector and the impact of Plunkett's support. Work experience at Plunkett was one of the most insightful experiences I have ever had. Not only did it give me the opportunity to ease [...]

How Plunkett lives its values through action, collaboration, and a commitment to building a stronger, more inclusive community-owned sector. According to our latest Impact Report, the community-owned sector has grown by an impressive 70% over the past decade. Today, Plunkett supports more than 800 trading community-owned businesses, with a further 800 [...]

David Lydiat, Head of External Affairs, reflects on a recent visit to community businesses in South West England, including a meeting with Caroline Voaden MP at a thriving community pub in Strete To better understand the vital role of community businesses - and the support they need - I was [...]

Plunkett’s Community Business Manager, Diane Cameron, explores what environmental action means in rural communities According to our latest Impact Report, 96% of rural community businesses took some form of climate action over the past year. To those of us working at Plunkett, this is no surprise: the interest and proactivity [...]

We’re proud to celebrate Almondsbury and Appleton Community Shops, both recently honoured with The King’s Award for Voluntary Service - the highest national accolade awarded to volunteer-led groups across the UK. At Plunkett, we know that volunteers are the driving force behind the success of community-owned businesses. People’s passion, commitment, and [...]