Community Business Research

Power to Change is an independent charitable trust set up to grow community business across England. Their Research Institute supports this vision by commissioning supporting research and analysis on the Community Business sector.

As part of their research programme, WPI Economics (WPIe) and Natcen partnered to research the different factors that contributed to the success of Community Businesses in the pubs, transport and housing sectors. The project drew on the strengths of each organisation, bringing together in-depth qualitative research and interviews from NatCen, and an economic analysis from WPIe, including an analysis of the funding streams each Community Business had, their accounts, and cross-cutting themes between different sectors.

The final products were three distinct reports into the pubs sector, the housing sector and the transport sector. These were supported by a public launch event where the findings were disseminated. A full set of case studies can be found here.