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Building Community Assets

The Building Communities Assets programme (formerly the Building Communities Fund) was designed to assist social enterprise organisations to secure ownership of assets as a means of furthering their social and economic development role in local areas. 

The objectives of the Fund include:

• helping to realise social and economic benefits in local areas
• utilising facilities as a focus for the local economy or community activities
• creating income streams for community based organisations, or strengthening the economic base of social enterprises
• contributing to regeneration

The Building Community Assets consortium has produced 'Building Community Assets -  A Practical Guide for Communities Considering Purchasing Land and Buildings' which you can download here.

An independent evaluation of the programme was undertaken on behalf of the programme funder the East of England Development Agency and the programme managers Co-operative and Community Finance, Plunkett Foundation and Social Enterprise East of England.

The emphasis was on encouraging an entrepreneurial approach to contribute to significant social and economic benefits within the region. Preference was given to larger scale social enterprises rather than small community centre and village hall initiatives. The fund was available for organisations from the 6 counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

The fund was comprised of two elements; bursary awards of up to £15,000 were offered to help organisations to carry out feasibility studies and develop robust business plans in advance of purchasing assets; capital awards of between £250,000 and £750,000 were available to help organisations to actually purchase assets. Road shows have also been held and continue to be held promoting the concept of asset acquisition for social enterprise and the availability of the bursary and capital grants and alternative or additional sources of funding. 

The programme, running between April 2007 and March 2009 is funded by the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and is managed by Co-op and Community Finance, Plunkett Foundation and Social Enterprise East of England.

Further details of the Building Communities Fund programme can be found on the programme website www.buildingcommunitiesfund.org.uk

 

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