Community businesses who meet the following eligibility criteria can apply to the Co-operatives UK Booster Fund:

• Locally rooted
• Accountable to the local community
• Trade for the benefit of the local community
• Create broad community impact

There are two types of funding: A Development Grant to get your share offer ready and to promote it, and the Equity Match which will match fund some of your share capital.  

Both these are only accessible if you secure the Community Shares Standard Mark.  This is an accreditation which reflects that your share offer meets national standards of best practice.  You can apply for funding for this assessment as part of your Development Grant application.  An assessor will review your Share Offer document and Business Plan and give you feedback on how to make sure your prospective investors have all the information they need to make an informed decision.  This assessment and the resulting changes you will need to make can take a few weeks so you will need to build it into your share offer timetable.

Our top tips for engaging with this process are:

• Submit an Expression of Interest form
• Find someone you can talk to on the phone about where you’re up to with your share offer process and what the deadlines are for the two types of funding, as these are awarded consecutively.
• Be prepared for a detailed application process where you set out what your business will do, how you will do it and who benefits. You will need to supply your business plan, budget and cash flow forecast, financial forecasts, management accounts, and annual accounts.
• Save your full application in Word before you paste it into the online portal as it seems to have some gremlins – you can’t save it on page 1, only when you’re half way through.

As mentioned above, we’re proud to announce that our community share offer has been offered £25,782 in equity match investment from the Community Shares Booster Fund, which is delivered by Co-operatives UK and partners. We would like to thank everyone involved for their support. 

The equity match investment follows a £2,356 development grant that we were also awarded from the Booster Fund to support us in preparing for our share offer.