The Plunkett Foundation is pleased to announce that The LankellyChase Foundation is working with the Plunkett Foundation and its partners in supporting the development of community-owned village shops.
The LankellyChase Foundation is an endowed grant making Charitable Trust which works to promote positive social change and aims to improve the quality of people’s lives, has begun providing support for the Village CORE Programme. The programme is a support programme which has enabled 48 new community-owned village shops to open over the last four years.
Peter Couchman, Chief Executive of the Plunkett Foundation, said, “We are delighted that The LankellyChase Foundation has joined the Plunkett Foundation and our partners in helping to support villages to set up and run community-owned village shops. Community-ownership provides opportunities for communities to save their village shop together and we look forward to working with The LankellyChase Foundation to enable more communities to do just that over coming years.”
Brian Whittaker, Programme Director of the LankellyChase Foundation said, “The Foundation are pleased to support the work of the Plunkett Foundation and its partners in helping villages to set up and run community-owned shops as a way of improving the quality of life of members of the community which rely on their local shop for a range of different services.”
The Village CORE Programme is a partnership between the Plunkett Foundation, the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and Co-operative and Community Finance and is supported by The LankellyChase Foundation. It provides a funding package of grants and loans matched by contributions from the communities themselves. This funding is provided alongside advice and support from a range of specialist advisors. It has enabled 48 new community-owned village shops to open to date and will support over 50 others over the next three years.
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For further information please contact Elizabeth of Mar on 07870 276375 or elizabethofmarpr@yahoo.co.uk.
NOTES TO EDITORS
The LankellyChase Foundation (http://www.lankellychase.org.uk/) is an endowed grant making Charitable Trust which works to promote positive social change and aims to improve the quality of people’s lives. They focus particularly on areas of social need to help the most disadvantaged in our society to fulfil their potential. The foundation concentrates its work within the United Kingdom highlighting unpopular causes and working with others to tackle them.
The Chase Charity and the Lankelly Foundation were established through the generosity of two separate entrepreneurs. The Chase Charity was founded in 1962 and the Lankelly Foundation six years later. After many years of working together, in 2005 the two Trusts resolved that they should take the next natural step and amalgamate to form the LankellyChase Foundation.
The Plunkett Foundation (www.plunkett.co.uk) is a national organisation based in Woodstock, Oxfordshire that helps rural communities through community-ownership to take control of the issues important to them. The Plunkett Foundation runs a range of projects and services supporting rural communities to set up and successfully run community-owned enterprises including community-owned shops. The Plunkett Foundation hosts an online Community Shops Network (www.plunkett.uk.net) for community-owned shops to share ideas and best practice.
The Village CORE Programme (http://www.plunkett.co.uk/whatwedo/core/Core.cfm) is a three year support programme managed by the Plunkett Foundation in partnership with the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (http://www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk/) and Co-operative and Community Finance (http://www.co-opandcommunityfinance.coop/) and supported by the LankellyChase Foundation. It provides financial start-up packages and advisory support to communities looking to set up a community-owned rural shop.