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National Support Organisations

It is important to recognise that there is existing national support available. Knowing what has been done elsewhere stops you going through the pain of making the same mistakes while knowing what is available outside your local area stops you unnecessarily duplicating existing services. These organisations will be able to connect you with people doing similar things both around your area and in other corners of the country.

National support organisations for cooperatives include:

  • Cooperatives UK: national support organization for cooperatives, providing a range of support services and resources for cooperative businesses in the UK. In particular Cooperatives UK manages Business Support for Coops that offers a range of support services to help cooperative businesses start, grow, and succeed. They have also delivered the Unfound Accelerator for platform coops.
  • Plunkett Foundation: supports the establishment and growth of community-owned businesses across the UK
  • Power to Change: a think-do tank that backs community business across England.
  • The Centre for Democratic Business: Hosted by Stir to Action, provides economic development and support programmes for democratic business in the UK.
  • Workers.coop: is the UK-based federation of worker co-ops that offers a free 30-minute chat with anyone looking to start a worker co-op.
  • Community Led Homes: not strictly an organisation in its own right this was a partnership project between the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, Locality, the National Community Land Trust Network and UK Cohousing that ran from 2018 to 2023. This website is a good starting point if community-led housing is of particular interest.

Scotland and Wales have their own support organisations in:

Useful resources:
  • Simply Legal from Cooperatives UK is a guide with all you need to know about legal forms and organisational types for co‑operatives and community owned enterprises.