The Plunkett Foundation work with a range of organisations who share our values to develop support programmes for rural co-operative and social enterprises through their development. We are also a centre of information and ideas relating to rural co-operatives and social enterprise worldwide with over 20,000 items in the Plunkett Foundation Information Centre which have been collected since we were founded.
We also influence government and others to build support and provide an enabling environment for the development of rural co-operative and social enterprises.
The Plunkett Foundation has developed a range of projects which supports the development of rural co-operative and social enterprises.
The Plunkett Foundation has delivered projects such as Enterprise4Inclusion and Strengthening Rural Communities across the North West which provided seed corn finance and advisory support to facilitate the effective start up and development of rural co-operatives and social enterprises.
We work with partners in the East of England to deliver large scale capital grants to social enterprises through the Building Communities Fund to enable them to purchase assets and transform their communities.
We provide funding and support for rural communities looking to set up and run a community-owned shop.
We work with a range of organisations to deliver capacity building to a broad range initiatives which reconnect land and people through local food community enterprises through Making Local Food Work.
These are just a few examples. For further information on the projects we are involved with, please visit the pages on the left.
The Plunkett Foundation undertakes research to test the Plunkett Foundation approach to rural issues. The Plunkett Foundation has remained at the forefront of research and policy development in the rural co-operative and social enterprise sector since its establishment 90 years ago.
The Plunkett Foundation acts as an adviser to public policy-makers and an advocate of policies that support the development of rural co-operative and social enterprise.
The Plunkett Foundation is a strategic partner of the Office of the Third Sector within the Cabinet Office and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). Our role is to represent the voice of rural social and co-operative enterprises in policy development.
A key role of the Plunkett Foundation is to effectively communicate the latest information relating to rural co-operative and social enterprise.
Through our e-news bulletin The Plunkett Weekly News, this website and events such as our annual Rural Social Enterprise Conference, the Plunkett Foundation connects knowledge and networks to help rural communities to be aware of, understand and implement practical solutions to the challenges that they are facing.