Member get member scheme

Help us to help communities like yours

At Plunkett, every member counts. Our diverse network of members directly informs and shapes all aspects of the support we provide and enables us to champion the community business sector with policy makers, funders and the media. Through vibrant community-owned businesses we help to tackle the issues of isolation, loneliness, wellbeing, employment and training.

In the last 12 months, we’ve experienced an unprecedented number of enquiries and requests for support from community groups across the UK looking to establish community businesses, or seeking support to make sure existing businesses remain viable. We’re anticipating that demands on our service will only increase in 2024, so have ambitions to grow our network of supporters, to increase our capacity to provide practical support and advice, and to further the work we’re doing to advocate for the community business sector – but we need your help!

When you join Plunkett as an individual supporter, you’re joining a network of individuals and organisations that share a passion for communities and community business. Supporter membership is for any individual that shares Plunkett’s vision for resilient, thriving and inclusive rural communities, believes in the potential community businesses have to stimulate social and economic activity for the long-term, and wants to help us to help communities like yours to make that happen. By becoming an individual supporter, for just £20 a year, you are directly contributing to the work we do to help communities establish and run community businesses – from practical support and advice, to advocating for community businesses with policy makers, funders, and the media.

More specifically, you’re enabling Plunkett to continue to deliver support at a time when community businesses have stepped up in their role in supporting the local communities they serve – first and foremost to reach and protect those most vulnerable in the light of Covid-19. In the coming year, they will need to continue to navigate a landscape of changing rules and regulations, and we’re anticipating demand for our services to grow. Join today and help us to keep community businesses alive.

Supporter membership is for any individual that shares Plunkett’s vision for resilient, thriving and inclusive rural communities, and believes in the potential community businesses have to stimulate social and economic activity for the long-term. Please encourage your customers, communities, members and shareholders to join Plunkett and support our mission to champion community ownership across the UK, and help communities establish and run successful community businesses with long-term survival rates.

As a supporter member you will receive:

  • Access to member-only events and networking opportunities – including voting rights at our Annual General Meeting – as well as discounts on Plunkett’s training hub events
  • Member alerts to keep you up to date on Plunkett’s news, and member-specific notifications of Plunkett’s publications, consultations and reports
  • Access to a Google maps list of community businesses across the UK, so you can support local, wherever you are

We are asking you to help us by encouraging your members, customers, shareholders and communities to become individual supporters of Plunkett for just £20 per year. The first 10 organisations to recruit 10 or more individual supporters will receive a free place on a Plunkett training course.

How it works

  1. Spread the word about Plunkett supporter membership via social media and email
  2. Invite your members, customers and communities to join Plunkett by completing this online form, making sure they quote your membership number as their referral code
  3. If you are one of the first 10 members to recruit 10 new supporters, you will receive a free place on a Plunkett Foundation event or training course of your choice (up to the value of £100). If you are an existing supporter member, you can gift your free place to a community business of your choice, if you don’t want to attend the event yourself.

Thank you for your support in helping other community businesses across the UK.

If you have any questions about the scheme, or need to check your membership number, please contact: membership@plunkett.co.uk